11-04-2013, 02:25 PM
I'm a fan of HD so I'm hopeful that this is a commercially successful effort, and the main question is: will customers buy these bikes, and will they buy lots and lots of them?
For the most part, the sporty Buell line and the cafe XR1200 model were generally regarded as very good bikes but they didn't sell well in the US; I think one reason is that non-HD sport riders often don't like going to HD dealerships (maybe too much emphasis on branded 'lifestyle' items?) and HD salespeople openly did not like the 'cafe' style of the Buell and XR1200. The new HD street 500 and 750 look more 'cruiser' and might be closer to HD's traditional cruiser customer base and the salespeople may not resist selling them as much (though the not-made-in-America is a problem and the fact that smaller bikes typically have smaller sales margins will be very very tough to overcome). Footnote: since HD paid about 109 million USD for MV Augusta in 2008, and then sold it at a substantial discount, in my mind shows that the Motor Company has had its fill of trying to integrate cafe sport bikes into the HD lineup.
For the most part, the sporty Buell line and the cafe XR1200 model were generally regarded as very good bikes but they didn't sell well in the US; I think one reason is that non-HD sport riders often don't like going to HD dealerships (maybe too much emphasis on branded 'lifestyle' items?) and HD salespeople openly did not like the 'cafe' style of the Buell and XR1200. The new HD street 500 and 750 look more 'cruiser' and might be closer to HD's traditional cruiser customer base and the salespeople may not resist selling them as much (though the not-made-in-America is a problem and the fact that smaller bikes typically have smaller sales margins will be very very tough to overcome). Footnote: since HD paid about 109 million USD for MV Augusta in 2008, and then sold it at a substantial discount, in my mind shows that the Motor Company has had its fill of trying to integrate cafe sport bikes into the HD lineup.