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New WSJ article on H/D; very interesting....

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This current CEO, he of the shoe and apparel business has no skin in the game. He is looking for short term profits, maybe a decade or so before he exits.
Having Willie G around kept the executives honest and the company had a long term plan in place. It was scuttled when Zietz came aboard and replaced with his high prices and profits business plan that is sure to fail.
 
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Much the same with most traditional "hobbies"...... stamp collecting comes to mind..... product management 101 for an aging collector market involves higher price/profit specialty products, price increases, reduce production costs, more product with shorter production runs blah blah...
 
The new CEO has stated the goal is to sell less bikes at higher margins, and I think they are on their way to achieving that. The brand has some die hards and they can sell less bikes but at increased prices for a certain number of years before they run out of buyers. Whether that number of years is 3 or 20 is up for debate.
It seems they have given up being the brand for the everyman and instead an trying to become an aspirational brand like Porsche. The downside to that is once people start on a Royal Enfield or Yamaha or Honda and have a pleasant experience at the dealership, they will get shocked when they walk into a high pressure Harley dealer, where they want 20% over the already high sticker price for a bike.

Of course, BMW is an aspirational brand as well and they seem to make a good business of it. The difference is BMW tries to offer an entry level bike, although by all reviews the 310 models aren't great, and most BMW dealers also carry more affordable brands to give new riders an option. Just about all HD dealers are Harley only and most of those don't even carry other brands in their used fleets. So it's going to cut down on foot traffic for sure.
 
PistolPeteSTL said:
The new CEO has stated the goal is to sell less bikes at higher margins, and I think they are on their way to achieving that. The brand has some die hards and they can sell less bikes but at increased prices for a certain number of years before they run out of buyers. Whether that number of years is 3 or 20 is up for debate.
It seems they have given up being the brand for the everyman and instead an trying to become an aspirational brand like Porsche. The downside to that is once people start on a Royal Enfield or Yamaha or Honda and have a pleasant experience at the dealership, they will get shocked when they walk into a high pressure Harley dealer, where they want 20% over the already high sticker price for a bike.

Of course, BMW is an aspirational brand as well and they seem to make a good business of it. The difference is BMW tries to offer an entry level bike, although by all reviews the 310 models aren't great, and most BMW dealers also carry more affordable brands to give new riders an option. Just about all HD dealers are Harley only and most of those don't even carry other brands in their used fleets. So it's going to cut down on foot traffic for sure.
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But ... but ... but ... they do have the better T-Shirts ... LOL ...😁 (HD)
 
I think a bubble is about to burst for HD with respect to their RoadGlide and StreetGlide bikes at 117 cu in. Small displacement bikes are selling now and that wasn't the case at the turn of the century.
When I was in high school in the mid 70's, it seemed everyone rode a Honda 350 twin. Then came the 450 twin, then the 750 Four, GoldWing 1000, then bigger and bigger. I still remember the Kawasaki 900 Four. At the time this was a humongous bike. In the HD world (1960's) the 74 cu in was a standard. My dad had one. Then came 88, then 96, then 103, 107, 114, 117. I just don't know what the bike world will look like in 5 years?
 
R18 100 said:
I think a bubble is about to burst for HD with respect to their RoadGlide and StreetGlide bikes at 117 cu in. Small displacement bikes are selling now and that wasn't the case at the turn of the century.
When I was in high school in the mid 70's, it seemed everyone rode a Honda 350 twin. Then came the 450 twin, then the 750 Four, GoldWing 1000, then bigger and bigger. I still remember the Kawasaki 900 Four. At the time this was a humongous bike. In the HD world (1960's) the 74 cu in was a standard. My dad had one. Then came 88, then 96, then 103, 107, 114, 117. I just don't know what the bike world will look like in 5 years?
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Everybody wants too forget the Evolution 1340 (82 CI ). Was it that bad ?
 
kate_brett said:
Everybody wants too forget the Evolution 1340 (82 CI ). Was it that bad ?
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IMO that was Harley's most reliable engine ... And now produced by quite a few aftermarket engine suppliers. Basically a tried and true 'Cone Shovelhead's lower with nice sleeved aluminum jugs and rocker boxes that actually work nice with a lot of options to make it go fast.
... but again that's just me 😉
 
I had the first year Evo. motor, it was excellent engine. I ran to 60.000 miles before replacing the cylinder base gaskets. When I pulled it apart, I refreshed the valve seats honed the cylinder walls and installed new rings. When I sold the thing with 90.000 it was running excellent with little to no oil use.
 
Very first bike I owned was a Harley Iron 888. New from dealer. Somewhere around 2014 or so.

Will likely never buy a Harley given the shitty experience I had buying the bike. Was not a "new rider friendly" type of experience. I was tempted to get a Softail Slim S after I had built up enough confidence. But the first experience left me with a very bad taste in my mouth and it made me feel like I wanted to take a shower after coming home the first day with the Iron.
 
Oh, I also found it hilarious that you can find a HD store in Venice, Italy. No motor vehicles of any kind allowed in that city except for boats. Even bicycles are prohibited.
 
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