Harley-Davidson's Revolution Max Lineup Set to Expand
By Bruce Montcombroux

These new models are a bid to attract new and younger riders.

 

Not necessarily 'young' riders but maybe attract 'new' customers to the HD brand. I am not sure going after the BMW type crowd is actually 'young.' The last time I was shopping for an 'adventure style bike' the crowd at the BMW dealer was significantly older than the crowd at the Harley dealer. Something to think about and/or study with a tour of the local competition dealerships.

 

"Harley-Davidson's proposed flat tracker takes its styling cues from the XG750R Street Rod race bike. The seat and tank design, along with the two stacked exhaust pipes on the right-hand side, closely mimics the XG750R layout. It also pays homage to the XR750 flat track racer — a bike that dominated flat track racing and secured Harley-Davidson's racing legacy."

If they are taking their cues from a 750cc bike why didn't they do this with the Street series frame and Revolution/X engine?

 

They should have done that and a scrambler when they first came out with the Street series.

 

I keep hearing this that Harley is attempting to attract younger riders while releasing bikes for 20-30K. A weird strategy when you consider that the most popular bikes with younger people such as myself are cheaper motorcycles. That's not to say my generation wont pay premium prices for a premium product, just in my experience with my friends, smaller bikes with less displacement are more popular. 5-15k is the price bracket I see most people my age shopping in, and most don't even give Harley a second look unless their dad had one like myself. Harley needs to expand or revamp their street/sportster line if they want younger riders, or make a new product in that price range. Watching my friends buy new Interceptor 650s, Bonneville T100s, my best friend just bought a neat little Classic 500, or more expensive Indian Scouts/Scout Bobbers and the like tells me loud and clear that younger riders are still buying bikes and if you listen to them you will get their money. The huge popularity of retro styled and old school "feel" motorcycles tells me that Harley is missing out big with younger riders. Especially because Harley has old designs of smaller bikes that I know would be a huge draw and I have heard people talk about them while bemoaning the MOCO. I will share one such conversation, what if Harley took the Forty-Eight, and instead of having it be just another sportster, properly recreated the style of the 48 panhead and kept it a small bike like the panhead was. If they could keep it under 13k or ideally around 10k maybe cheaper with even smaller motors like the 750, that would be a product I can confidently say would bring everyone I know into a dealership to pour their wallets out to the MOCO, and put Polaris and Triumph on notice. Notice that Harley isnt just going to cede the beginner/economy market. I know it sounds like a huge reach, but basically all I'm suggesting is to shrink the FLDE by ~20% and put a smaller motor on it, get her down to the ~550lbs we expect from a sportster. The Bronx and the Pan-America, the entire revmax lineup is cool. However it's just that, cool, I wouldnt anticipate any of them doing big sales numbers, Harley has tried expensive "sport" bikes before, as well as ADV bikes with the Buell brand, check out how successful the Ulysses was. BMW guys are entrenched, they will ride their gs1200 to the grave, and sports bikes are a market that you cant really jump into at the deep end, you have to build from the bottom. I'm 21, so I'm something of an early warning of Gen Z, but they really dont call us Zoomers for no reason. We have a concerning amount in common with the Baby Boomers, but that might not be all bad, it could mean a huge new customer base and a long bright future for the MOCO. They just have to hook us the same way they hooked the Boomers way back when, with an ever so slightly adjusted playbook for modern sensibilities. I made this account on here to make this post so thanks for coming to my TED talk.

 

Welcome aboard! You have a interesting perspective and some sound recommendations. I liked the idea of taking a sporty in another direction also. Historically however, the moco loses every time they venture away from their traditional image re: the Aermachi imports, v rod,, etc...

Of course, I’m also an old man and entrenched with my opinions at this point. : )

 

Only their "Touring" bikes are $20k+. In the "Street" and "Cruiser" lineup, 13 of the 15 bikes offered are less than $20k; the lowest cost is the Street 750 at $7599.

You have to go to the "Touring" lineup to find $20k price tags, and I would argue that the touring bikes are most definitely not aimed at attracting new or younger riders.

As far as the Indian Scout or Interceptor 650, you're spot on. Harley's attempt at a lower-cost bike was the Street 500/Street 750, bikes that were overpriced, grossly overweight, underpowered, and had no style as compared to something like, say, the Indian Scout Bobber. I like to think of it as Harley building a "low cost Harley" rather than them actually building an appropriate product for that price class.

