Enzo, I agree with you on just about everything. I'm a Zuki rider and I don't dislike HD's and think they're decent bikes, they just don't have all the features I wanted in a bike. But, I don't like HD as a corporation. They've been living on their name, nostalgia and marketing of the "harley lifestyle" for the last 20 years. They've whored out their name on every product known to man. When instead, they should have been getting into some serious R&D. And the buyers are partially to blame for their bike prices as high as they are, just because no matter what, alot wanted a bike just for the name. And I have to point out on thing since you brought up the Vrod vs. the VMax. I like the Vrod and it would be the only HD I'd consider right now, because of liquid cooling, but regardless of engine power they put in the Vrod, in it's current physical design, it could never compete with the Vmax riding anything other then a straight line. Similar to the Zuki M109, or the Yamaha RAider, the Vrod is just not made for seat of the pants handling and hair pin turns. Nor is the VMax, but it will still probably put any non sport bike to shame in speed and handling combined.

 

Interesting to have a rice burner view on it (my friends with Jap bikes started calling mine a "burger burner" now). Younger buyers these days are showing very little brand loyalty, they go for the best deal on what they want. Many younger riders would consider Harley if they made a sport model that could compete with the Japanese much in the same way their cruisers do: Harley will cost more, but you get what you pay for in the fit and finish of the bike.

As to the V-Rod, it doesn't stand a chance anywhere at any time against the new V-Max. It has 70hp less and the V-Max is only 19lbs heavier. Harley would have to bump their game into the stratosphere in order to get the kind of straight line performance the V-Max can achieve, but if they did it then we might have a musclebike war on our hands. Good for publicity and sales.

Get a musclebike war like the musclecar war of the '60s! I have to admit I love musclebikes, they embody everything I love about cars into a bike (musclebike is fun to say, too). That almost bottomless pit of HULK SMASH power, great stuff!. If I were to shop for a musclebike, the V-Rod is in last place. I can get a Triumph Rocket III for $1800 less or a V-Max for $800 more, both of which I would consider to be superior bikes to the V-Rod. Normally in the cruiser market, Harley makes an equivalent model of a certain metric cruiser, but with the Harley you pay a bit more for their build quality. In the musclebike ring, the Harley is too high of a price and too low on performance, but bringing a 1250cc bike into this fight is like bringing a knife to gunfight when you have a 1679cc and a 2249cc to contend with.

 

The ONLY reason yoots cannot or will not buy a Harley is money!
I couldnt buy one when I was younger either.
They go to the Honda or Kawi dealer and they can get in.
They go to Harley Dealer and they are shut out.
Where's the simple button?

 

Yep, see plenty of younguns on HD's around here, none of them are new. Don't know how Harley can sell a sportster to anyone when you can get a five year old big twin for the same money.

Problem with Harleys and younguns is MONEY, even the 883 is over priced.

 

I am 24 years old and on my second harley.
Growing up with alot of riders I think it's more a generation thing then it is money.
It's just cool to ride a crotch rocket and no one is really all that "in" to the Harley thing.
My generation doesn't care what they drive, IE they don't care if they are riding/driving an american product or a foreign product.

Just my 2 cents

 

harleys are slow, old fashioned, n you need to spend £££ to get them to go handle & sound good. when i was younger i just wanted to go fast, to be able to embarrass rich ******* in sports cars etc. you can walk into a jap dealership & some triumph n duke dealers, & get 0% over 3yrs with a undred quid down. thats what you want when your young,easy wheels. hd have just put the prices up to a point where i would have to think long n hard before i got a new softail. you can get a lot of things for 15k

 

No. Most young people don't want Harleys. It's that simple, even if it hurts to admit it. There are plenty of cruisers to buy at the price of a new sportbike, so price is really not an issue. There are used (a couple of years) Harleys, there are Sportsters and there are heaps of metric cruisers. Spend some time around younger people and you'll see that most have zero interest in Harleys, or any other cruisers.

If you don't believe me I'm sure there are plenty of dads/mums on this forum who can tell you how their sons wanted nothing but a crotch rocket as their first bike.

 

Exactly!

 

Riding a WG now...but often miss my old bike. A slammed down 1200 Sporty, Lepera bare bones, drags, fwd controls, pipes and re-jetted. That thig was a blast to ride, throw it hard into corners and throttle out of them hard.



Entry level, chick's bike, half a Harley....yeah whateva...I will someday own another Sporty. They are a blast.

 

Nice! Next time, if you aren't very tall, maybe try out mid-mount controls. You will get a bit better ground clearance around the corners.