Honda Davidson
#41
01-17-2009, 02:53 PM
Well, Harley copied the V-twin motor from Indian.
Harley copied the Softail style frame. They bought the rights from the guy who invented it.
Is Harley's line of sport bikes (Buell) a copy of the Japanese since HD didn't invent the sport bike?
How about the V-rod? Could that be a copy of a Japanese power cruiser?
The way I look at it, almost every competing product is a copy in some shape or form. HD isn't innocent of this by any means.
Harley copied the Softail style frame. They bought the rights from the guy who invented it.
Is Harley's line of sport bikes (Buell) a copy of the Japanese since HD didn't invent the sport bike?
How about the V-rod? Could that be a copy of a Japanese power cruiser?
The way I look at it, almost every competing product is a copy in some shape or form. HD isn't innocent of this by any means.
What people don't seem to understand is this:
Harley-Davidson would love to take a big chunk of the sportbike market from the japanese, even if it meant having to build something similar to the japanese superbikes. It's all about money. Harley could have a line of competitive sportbikes to lure the younger crowd to the brand, and then have them "graduate" to the line of air-cooled cruisers when they got older. It would be a dream scenario for them in a time when the average age of the H-D rider is rising.
The problem is that it is harder for Harley to make a competitive sportbike than it is for the japanese to make a decent cruiser. Harley already know from the VR1000 project how much money is going to be sucked up in R&D if they try to take the japanese on where they are the strongest. Furthermore they have to sell the bikes at ~$12,000, which means the profits would probably be minuscule at best.
Last edited by Fred00; 01-17-2009 at 02:56 PM.
#43
01-17-2009, 03:19 PM
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Don't shoot me for putting those two words together.
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2009/Jan/090116iqa.htm
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2009/Jan/090116iqa.htm
I don't see any Harley in this at all!!!!
#45
01-17-2009, 05:57 PM
I agree - it doesn't look anything like any Harley I've ever seen.
It is, however, an obvious "copy" (or at least heavily influenced by) all of the "custom choppers" from the last few years (Big Dog, American Ironhorse, etc.) - but of course, the Rocker was also a "copy" of these bikes. (But nobody jumped on Harleys case for "copying" these custom bikes.)
All major manufacturers try to emulate what the popular aftermarket trends are to some extent. Honda, however, has shown that they are WAY too slow to react to these trends.
It is obviously built to a price point and, given the right price, they would have sold a ton of them 4 years ago. Not so sure about now.
It is, however, an obvious "copy" (or at least heavily influenced by) all of the "custom choppers" from the last few years (Big Dog, American Ironhorse, etc.) - but of course, the Rocker was also a "copy" of these bikes. (But nobody jumped on Harleys case for "copying" these custom bikes.)
All major manufacturers try to emulate what the popular aftermarket trends are to some extent. Honda, however, has shown that they are WAY too slow to react to these trends.
It is obviously built to a price point and, given the right price, they would have sold a ton of them 4 years ago. Not so sure about now.
#49
01-17-2009, 06:30 PM
Harley maintains a classic motorcycle look and feel in their core product line, baggers. Honda won't try to compete in that market because it would hurt their sales of Goldwings. I think that is one reason they dropped the Valkryie line, it was cutting into the GW sales. This looks more like a copy of the choppers and Victory motorcycles. Maybe somebody should let honda know that the chopper fad is over, again.
sporty06
sporty06