My brother is 63 yeasr old and still rides a CBR1000 and a BMW. Would never consider a Harley. He calls em "Disco bikes"

I sold my brand new 14 Ultra after the second recall. I wouldn't touch an M8. I went from the Ultra to a Sportster 1200C buying and riding a Heritage and a Road King on the way down. My favorite Harley is the Sportster 1200C but being retired I have a new 4Runner and a new Fiat Spider. I don't have the time nor inclination to buy another Harley, I sold all of them and gave away all the HD garage signage and Harley crap.

I did not subscribe to the "Pirate" Harley "lifestyle" anyway, and although I like reading about them I appreciate Harleys still........in another's garage.

For $24K there should not have been three recalls. That tells me Harley is selling new tech to market before it's ready and making their new buyers beta testers. Don't know if the M8 has issues but I'm not interested anyway

 

I've said this many times over many topics: as a nation we have become risk-conscious and risk-averse.


There are so many examples of this...from peewee football to how we fight wars. When children are exposed to this mindset from birth through adulthood they naturally tend to be risk-averse themselves as adults. How many of us know more than 5 people who 1) think we are taking an unacceptable risk by riding, and 2) would never ever take that risk themselves?


When you take 2 loving but risk-averse parents today, what are the odds they'll think it's fine for their son or daughter to be somewhere out there on a motorcycle? About zero? Most kids being raised today do not ever have a chance to get on a real bike before they leave home. They don't develop a bond with riding at an earlier age....and therefore it's much less likely they'll somehow get the urge later in life.


I don't know where this all leads, but it seems to NOT be good for the 2-wheel motorcycle world. Most major motorcycle dealerships I've visited have far more 3 and 4 wheeled machines on the floor than true motorcycles. The lone exception are H-D dealerships. If this trend doesn't change, I'm foreseeing a 4wd H-D atv or utv plodding through a muddy pasture or carrying hunters to their destination.

 

I still love my Super Glide and have no plans to sell it. I would like to add a second a second bike when I retire. I'm actually looking outside the Harley family. It's possible my addition will even be metric. Heaven forbid! You know what? Like most on this forum, I started out on a metric. I have many found memories, especially riding my Suzuki GS750 and Honda CBX.

 

I agree with this, Harley is Old School. The youngins are not into Old School, they want bikes that look like transformers etc. If HD worked on their Street models they would probably attract more kids.

 

So, it sounds as if Harley has a lot more problems with their future, than price.
They need to figure out how to crack the "virtual world" of the millenials.
Maybe a virtual motorcycle riding game on streets and highways. The track stuff is already done, so the street is the only option.
Riding thru places I'll never get too might be something.
It'll need bars/levers/pedals and most important- COUNTERSTEERING!

 

Harley has some products to attract young riders. My only suggestion is to add a naked or adv bike.

Another problem is the brand's perception. Ask a young person what they think of Harley and they'll say words like slow, heavy, expensive old mans' bikes.

A brand's reputation is everything, but I don't see Harley making the right adjustments to meet market shifts. Millennials live online. Harley sorely needs more purposeful social media marketing. What little content I see misses the mark big time.

 

Is a 20 something year old Harley's, or even Triumph or BMW's target, I think not.
Is a prosperous 30 year old a target for Harley and BMW, yes. Is the guy who rides a sport bike/ninja a target, not yet. Most of the new riders we meet on Harley street glides are mid 30's bucks filled with vim and vigor, and as smart about motorcycles as they are about their businesses. I am always the oldest guy, but not last yet!

Harley does well in the 30-40 category. Just because I am old and ride a bagger, do not trick yourself into thinking it is an old man's bike. This Ole' Schol just does not exist except in this forum. Out there, on the road, the only riders who poo-poo Harley's are still on sport bikes. Others may hate, but much of that hate is really driven by sincere jealousy.

I belong to other brand forums and they are feeling the pinch even more than Harley. But we are focused only on Harley here, so we have nothing else to badmouth except Polaris, and that gets real old as Polaris is really non-consequential. Its like complaining about Foster's, not enough people even know it is a beer.

Maybe this is an East Coast issue, cause out here where we can ride 350-650 miles a day, Harley appeals to all groups. Now, if I am talking about riding around downtown Seattle or Portland, screw it, I'll take my sporty or even a 500cc metric any day of the week. But even commuting here, and riding from the Eastside North, South, West or over the mountains, I'll pass 20 Harley's for every other bike of another brand, and 1000 or more Harley's before seeing a Polaris. Maybe all the Polaris's everyone is worried about are collectors bikes, sitting mothballed in garages until they grow in value, while every Harley is out there ready to be ridden.

 

All the young ones I know (East Coast) all think Harley is it (Murdered Out of course), they either dont have the money or just are not into riding. Most of them barely rode a bicycle. They honestly do not know what they are missing and dont care enough to findout.

 

I agree. I rode used for 22 years before I could afford a new '88 FLHS. Even my '80 FLH was used. Even my sportsters were used.

If you came up to me in 1971 and told me you'd give me a New Harley, I'd have been all over that.

 

Bottom line is HD hasn't changed the general product since the 30's...same old same old... They live in the past , only so long that works BUT look how long it HAS worked...so maybe if it ain't broke , don't fix it is working for them but it's slowing down...