Harley-Davidson closing Kansas plant

Wow. It's hard to imagine HD making the long term transition from their current old school V-Twin vibe of today to the electric bikes of the future with anywhere near the amount of marketing-driven success that they've enjoyed so far. It seems really weird to even think about to be honest.
 
When I was at the gas station yesterday, a Harley rider came over and complimented my new CB.

That was the first time a Harley guy ever went out of his way to give one of my Japanese bikes a compliment.
 
Thread starter
Guth_imp said:
Wow. It's hard to imagine HD making the long term transition from their current old school V-Twin vibe of today to the electric bikes of the future with anywhere near the amount of marketing-driven success that they've enjoyed so far. It seems really weird to even think about to be honest.
Click to expand...
Augment, not replace.

When I operated an electric motor rewind shop (1979-1983), I worked on designing an electric M/C to commute from home to the shop.

Intended to use a CB350 frame, tires, brakes, etc., but could not find the room to mount enough batteries.

Batteries have come a long way since then!
VLJ_imp said:
When I was at the gas station yesterday, a Harley rider came over and complimented my new CB.

That was the first time a Harley guy ever went out of his way to give one of my Japanese bikes a compliment.
Click to expand...
Plenty of H-D riders/former riders have ridden Hondas, Yamahas, Kawasakis, maybe even Suzukis.

I loved my two Sportsters, but they were the last two years of the lighter weight frames with rigid mounted motors. The heavier rubber mounts are OK, but when H-D dropped the normal height Sportsters for super low models, with terrible lean angles, they lost a customer. Still a fan of the normal height models.
 
The electric bike they previewed a year or two was pretty nice looking.
 
Seems I recall the Kansas City plant is where the 500 and 750 water cooled twins are assembled and dealers around here can hardly give them away.
 
Oh yea, I think you are right redbirds.
 
I know the owner of the local Harley shop, it has been open since 1968 (he took it over from his father) and like most older shops it is a multi-line dealer. Two years ago Harley HQ told him he had to build a stand alone building just for HD (this would mean he would need to maintain two buildings, staff, etc). He purchased the land next to him and cleared it last fall, construction was to start this spring.

As a fellow businessman and friend I told him I didn't think it was a good idea in this current sales climate, he agreed but HD gave him no choice - stand alone building or lose your dealership. Luckily just before Christmas Harley gave him the ok to suspend those plans, he didn't tell me the reason that they gave.

I think he dodged a huge bullet.
 
Except that he'd already been forced to purchase and clear the piece of land next to his shop.

Yeah, thanks a bunch, Harley.
 
Banned_imp said:
I know the owner of the local Harley shop, it has been open since 1968 (he took it over from his father) and like most older shops it is a multi-line dealer. Two years ago Harley HQ told him he had to build a stand alone building just for HD (this would mean he would need to maintain two buildings, staff, etc). He purchased the land next to him and cleared it last fall, construction was to start this spring.

As a fellow businessman and friend I told him I didn't think it was a good idea in this current sales climate, he agreed but HD gave him no choice - stand alone building or lose your dealership. Luckily just before Christmas Harley gave him the ok to suspend those plans, he didn't tell me the reason that they gave.

I think he dodged a huge bullet.
Click to expand...
The same thing happened to our local Honda dealer several years ago who also sold several makes - Japanese and BMW.
Move the H-D operation to a separate building, install a wall to divide H-D from everything else, and with a separate entrance, or expand the building. Do it or lose the H-D franchise.
They had no choice and moved to another building.
 
This is not just a Harley thing. Triumph too places unreasonable demands on their dealers. I imagine it's even more stringent since Triumph has gone the "lifestyle" way as well.
 
Bheezy27403_imp said:
This is not just a Harley thing. Triumph too places unreasonable demands on their dealers. I imagine it's even more stringent since Triumph has gone the "lifestyle" way as well.
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This may have something to do with why the only Triumph dealer in this province either lost or gave up the Triumph dealership last September after many successful years.
As far as I know, there isn't any Triumph dealer here now, but the former dealer is still servicing the Triumph brand so at least that's something.
 
My two local Triumph dealers share a building, floor space, and signage with other brands. One is a BMW/Triumph/Ducati/Vespa dealer, the other a Triumph/Aprilia/Moto Guzzi/Can-Am dealer.
 
We have two main shops here:

- Honda/HD/KTM
- Triumph/Yamaha/BMW/Ducati/Suzuki/Victory(was)/Polaris

One small shop sells Kawasaki and Arctic Cat
 
We have 2 Triumph dealers within 75 miles. One is stand alone Triumph, the other Triumph Yamaha. Probably 4 or 5 Harley dealers in that 75 miles all stand alone Harley.
 
Come to think of it, my Harley dealer (where I bought two this past summer) sold Hondas until just a year or two ago. It's a huge building and they had plenty of space; never occurred to me that they were forced to give up Honda (I'm sure the H-D franchise was far more profitable).
 
Thread starter
Mother Road Harley-Davidson in Kingman, Arizona, has a common showroom with Route 66 Motorsports (Honda, Yamaha, Polaris & Cam-AM). Next H-D dealer is in Bellmont, just west of Flagstaff, about 135 miles east of Kingman.
 
You oughta see the requirements BMW places on its dealers. Signage, interior and exterior colors, carpeting, exclusive floor space, motorcycle arrangement (touring bikes go here, GS bikes go there, scooters go back there), etc.
 
Guth_imp said:
Wow. It's hard to imagine HD making the long term transition from their current old school V-Twin vibe of today to the electric bikes of the future with anywhere near the amount of marketing-driven success that they've enjoyed so far. It seems really weird to even think about to be honest.
Click to expand...
+ 1

PB
HD would never have a spot in my garage...if given for free, I would immediately trade it in for Honda or something else...
....prehistoric design, noisemakers...

pb
 
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