However, things that they've shown do look promising. They're selling $600 electric bikes for kids, they're bringing out an electric scooter and an electric mountain bike, and I believe that the "Sportster" as we know it is likely to be completely replaced by bikes like the Bronx. They've talked about the new engine being available in a range of displacements (500/750/975/1250 cc) and the most recent bike they've introduced (the LiveWire) is completely unlike any bike they've ever introduced ever -- it's better, more sophisticated, has better components, and better performance, than any other bike on the market. So -- while some will bemoan that they can't pack luggage and tour cross country on it, I see it the opposite way: they made a bike completely and entirely unrestricted by any shackles of design from any previous model, and they built the best bike in the world. That gives me optimism for what they might be able to do with the Bronx, the Pan America, the forthcoming middleweight electric, and other models. They're even going so far as to build a 338cc lightweight/low cost bike for Asian markets, partnering with a Chinese company to do the actual building of it. So clearly they're open to new ideas.

It seems to me that they've finally learned that a big air-cooled V-twin is appropriate for the big heavy touring bikes, but for the smaller/lighter bikes they can ditch it and instead build technology and performance on par with the best companies in the world. So I'm very interested to see the market reception for the Bronx and Pan America next Spring; those will tell the tale as to whether Harley will be relevant for generations to come, or whether they should just retreat to building the Road Glide/Street Glide and abandon all other aspirations.

 

I definitely hope you're right in your vision for the rev max line being in the price range of the sportster line. I'm mostly concerned that Harley is going to shoot for the top of the market with the Bronx and Pan America, be disappointed by low sales, and then we will never get to see the more affordable models. Guys at my local dealer are concerned that we will ever even get to see the middleweight electric bike because of the difficulty they have had selling the Livewire. 30K is a lot to ask for an around town electric bike. I just dont want to see the Pan America end up like the Ulysses, trying to duke it out with the well established beemers, and the Bronx ending up like the V-Rod. I want to see the cheaper streetfighters more than I want to see the top of the line models. If Harley releases the Bronx and the Pan America at the top end of the market, and then give up because they dont sell gangbusters, that would be the worst thing they could do. Because then they are never even giving the younger generation a chance to show interest. They would be relying on their current customer base buying bikes that they didnt get into the brand for anyway, and that isnt a winning strategy if what you want to do is get new blood into your customer base. Hopefully the Bronx will be a reasonably priced bike, in the top end sportster range like a 48 maybe, and the Pan America will at least be competitively priced with the GS series, or better yet, a lower displacement Pan America, maybe slightly lighter, to properly compete with the under 10k ADV market. That is, at least from my perspective, the best course for Harley if they do want to attract new riders with these new models.

 

Agreed entirely. I understand the LiveWire positioning, it's a whole new world and they wanted to set the standard and show off what they can do.

But that's not the case with the Revolution Max bikes. Both of those are competing in mature markets. They would be well served to introduce mid-level products instead of staking out only the ultra premium options.

Back on the Pan America, they are apparently going head to head with the top of the line bestselling 1250GS. Which, I guess it makes sense, but it won't likely attract young or new riders. I just bought a Moto Guzzi V85TT Adventure today, and it is astounding how good a bike you can get for not too much money ($12,500). If I thought Harley was due to announce a middleweight, mid-priced Pan America I might have waited, but seeing as they were aiming for the 1250GS (a bike I have zero interest in), I pulled the trigger on the Moto Guzzi.

I still have and love my 2018 Fat Bob, and I wish my ADV could have been a Harley too. So I definitely agree, the middleweight/mid-priced lineup is what they need to make it f they want new and young customers.

 

Were they really trying? Most of the orphaned products mentioned in this thread were from before I started riding. The V-Rod was dropped just after I purchased my Street 750. I'm guessing that they all got the same disdain from the Harley Faithful, dealers not interested in trying to sell anything other than the usual fare, and H-D really being OK letting new ideas die on the vine.
Ah, but the young man goes on to say that "5-15k is the price bracket I see most people my age shopping in...". That puts the count down to 9 that he thinks young, beginning riders can afford. If he's expecting an out the door price you can count out the three Softails, leaving maybe 6. I'm not sure that with freight, tags, title and possibly some accessories Sportster Roadster and Forty-Eight would even make the cut. Basically he's looking at the pared down product families of Streets and Sportsters, which are the very product lines being replaced by the Revolution Max bikes.

If the Revolution Max line of bikes fails, H-D will have nothing to offer anybody other than the current Harlier Than Thou crowd. The new CEO cancelling the More Roads to H-D project is basically saying he isn't interested in selling bikes to the people he currently isn't selling bikes to. I don't see that as being supportive of a major product line revision.