Interesting Rumour From the HD Advisory Panel

[Dr. Dolittle]

I get a monthly email survey from the MOCO as a member of their HD Advisory Panel. I'm sure many other members here do also so they can back me up on this.

This month, there was a long explanation about how the tragic earthquake/tsunami in Japan is going to affect the supply of radios for the 2012 touring models.

Here's the 2 options they asked about on the survey to offset the "inconvenience" of buying a 2012 HD Touring bike without the standard radio:

1. Customer takes delivery of a 2012 touring bike with a substitute radio. Customer receives an additional one year added to the bike's warranty. In approximately 6 months, customer can come in and get radio swapped out to the standard HD model.

2. Customer takes delivery of a 2012 touring bike with a substitute radio and the MOCO will include a Zumo GPS valued at $900 for no additional charge. Customer still gets a new radio in approximately 6 months.

It also sounded like you would get BOTH options - not an either/or situation.

I'm sure much more about this will be forthcoming but it sure makes for some interesting decision making if you were in the market for a new touring bike soon.

 

[sharpscuba]

Seems like some fair options to me. I would imagine radios are not the first thing the poor folks in Japan are worried about.

 

[Dr. Dolittle]

Seems like some fair options to me.

Seems a bit more than fair to me so I'll believe it when I see it. An extra year's warranty and a $900 GPS just because you have to ride with an alternative radio for 6 months! When I first started reading about it I expected them to say they'd be delivering the bike's with NO radios!

 

[dbmg]

I think thats a great offer from MOCO. But what about a different supplier??

 

[TripleJ]

Hmmmmm......... making that new Road Glide Ultra purchase seem even more worth while I Don't listen to music while riding now so either option might be a plus for me and would probably prefer to use the IPOD option if and when I do. Will be interesting to see how this pans out with the MOCO.

 

[ProF]

From the way you present it, it sounds a lot more like either/or on the Zumo/warranty deal. Otherwise, it wouldn't be two options; it would only be the one.

If that's the case, I'd take the added warranty. The Zumo may cost $900 at the Harley shop, but I'd bet it can be had for a lot less elsewhere. The warranty could be worth a lot more. (Or nothing, if you're lucky. It's a bit of a gamble.)

 

[TXMikey]

I just received the same survey, I'm not as sure it incluede an alternate radio. Mine the 2012 touring bikes would be delivered with a radio without the LCD face. I wasn't sure if that meant it would be an alternate radio, or a non-functioning one.

As for the options, the survey I received had the first option of a $500.00 parts/accessories credit, and that when there were sufficient LCD screens available one would be installed.

The second option was the first option, plus a Zumo and XM radio player ($900.00 value).

I would hope that perhaps the MOCO could find a supplier in the USA for those faceplates instead of importing them from overseas.

 

[JPHarley]

My survey just said the place where the radio should go would be "storage" and when the radio was available it could be installed and it included a 1year extra warranty.

 

[stikman]

I received the same survey it sounded like you had a choice but that will remain to be seen. :bigsmiley21:

 

[Dr. Dolittle]

This is actually kind of fascinating. It sounds like they sent out different surveys to try and get a feel how current Harley riders would view the different options. Probably trying to see what the LEAST expensive option they could get away with is going to be!