raider is a kick *** bike. had 4 harleys traded in on them last year.

 

This has been more or less beaten to death, but all the Harley vs. everyone else crap aside, Harley is in financial trouble. Aside from slipping sales, their financial arm is bleeding them. It seems, like the mortgage companies, they made a lot of NINJA (no income, no job, no assets) loans during the boom that are defaulting at an alarming rate. I fully expect to see Harley file a Chapter 11 sometime during 2010. I believe they will work through it, but it's going to be a rough ride for a while.

 

Well, it won't be HD. It may be Eaglemark.

But, yeah: you're right.

It was a boom time, and they ramped up production based on the demand demonstrated by the late-'90s craziness. And in order to keep their production moving and their dealers selling, they sold cheap credit through their Eaglemark subsidiary.

Now that Eaglemark is hemorrhaging, they can't use it to maintain higher levels of production, so they scale back, concentrate on the core brand, etc etc etc.

All industries were caught by the economic downturn. That's not the MoCo's fault for doing what everyone was doing.

But how they recover will be the testament to the mettle of their C-suite guys.

Right now, what they're doing is safe, cautious, and textbook. Should be fine in few years.

 

Not sure Eaglemarks credit was so cheap, but the principle is the same. They passed out a lot of cash to questionable borrowers (as did every other bank). This post summed it all up better than I could have.

 

+1 They got greedy and let their common sense slip and threw the credit policies that made them successful out the window. Now, they are learning a big lesson. But their product will suffer because they will reduce costs by sourcing everything they can from China....watch and see.

 

One thing people do overlook is that you can get parts for your Harley 20-30 years later and keep riding it. Try that with a metric bike...nearly impossible. I had Yamahas back in the 70s...you had to order parts once your bike was 2 years old. Nobody stocked crap.

Break down on the road ?....Japan is a long walk

 

I know the metric world is ranting over how great the Raider is. It seems to have some impressive stats. I can't get passed the big piece of exposed frame in front of the gas tank or the weird bend in the exhaust. Japan misses the mark...again. They need to focus on sport bikes. Their cruiser market will always be called Harley clones.

Back on topic: Harley is slumping because almost every industry is slumping. That's it.

 

Ain't that the truth. Go back to your Yamaha forum, dood. Nobody cares what you think here.

 

To be fair........

I have a 1971 Yamaha XS650 which is incredibly easy to get parts for. And loads of after-market stuff, too. Not as much as for my '08 Harley, but for a 38-year old bike? An impressive amount.

Sure, I have to order parts and stuff. But I live in a small town, so I'm used to ordering anything and everything.

That bike has 152K on it, is infinitely wrenchable, and a pleasure to ride.

Never had to walk to Japan.

 

.......then why did you buy a Harley then?

Sounds like you were really happy with the Raider. serious question. Why spend all the extra $$$$ when you already had what you wanted.

Personally, I ride what I like. If I found another make that I liked better than my Harley....I'd go get one and unload the H/D.

I found out, that no matter what you do in life, somebody will always not like you or have a problem with you......and there ain't a damn thing you can do about it. So.....do what is right for YOU.

You have got me wanting to take a Raider for a test ride......I won't buy one, but only because my current bike is paid for, and need to save my money (if I can ).

The power you are talking about is very imrpessive.

~Joe