The future of Harley Davidson. Explain.

[afterburn 549]

Originally Posted by Yorkie

Sounds like me! I just turned 50 and I took 13 years off bikes while I raised the kids and only recently got back on the saddle. Spent the last few months remembering all of Keith Code's advice (must have read "A Twist of the Wrist" 5 times) and relearning counter-steering. And yes, the Duc 900ss relic seemed very fast at first! I actually found getting back on a dirt bike even more intimidating but it comes back.

Nope not you.
I am talking about the crowd that never got on a bike at all till the got in their 40s.
It is their dream come true and my night mare
Nothing wrong with that..
But for gods sake, dont plug up the highway.
They need to look in the rear view and see something and move OVER if they want to be potato heads .
Do a poker run
leaf peepers
etc

[aschen]

lots of Europeans and foreigners in general I know like HD

[afterburn 549]

OK
well as we dribble forward...
at this point would you buy stock in HD ?
I do not see how they can sell much
The economy is upside dwn
A used harley is a much better idea...
JMO

[vash]

HD seems to make a bulk of the $$ marketing clothing. You cannot seem to ride a Harley without HD logos in every garment in your riding wardrobe.


Sent via Jedi mind trick.

[afterburn 549]

I am all sans !
LOL

[creaturecat]

i have already posted this in the cafe thread. Buddy's "Harley".
188 mph. at Bonneville. running on 1 cylinder.

[creaturecat]

Roger's board tracker:

[afterburn 549]

The Yellow bike -
That is all most rocket science - maybe it is.
I am going to guess he dropped a cylinder for a class rating ?

[BeyGon]

I would guess he poofed a cylinder on the run or he would have been faster.

[varmint]

i'm one of the few people who's ever successfully forced a harley dealership to give him his money back. so i guess that qualifies me as an expert.

they produce bikes that by every measure inferior to their japanese, european and now american competitors. wake the hell up. patriotism ≠ brand loyalty.

[afterburn 549]

Originally Posted by varmint

i'm one of the few people who's ever successfully forced a harley dealership to give him his money back. so i guess that qualifies me as an expert.

they produce bikes that by every measure inferior to their japanese, european and now american competitors. wake the hell up. patriotism ≠ brand loyalty.

What was your gripe / complaint?
Flywheels?

[varmint]

****** harley tech forgot to put a bolt back in while replacing a head gasket. 70mph on the 10 freeway the bike vomited oil all over the rear wheel. i almost died.


the thing was a heartbeat away from being lemon lawed before that anyway. i have a ural now that has given me less crap.

[Gretch]

Thanks Jeff..........

My observation from attending Laconia every year for the last 15 tells me the brand still lives on and the customers are getting younger as fast as i am getting older.

I have a special bond with my 95th anniversary special and if I am the last one to ever ride a Harley, well that is just fine with me.

[creaturecat]

Originally Posted by BeyGon

I would guess he poofed a cylinder on the run or he would have been faster.

even better.
there is only one cylinder. the rear cylinder is mounted backwards on the front.

164 mph. i stand corrected.

[nzporsche944s2]

Why doesn't H-D try to dip their toes back in the scooter market? They did it once before in 1960..



with the right industrial design they could be the "Bad Boys" of the scooter world while most others are going for the retro cutsie look

[j8tg]

WSJ today in Business and Tech has a large article on HD with some statistical research---stock is down 38% and dealers nationwide are fairly vocal about their concerns. Demographics is destiny for any company that doesn't get in front or at least keep up with the market.

TG
Littleton, Co
1981 Bmw R100 Frankenbeamer "s"
2009 BMW F800
1986 930. Sold

[motion]

H-D's are just fine if you keep them below 1000 RPM. Start revving them up to redline and watch what happens. It ain't pretty. What's this? A motorcycle company that has been making bikes for umpteen years still can't make an engine that will last 5 minutes at WOT? Yep. Pretty sad.

[afterburn 549]

I think HD keeps missing its mark and hitting old technoligy.
They could have the best of all worlds with an adjustable crank pin and a blower ( turbo or supercharged.)
It would be old school sound and come up through the RPM with shorter and shorter stroke.
Variable cam timing too of course.
Then they would have the ultimate engine .
The best of everything .
It would be a hoot and a screem.
Maybe they should cal me and I will tell them how its done..

[Charles Freeborn]

I'd nearly forgotten - I have owned a HD. It was a 350 Sprint. Had it back in High School. Cool bike. Great slideways machine. Wish I still had it. Honestly can't remember what I did with it / sold it to.

[quaz]

Interesting reading here, let me add some perspective. I live in the Milwaukee area and consult with Harley on a regular basis for IT projects. Depending on the project sometimes I get to talk to the upper brass and pick their brains a bit. Let me start by saying they have a lot of really smart people there working hard to preserve the Harley image and move the brand to a younger consumer.

One of their biggest challenges in the last 50 years has been the buying cycles of consumers. It goes in 5-7 year expansion and contraction patterns closely following the economy. So during the expansion you need to produce more bikes, but then scale back during contraction. Historically that meant buying capacity, hiring people and changing supplier contracts on the up and laying off, selling off and scaling back during the down. Now they have redone their plants to be more scalar and have single lines to produce all bikes.....more or less. Now during the up they just add capacity to an existing line and during the down just limit how much that one line does. The only variable is how much labor they employ. It's a work in progress, but think about this. Every single Harley produced is unique, no 2 are alike. Just wrap your head around what that means from a manufacturing perspective. All bikes are special ordered by the dealers and have almost infinite amounts of customer options. I am amazed they can handle this.

So changing direction and focusing on younger buyers is one of their main goals. However this has to be done evolutionary, not revolutionary. They learned this with the Buel line. One cool thing about big data and analytics is the ability to really study data. When Harley broke down the manufacturing costs, development and cost of sales they never made a dime on Buel. The entire time they were owned by HD they lost money on them. So it had to go. What they learned though is there is a market there and they needed to move into it, but needed a better product that was more desireable. I am not privileged to any NDA information and if I was I certainly couldn't share it here. However I have been told there are new products comings, new technologies going to be integrated into current products and Harley will be changing over time.

Not sure this information really says anything other than Harley is headed in the right direction and it is my belief they will be fine. However all big companies are slow to change and this one really has a challenge to balance keeping an old aging consumer happy with attracting young new buyers.