dolt
Well-Known Member
Check it out. Four new models; those naysayers that have been counting HD out didn't see this coming.
https://www.hotbikeweb.com/
https://www.hotbikeweb.com/
New Harleys_Overhead Cams and Radiators
- Thread starter dolt
- Start date
PovertyRider
Member
The Livewire looks like you are riding a swamp cooler. LOL
I won't be buying any of these 4 in my lifetime.
Maybe my great, great grandchildren will?
Good luck HD. They look like many other makes of crotch rockets already out there. I suppose that is the point of them?
I won't be buying any of these 4 in my lifetime.
Maybe my great, great grandchildren will?
Good luck HD. They look like many other makes of crotch rockets already out there. I suppose that is the point of them?
I think they are catering more to the European and Asian market with them than the US market.
jamesearl
Well-Known Member
The problem is,their market of people are dying off.I didn't get my 1st HD till I was 47.If they want to survive they have to get with a younger market.Plus they aren't shy on price.I used to buy Kawasakis they were fast and cheap.A nice touring bike Kawasaki is 17 grand,not 27 grand.If you want a HD you gotta pay up.That's the reason I didn't get one till I was 47,no disposable income.Folks tend to spend another few grand to modify or stylize them,after the initial outlay of dough.
PovertyRider
Member
Yes. I am sure you are correct. That is why I said future generations.
The problem I see for HD is they have spent many generations on a product that has never been fully copied by the competition.
To now become the one doing the copying will be tough when others have been the original for so long.
It becomes a company breaker sometimes to try and completely change up for a product line you have no experience making.
Maybe it is having to hire the right people that do have the background in the product you want to sell but they don't have the same ideals that made the company what it was / is? I am sure it is expensive to make that scope of change.
It just feels that the future of HD is short after being the master for so long. They will not be alone as many American institutions are being replaced by cheap imitation, low quality, impersonal companies.
Just sad to watch it happen in our time.
Harley Davidson could make it happen but it won't be the institution that we have come to love through the years.
The decision by my grand kids to buy a "Harley" will be because of price and value compared to other bikes available to them and not because a "Harley" is a one of a kind machine loved by so many / never imitated successfully by others.
Just my opinion of course.
The problem I see for HD is they have spent many generations on a product that has never been fully copied by the competition.
To now become the one doing the copying will be tough when others have been the original for so long.
It becomes a company breaker sometimes to try and completely change up for a product line you have no experience making.
Maybe it is having to hire the right people that do have the background in the product you want to sell but they don't have the same ideals that made the company what it was / is? I am sure it is expensive to make that scope of change.
It just feels that the future of HD is short after being the master for so long. They will not be alone as many American institutions are being replaced by cheap imitation, low quality, impersonal companies.
Just sad to watch it happen in our time.
Harley Davidson could make it happen but it won't be the institution that we have come to love through the years.
The decision by my grand kids to buy a "Harley" will be because of price and value compared to other bikes available to them and not because a "Harley" is a one of a kind machine loved by so many / never imitated successfully by others.
Just my opinion of course.
PovertyRider
Member
Yes, it is hard to decide to buy 3 pairs of Wranglers or 1 pair of Levi's. Or is it?
Levi's last and fit so well but Wranglers will get the job done and 3 should last as long as the 1 Levi's right?
Compromise on quality isn't always what it's cracked up to be just ask the boys behind the zipper of the Levi's that previously tried the Wranglers.
Levi's last and fit so well but Wranglers will get the job done and 3 should last as long as the 1 Levi's right?
Compromise on quality isn't always what it's cracked up to be just ask the boys behind the zipper of the Levi's that previously tried the Wranglers.
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dolt
Well-Known Member
I am with Breeze3at on this one. The MoCo had to step up to stay competitive in the market and I actually like the Pan America and the yet to be named mid-size cruiser and am warming up to the Street Fighter. I have a BMW R9T in the garage along side two older Harleys, '02 FLHT and '05 FXSTD; a Street Fighter could easily replace the R9T. Point being there is no reason to abandon the old for the new; they will blend well together. No price points announce yet so it is premature to say they will not be price competitive but I do imagine the price point will be higher than a similar Japanese model because it is a Harley.
I would not say that the MoCo is now the copy cat; there isn't a Japanese Harley clone that lines up with these new Harleys, not in style or drive train. It's not like the MoCo is abandoning the old 45* Twin Cam platform although I imagine it will be phased out or at least pared down to a few model lines; don't see the touring platform going away anytime soon. There will always be an earlier platform model available for the die hards that don't believe anything else is a Harley, so no worries there.
The MoCo is evolving; necessary for survival. I, for one, wish them well and hope they are successful with the new launch. The aftermarket reaction will inform. The aftermarket for HDs is so much larger than the aftermarket for the Japanese clones and it will be interesting to see how quickly and in what way the aftermarket reacts to these new models.
Oh yeah; I would never wear Wranglers.
I would not say that the MoCo is now the copy cat; there isn't a Japanese Harley clone that lines up with these new Harleys, not in style or drive train. It's not like the MoCo is abandoning the old 45* Twin Cam platform although I imagine it will be phased out or at least pared down to a few model lines; don't see the touring platform going away anytime soon. There will always be an earlier platform model available for the die hards that don't believe anything else is a Harley, so no worries there.
The MoCo is evolving; necessary for survival. I, for one, wish them well and hope they are successful with the new launch. The aftermarket reaction will inform. The aftermarket for HDs is so much larger than the aftermarket for the Japanese clones and it will be interesting to see how quickly and in what way the aftermarket reacts to these new models.
Oh yeah; I would never wear Wranglers.