Has Harley-Davidson Alienated its Core Audience?
As H-D is working hard to attract new riders, Fifth Street Customs‘ Nate Beck considers if the legendary company is ignoring its traditional customer base in the process.
The motorcycle market is having a bit of a rough go of it lately. As older riders retire from the hobby and pass on, younger riders aren’t exactly lining up in droves to take up the motorcycle mantle. Nowhere is this more apparent than at Harley-Davidson. The company has been working hard to change its image as the maker of bikes for baby boomers. Instead, Harley is striving to make itself more accessible to first-time riders with the launch of new-rider training programs, and offering smaller bikes.
Longtime rider Nate Beck runs a motorcycle repair and custom shop in St. Paul, Minnesota, called Fifth Street Customs. He’s everything Harley-Davidson wants in a rider these days: He’s young, he’s hip, he’s educated, and he loves the classic rumble of American V-twin power.
On his shop’s website, Beck hosts his personal motorcycling blog, Thoughts From the Fringes of the Motorcycle World. In his most recent post, he makes a compelling point: In the quest for fresh blood, Harley is alienating its traditional customer base.
‘While I love these [grassroots bike] shows…and love to see the growth in the chopper subculture, I wonder: How does marketing to a group of people who are celebrating old vintage bikes built by hand turn into the sale of a new $20,000 Harley?’
“Alas, Harley’s core customer base is aging out, and Matt Levatich, CEO of Harley Davidson, is staring at the graves of an entire corporation’s consumers, which in turn leads him to stare at H-D’s grave as well,” writes Beck in his new post. “The reality is, Matt has no clue what the hell he’s doing. Nobody does.”
Beck points to the hotly-anticipated LiveWire and the rest of Harley-Davidson’s 2020 lineup as indicators of the brand’s new direction. Specifically, he points to the Low Rider S, a prime example of the sort of new Harley-Davidson that might alienate longtime adherents to the Motor Company.
The new Low Rider S features an excellent chassis, with its handlebar rake reduced two degrees from 30 to 28. This helps handling tremendously, but the bike’s aesthetics suffer as a result.
Indeed, while the reduced rake and monoshock rear suspension improve handling at the expense of the bike’s looks, the improved performance of the Milwaukee Eight comes at the expense of ease of maintenance. To change the bike’s four spark plugs, the fuel tank must be removed.
Beck notes, however, that the throwback “Harley-Davidson” font on the tank is a sign that the company hasn’t forgotten its heritage. Given the type of motorcycles the company produces, it’s unlikely that they ever will.
Beck makes another good point when he brings up Harley-Davidson’s more recent marketing scheme of making its presence better known at trendy new biker events, and dumping “thousands of dollars sponsoring grass roots chopper shows. Mama Tried, Born Free, Congregation, the list grows every year,” he writes.
“While I love these shows, love old Harleys, and love to see the growth in the chopper subculture, I wonder: How does marketing to a group of people who are celebrating old vintage bikes built by hand turn into the sale of a new $20,000 Harley straight off the factory line?” Beck ponders in his passionate, educated dissertation on the state of Harley-Davidson. “Where is the return on dollars spent? Everyone at these shows already loves Harley, and more specifically they love old Harleys. So where is your new consumer base coming from? Electric bikes, middleweights with the new modular engine, a left turn from the core of H-D is Matt’s plan. That’s all fine and dandy except you have to accept the fact, Matt, that you’re creating a divide in an already precarious moment in your company’s history.”
Of course, the motorcyclist enthusiast has a few theories about the ill-fated Dyna, too. When the Dyna lineup was killed off and merged into the new Softail a few years back, many Dyna fans were justifiably upset. While the new bike is better than either the old Softail or the Dyna, it doesn’t matter to some — Harley-Davidson has the sort of customers that will continue to buy those bikes until they die.
‘Harley was moving forward and people who have dedicated their entire life to a brand felt left behind. Now we sit here glued to the web and social media as Harley rolls out the new 2020 models waiting to see how left behind we feel.’
The problem is, many already have passed on to the great motorcycle rally in the sky. As Harley-Davidson’s customer base dwindles, they absolutely need to attract new riders. The question is, is it too much, too fast? Or is it too little, too late?
“When H-D killed off the Dyna, I could have led the revolt against the MoCo I was so angry,” says Beck in his Thoughts From the Fringes of the Motorcycle World post. “As a contributing editor at Fix My Hog, it was time to test out the new monoshock chassis and the Milwaukee 8 engine. I wanted to hate it but I couldn’t. The handling was better, the comfort was improved, and the M8 pulled hard even on the bigger bikes such as the Heritage Classic. Look at the numbers, ride one, then tell me the Dyna was better.
“Let’s be honest for a moment though,” adds Beck (pictured above), “it was never about the new chassis and motor being better or worse than the beloved Dyna. It was the fact Harley was moving forward and people who have dedicated their entire life to a brand felt left behind. Now we sit here, in our homes, our offices, our shops, glued to the web and social media as Harley rolls out the new 2020 models waiting to see how left behind we feel.”
It’s difficult to see what the future holds for Harley-Davidson. It’s hard work keeping one eye on the past while keeping the other focused on the future. It’s a challenging, transitional period for the company, but one that will hopefully keep the lights on in Milwaukee for years to come.
Check out more from Nate Beck on Instagram (@hellyeahbrotherbeck) and his Fifth Street Customs blog.
Photos: Harley-Davidson; Fifth Street Customs
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