You young guys fixing Harleys for the sheer pleasure___
You are THERE!
Doesn't matter what your so called friends know.
WORKING ON A HARLEY IS ONE OF LIFE'S GREAT PLEASURES!"
You DO it because it is so much fun to mess with this wonderful antique of a machine.
It takes you where you REALLY need to go.
Brother from long time.
Peace.

 

I just read this 5 minutes ago........

On Jan 2, we issued an updated research report on Harley-Davidson, Inc. HOG.
The company has set a long-term plan to boost sales growth. In fact, Harley-Davidson has set a target of launching 100 new motorcycles by 2027. In 2017, the Milwaukee, WI-based company unveiled two motorcycles, the Road King Special and a more affordable Street Rod 750. Also, the company is developing its first electric motorcycle, Project LiveWire. All these efforts are aiding its revenue growth.Also, Harley-Davidson is making concerted efforts to improve its international reach and anticipates an increase of 50% in yearly volume by 2027. In sync with this strategy, the company is adding new dealerships across the globe. The company aims to add 150-200 new dealerships internationally by 2020.Harley-Davidson has a long-term growth rate of 8.5%. Over the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Harley-Davidson’s quarterly estimates has gone up.The company has outperformed the industry it belongs to in the last three months. Its shares have gained 6.7% against the industry’s loss of 5.5 %.

 

I am another who thinks the touring bike needs to lose at least 100 pounds.

If I rode as a single, my thruxton or sporty are fine. But we tour, two up. My problem is, there are no two up touring bikes offered in the standard format. STs, FJRs, Beemers, Goldwings offer no solution to a bagger. Even Polaris and the Metrics have gone after gross weight in their Harley clones. While my earlier FLHs were lighter, my 09 and newer touring frame is a better handling bike. That said, it is my last two up motorcycle in this weight category. I would switch to a plainer style metric if it weighted less, had a reasonable center of gravity and decent lean angle, locking hard bags and trunk.

Would I pay more for an carbon fiber frame, fenders. Probably yes. But I do not want a Jetson style aka Victory design. Nor do I want the cartoonish Polaris Indian. I like the clean simple style of the Road King or the Electraglide.

I had hopes for the Switchback. But it was a terrible motorcycle.My friend traded his Road King for one and 200 miles later traded it for a street glide. Screw the weight he said, the Switchback was not even a commuter for him. Now you Switchback lovers, don't get your undies in a bunch, if it works for you, great.

Maybe the new softtail frame made up as a King with hard bags, set for two up touring will buy Harley some time until these former truck designers learn about motorcycling.

By that, I mean taking off for two or more weeks, two up, with all the stuff loaded on your bike. Not supported by vans and a team of factory reps at every stop. Your baggage waiting for you in your room when you check in. Design a touring bike the way the real world uses it.

 

Those guys make me laugh. Everybody knows a real harley is a flattracker and the sportster since it's the oldest Harley model still in use. I would like to see a wide glide jump 20 buses

 

im sure this has been said already here, but i think its because the age of the chopper has gone away (not for me). There was along time that all those OCC choppers and big dog choppers and harleys were cool. They arent anymore to the younger generation.

 

I am a millennial as well, born in 1984. While I agree with some of what you say, mainly that every generation has a certain percentage that will never amount to anything, I disagree or rather have experienced exactly the opposite of your argument. Many of the people I grew up with didn't move out of their parents house until late in there 20's, I got in an argument with a women, who I have known for years, who was upset that her parents stopped paying her cell phone and car insurance, she is 31. It may be different in different places, I tend to think that millennials who can see an ocean tend to be more crazy than the kid who grew up in the Midwest on a farm, I am also not in either of these locations. Most of the millennials I know are as sensitive as the tip of your..... well you know. This is a bad thing. When people finally figure out that the world cares very little about your existence life is better. To keep this on topic lots of people say Harley should change with the times, well when they do we get 20 threads saying how awful these new bikes are and how they don't look or sound like the old ones.....pick a side. I also don't think that a lot of people my age have the funds to purchase anything, mainly because the government or their parents haven't provided it for them.

 

Wow, this thread has certainly gone all over the place!

 

I will not get into an argument about “age groups” and what is wrong with them. Hell, I grew up with that evil rock and roll and that sinful hip shaking Elvis! I will say I worked for a large hospital group and remember our Human Resources VP talking about the “young people just out of college” bringing their parents with them to job interviews. She said these kids were tied pretty tight to the “apron strings”.

 

this may be harleys wish full thinking, but if any of this is true they will have to step up quality control big time. 100 new models ? they can't keep water pumps in stock now , how in the hell will they ever keep parts for all these different models ? if they don't step up their game i'm afraid they will just keep losing market space to competing bikes. i hope not, but they need to do something like lower pricing.

we are STILL talking about oil leaks, bad wheel bearings and crappy compensators after years of it. same problems , no fixs. unless you go aftermarket. thank god for companies like Baker and S&S and others that have come to our rescue.

 

Just a stray thought - how many cars and trucks have stick shifts in them anymore? Do they teach in driver's ed how to shift a manual transmission anymore? How many people won't look at bikes 'cos they haven't a clue about how to shift? Maybe Harley should put auto trans in the Street models...