Who Hates Harley Davidson?

The closest we have is EBR, or Indian/Victory.

 

I talked to a lady yesterday who was riding a Road King and she said just the same thing, "she could cruise all day." She loved how the bike was not fast and that is was big a plush and comfortable. They used to keep prices high a quantities low to avoid the inevitable downturns in the motorcycle marketplace. Now they are going to pay the price for increased unit sales.

 

I guess. I would love a 2012 Road King Police. I'm not about to sell my car just to be able to buy one.

 

I heard that some Harley Dealers are taking in indentured servitude contracts as down payments. Got a mouthy kid or a wife that's a porker and want a Harley?

 

Speaking of that, I was at my dealer today working the Bikers of BooBees event and I was talking to one of the cops that was leading the escorted ride. I told him "I want to ride like that!" He said "what do you mean?" I had just seen him execute a graceful and very hard u-turn in the parking lot on a Harley. I said that I wanted to learn how to have that kind of low speed control. He said it takes practice and you have to be willing to fall down a lot.

 

I came across this site sometime back. It took a couple of days read about the Twin Cam ewngine and other Harley bogus engineering or lack of. This is from a Harley guy too. So you want to know how bad.....well set back and start reading. Bring beer it will take a while. He is a bit over the top at times.

http://www.jamesrussellpublishing.biz/beforeyoubuyharley.html

 

One of the great local guys (Seattle) Greg Field writes books aboot Harleys. His ride? A MotoGuzzi..

 

Harleys or a version of were made in Japan in the 1920's.

http://www.motorcycleclassics.com/classic-japanese-motorcycles/rikuo-motorcycle-zmmz07jfzraw.aspx

The "new" Harleys are made in India..

I read that the Harley dealership in Saudi, Arabia is owned by a woman and that their law forbids a woman to ride a motorcycle.

 

My neighbor who I ride with is a cop. He is also one of the motorcycle instructors for his department and and others. He rides a 1999 Road King Police. He whips that thing around lock to lock when we are leaving spots at 5mph scraping the floor boards. Hell I can too but he makes it look Easy!

 

My old boss Leroy was like that. He had worked on Harleys for years. He had ridden them and had dealings with the factory. That's why he hated them. Most of all he hated the "Harleys are the best" rhetoric. We had customer's that tried to pull that on him and they got a ear full from someone who lived with all the faults. He rode a BMW and lived that last years of his life in constant amazement that a bike could be so good and so reliable.

 

Harley Davidson is one of the best marketing companies in the world. That's how they pull it off. As much as I don't like Harley, they are marketing geniuses. Honda should pay them for marketing lessons.

 

I think Harley sells a dream, the dream of a time past where America was on the ascendancy. Big bikes and big cars were a huge part of the 50s and 60s which was the time that everyone seems so nostalgic for. The bad part for Harley is this dream will fade with the passing on a generation. It has already stared to happen. Harley has flooded the market with mass quantities of machines with a 100 year shelf life (yes, they can be rebuilt.) The Motor Company is going to have to find its way in a post Baby Boom world.

 

What you need to add to this is how gullible people are and the desire to be part of a group of believers!

 

I don't hate anything with two wheels. Having said that, I find HDs to be grossly overpriced for what you get, and too many of their owners to be lacking in knowledge and skill...and annoying as hell.

 

Me neither but I do have a fear of twins on unicycles.

 

"They" think we're gullible.

 

I live in a really heavily gentrified, hip area of Philadelphia and I have to say that for every 50 year old guy on a big touring H-D I see on the highway, I see two 20-somethings on Sportsters or bobbed/chopped Harleys in the city. I don't think that they are going to have any problem going forward, remember that they make money on almost every bike that gets an engine rebuild. They will also forever be making money the same way that Ferrari does, selling t-shirts, leather jackets and key rings. They aren't going anywhere, and honestly I think if they turned their advertising team at the beard-wearing, denim jacket hipster crowd, they would probably do better than they ever have.

 

Harley makes more on apparel than bikes. And the "made in China" tags lead me to believe that they are getting a great deal on manufacturing their hip stuff.

 

You may be right but they are losing sales somewhere. The hipster crowd just doesn't have the purchasing power to buy $30,000 road rigs.

 

Only the Hipsters that have mom and dad buy one for them...... lol