Harley and Ducati have been merged before. I think that they have been owned by the same parent company twice if I am not mistaken.Cagiva briefly owned Harley (aren't they the ones who 'saved' Harley from AMF? I can't recall the exact facts...sorry), and I think that some other company owned both Ducati and Harley for a short time before that. Many small parts such as oil filters and other items are the same for the early 1990's Harleys and Ducatis (and I think some of the late 70's or early 80's bikes share some parts too). Sorry that I don't have the exact facts, but I know that they were somehow related at least once.

 

NEVER say NEVER is how the old saying goe's.....I would not be surprised at all if honda and harley merged together.....Has anyone REALLY took a good look at their harleys lately.....LOTS of foreign parts, including cases made in INDIA etc.....Harley aftermarket parts, made in CHINA, TAIWAN, etc.....Harley BOOTS and LEATHERS made overseas.....Helmets etc......
The bottom line folks is that all companies are all about making money......And if a UNION shop in america is getting their folks 25 dollars an hour, 3 weeks paid vacation, sick leave, maternity leave, etc etc.....And the cost to do bussiness with them becomes too high to compete.....Well it makes sense to look else where for your parts to be made.....Its no different than when we go to the store and get an item that cost LESS compared to a similar item.....We buy the item that cost less most of the time.

I as much as anyone wish like heck that harleys, fords, chevys, dodges etc were all 100% made in the good ole usa........But its just not the case......Even our nations FIGHTER JETS have ALOT of parts made in other countries.....Our combat boots are made in taiwan and CHINA these days.....I hate it more than anything, and try my DAMNEST to buy american......But its gettin really hard to find ANYTHING made here.......My martin guitar was made here in the USA...At least i am happy bout that.......Its almost as if AMERICA is no longer a country......But more like a corporation.....The united states of america inc !

 

Harley and Ducati have been merged before. I think that they have been owned by the same parent company twice if I am not mistaken.Cagiva briefly owned Harley (aren't they the ones who 'saved' Harley from AMF? I can't recall the exact facts...sorry), and I think that some other company owned both Ducati and Harley for a short time before that. Many small parts such as oil filters and other items are the same for the early 1990's Harleys and Ducatis (and I think some of the late 70's or early 80's bikes share some parts too). Sorry that I don't have the exact facts, but I know that they were somehow related at least once. As far as I know, the only relationship to date between Harley and Ducati is that the original Aermacchi factory in Varese. Italy was owned by Cagiva during the period it owned Ducati. Aermacchi was the part of Harley that made various small motorcycles, most notably the Sprints in the '60s. If my memory serves Cagiva is an acronym made up from CA (for Castiglione, the owners family name) GI (for Giovanni, their fathers name) and VA (for Varese where their factory was located). Of course, Cagiva hasn't owned Ducati for years. Ducati is a publicly traded company. Harley left the AMF group via a leveraged buyout put together by the management team with the backing of Citibank. Harley became a publicly traded company in 1986.

 

Don't ever believe a press release by a major company spokesman.
Didn't Enron teach you people never to believe the head of any company?

It could happen, or not.
Sad if it does.

 

as far as chryslers and mercedes - who designed the 300?

 

I have a 300c and love it.
Chrysler used Mercedes engineering for the suspension.
It's made out of aluminum on the Mercedes and steel on a Chrysler.

The transmission behind the Hemi (in name only) motor is a Mercedes transmission.
Because Chrysler couldn't afford to design and build a new one, just to put behind 340 hp.

I must admit the rest is Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth engineering and build quality.

 

Kinda' puts a new spin on things doesn't it?........H.D." Honda Davidson". Now that's ugly!!!Maybe they were just talking about buying one for the ultimate riding pleasure!!!!!!!!

 

A lady at the tattoo parlor mentioned this to me the other day. I couldn't take her seriously because she was eyeballing my bike and asking some strange questions. Then she said, "well, you know all your doing is buying a name." Conversation over!! I hate when people do that. Especially when she said her and her husband ride matching Honda Rebel's.......

 

Somehow I just get this picture of a"lady" tatooed with Honda Rebel hidden between the cheeks of an overly ample **** and saying, "I've got a biker tatoo but you've gotta get real close to see it!"

[:'(]

 

She is obviously one of the true intellectual titans of our time.