Do people not realize that Harley Davidson motorcycles use all kinds of parts not made by Harley? Including items made in China. Harleys now are more "Assembled in America" then "Made in America". Unfortunately that is the way of the world now-a-days. You can get stuff manufactured in Asia and shipped here cheaper than you can manufacture it here. It f__king sucks, but that's the global economy. Bikes, cars, computers, appliances, you name it, part of it is made in China.

Made in China doesn't automatically mean junk like it did 40 years ago. Their manufacturing is just as good as anyone else now. Probably since they have used industrial espionage to steal everyone's technology. Don't get me wrong, I am not happy about a Chinese Harley either but I kind of see where Harley exec's are coming from.

Harley has tried for years to break into the small bike market. They tried it on their own a few times, and bombed. They partnered with Aermacchi back in the 60's. That didn't work. They tried with their Street series. We all know how that went over. Harley does one thing really well. And that's big, powerful motorcycles. Small lightweight motorcycles? Not so much. So why not partner up with someone who is already good at that, and learn from them? The automobile industry has been doing this for years. Like it or not, the bikes this company builds are good quality bikes. They know how to make small bikes that will attract buyers. The target audience for these bikes are not like all of us on this forum. They care a lot less about where something is made. They want reliable transportation at a reasonable price. These bikes should fit the bill. Harley's extensive dealer network will also help as it will be easy to find a dealership to do repairs and maintenance.

I hope these bikes are a roaring success for the MoCo. By getting a whole new demographic on Harley badged motorcycles it will open up all kinds of possibilities for the MoCo. And hopefully Harley learns from this partnership, and can finally start designing and building quality small bikes at prices that the target audience want to pay. Time will tell.

 

My preference is to always buy American whenever I can.

The world makes that difficult. Remember when Wal-Mart was proudly All-American? And today, they've got more Chinese crap on their shelves than Harbor Freight.

Some BMW bikes have Chinese engines. Lots of Hondas and Kawasakis and Yamahas are made in the repressive Kingdom of Thailand. Triumphs, the proud British marque, are made in Thailand, folks call them Thairumphs. BMW markets Indian-made bikes.

The Benelli bikes get good reviews. They work, and are really good value.

It grates and irritates to see Harley going to China. But... Think about it. Harley built and sold the 125cc model that was made from **** plans after WWII. We have all accepted that Japanese quality is among the finest in the world. Many of us lust after Italian bikes like Ducatis and Moto Guzzis, and Harley themselves imported and sold Italian Aermacchi motorcycles branded as Harley Davidson. These are all countries that we fought horrific deadly bloody wars against! They were our deadliest enemies in WWII. Americans are all too happy to buy the high-quality, superbly engineered German craftsmanship of Volkswagen, a company literally created by Adolf Hitler and his **** party.

So will US customers embrace a Chinese Harley? History seems to indicate that it's inevitable. And the precedents are clearly established. But I definitely understand folks who have a problem with it.

 

I have zero issues with any manufacturer using parts from anywhere in the world. From Japanese suspension components to Italian brakes, Harleys are better for their integration.

I do take issue with Harley Davidson simply slapping their badge on a bike they did not design and build. If they had designed an American style small motorcycle and did some of the manufacturing offshore I could give it a pass, I know a few here who would have heart failure. The Revolution Max platform did list displacements starting at 500cc

No, this is just pure bean counter bullshit that undermines the values of the brand and now the sycophants are starting to form their chorus line in support.

 

Harley has proved over and over that they don't have a hot clue how to design a small displacement motorcycle that will actually sell. So they should continue with this? Hemorrhaging millions of dollars with every failure? I'm no bean counter, but that just doesn't seem to make sense to me. Maybe they will actually learn something from partnering with someone who is very successful doing this. And then they can use what they learn to design and build small bikes that actually appeal to the market they want to target. That's a lot cheaper then investing in failure after failure.

But I cant argue argue with someone smart enough to use big words like sycophants. So I'll just say you're right. I'm not being a smart ***, I actually had to Google it to see what it meant.

 

The Royal Enfield Himalayan is an all-Indian design, small adventure bikes are huge business over there because the roads are so bad. The BMW G310 GS and the KTM 390 Adventure are other examples of small-displacement adventure bikes made in India.

Interestingly, Harley has partnered with Hero, the gigantic motorcycle manufacturer in India, to make their own 350cc bike. After the failure of the XG Street series in India, Harley turned their plant and their distribution over to Hero, so Hero distributes the existing M8 and Rev Max bikes in India. But they're making their own 350cc Harley for the Indian market. So Harley will actually have two 350cc models on the market at the same time, the joint venture with QianJiang producing the X350 in China, and the joint venture with Hero producing an as-yet-unnamed 350 in India. It's certainly possible that the Indian-made 350 could be an adventure flavor bike, but the few stories out about it so far usually call it a cruiser. Some estimates put its market arrival as 1Q 2024. No idea if it will make it to US shores either.

India and China are the two biggest motorcycle markets in the world. Harley has failed to gain any traction there. I don't know how it's "sycophantic" to say that if you want to sell motorcycles in those markets it's probably wise to go about partnering with Indians to make bikes that appeal to Indians at a price that Indians can afford, and partnering with China to make bikes that appeal to Chinese (and other Asian) customers at prices that those Asian customers can afford. Certainly seems a lot smarter than trying to cram the XG500 down their throats, which didn't work at all.

Only question I have is how such products will be received on American shores, where apparently the X350 is (somewhat surprisingly) headed.

 

Here's the deal from a dealership perspective, the only X350's that are coming to the US is the X350-RA which is only for the HD riding academy to replace the XG500's that are currently in use and are out of production here. This is not a retail customer bike. The X350 and X350-RA are grouped together for EPA testing as the powerplant is the same in both machines. Harley has discontinued the XG500 and XG750 in the US markets and therefore needs an alternative for the Riding Academy.

 

sycophants

1. a person who acts obsequiously toward someone important in order to gain advantage.
   "because he is high-ranking, he's surrounded by sycophants"

which lead to more lurning...

obsequiously
1.
characterized by or showing servile complaisance or deference; fawning
an obsequious bow
2.
servilely compliant or deferential
obsequious servants
3.
obedient; dutiful



..L.T.A.

 

Latest update: the X350 will NOT be coming to America. CEO confirmed that the X350RA is the new Riding Academy model, and he said the X350 will not be sold in the USA.
From the Q2022 numbers article at motorcycle.com:
That comports with all the initial articles and announcements back in 2019, where it was said that it was an Asian bike for Asian customers built and distributed by Asians. Recent confusion about the CARB registration for the regular X350RA had led to several articles saying that the end-customer, retail-sale X350 was coming to the USA as well, but this recent statement seems to put the nail in that speculation's coffin.

No mention whatsoever of the X500, which we can likely also assume will not see US shores.

 

Is this thing made in the same factory as the "weather" balloon?

 

Which one? Because there's another one down in South America. I'm sure it just drifted off course too.