I went in to the dealer last December to buy a new 2018 Ultra Classic to replace my 1999 UC. No such luck on the 2018 UC but I had a choice of many Ultra Limited models. I did an inflation calculation on the 1999 UC at $19,500 in 1999 dollars....brought that up to 2018 and *preseto* it came out to $29,400. Several thousands more than the 2018 Ultra Limited I bought, which also happened to cost me less than MSRP.

So, for just a bit more than the 1999 Ultra Classic cost new you can almost get a CVO! A 2018 Ultra Limited 115 year is less.

What has really happened is that wages have not kept up to what they were in 1999. Everything seems to cost a lot when your wages have not kept up with inflation. To me that is the real issue. Purchasing power is down significantly.

 

As a cost analyst, i'm pretty good at knowing what knowing what goes into a price. yes, motorcycles are expensive compared to cars, but it comes down to volumes. as for the labor costs (union arguments) labor cost is typically 5-8% of the cost of any vehicle. so its really a moot point. what drives the price is material cost and conversion costs (what it takes to make raw goods into finished products) look at the price of steel, when it goes up, your bike goes up. the cost to design a single part can be in the millions, if you think about every single piece in your bike, it had to be designed, and patterns built and the machines to build that part had to be designed, and purchased. you have to divide that development cost over the number of bikes you plan to sell. if its only 100k, vs 10 million cars, you are going to pay more for a bike. i'm sure everyone appreciates the quality of modern engines, these require precision CNC tools, and those come with a hefty price tag. all of which is built into the price of your new bike. robotic welders produce the high quality frames everyone is spoiled by. (i have had to chisel weld slag off an AMF frame before i painted it) robot welders aren't cheap. so yes, bikes are getting expensive, but there is a pretty good reason for it, they are also a hell of a lot better than they used to be. and honestly, there is a premium of about 2-3k for a harley, but i think the level of service, and support offsets that cost

 

got it

 

Well put.

From the 2016 & 2017 HD Income Statement, their average gross profit is 37%. That’s the profit from revenue after the cost of manufacturing, that’s right in line with other manufacturing companies. But, we also know Harley sells a lot of parts and clothes and crap.,,and they have a higher gross margin than bikes, . So, IMHO Harley’s bike prices are in line with their cost of manufacturing.

They also put a respectable 10% earnings on the bottom line. But, the biggest profiter from HD was the government. In 2017 HD paid $342.1M in income tax on earnings of $863.8M...for a whopping 39.6%!!

 

I have no complaints..my 2017 RK msrp was only a few hundred more than my 2015 RK msrp..big improvements for a few hun

 

Have ya seen the price of a Kilo of cocaine these days , ****ing outrageous !
Joke guys , a joke.

 

The $2.2 million dollar Bugatti is not over priced to the ones that buy it.

A painting by one of the masters at $40 million dollars also is not overpriced to the buyer.

Generally anyone saying something is overpriced is meaning that they can not afford it.

Of the 25 new H-D motorcycles that I have bought from 2006 on to me were fair priced. No I am not wealthy I just foolishly waste my retirement funds on them. I never made more than an average income and for a couple of periods in my life below average. I retired in an area of low cost of living and low taxes. The house was built in 1951 and is a two bed one bath 1,100 sq. ft bungalow which was 68K when I got it. If I lived in SoCal the total amount of what I spent on bikes would only get me an average house. So I would not be able to have a bike with the mortgage and taxes alone.

So not all people say H-Ds are overpriced.

 

Build a normal 2,500 sq ft home. Buy a truck as comparatively nice as a new H-D CVO bagger. Put in a custom in-ground pool with all the accoutrements. Buy a Ranger bass boat with a 100 horse Yamaha. Buy a good trail-riding horse and all that goes with owning one. You can blow 10k into a refrigerator if your wife has expensive tastes. My average shoes cost between $100 - $175. Bottle of low-average wine is $18 at the store and $40 at a restaurant. In the '90s a hotel was $50+ per night and they've generally doubled or more. College tuition anyone?


I am currently shopping trucks and $50k is the entry point for anything beyond a very basic, bare-bones diesel. Most I'm looking at are stickered at $64-69k. Crazy.


H-D is not over-priced unless we agree everything is over-priced. If you're making enough money, a lot fewer things are over-priced.

 

Unless they sold the bike for almost $8K over MSRP I call Bull Shoot!

http://www.seedealercost.com/product...ug/powersports

 

Shots fired !