you know the old saying there is an *** for every seat. I hate plaid shirts but every time i hit a store there are racks of them meaning somebody likes them. Its the same with bikes weather it be softail, dyna, gulide, or versa there will always be an *** for all of them and of course we all love the model we ride. the one thing we all have in common is we have a harley Davidson which is how we all ended up on this fourm. peace to all

 

No argument from me on this score. I'm with you. A Harley is a Harley in my book.

P.S.- That's one handsome bike you have!

 

Here's a good article on the subject.
http://www.strategy-business.com/press/16635507/12878

 

Actually in 1984 HD came out with the EVO motor.That's HD turn itself around.The Fatboy came out in the early 90's.By that time HD was well on their way to being #1 again

 

A little more indepth perspective on harley's business practices:

http://stroked.virtualave.net/casestudy.shtml

 

What George C and Oldtimer posted are correct. I was part of a Harley dealership at the time and it wasn't the Fatboy that saved Harley. The biggest things besides what those two posted are the introduction of the FXR and The five speed tranny. Harley only regretted that the EVO had not completed testing before the FXR's introduction but H-D had to make a bold statement with something after the buyback. What we got was the FXR Shovelhead followed by the FXR Evo. The Evo and manufacturing practices saved us. The other thing, no kidding aside was Harley set up two panels and gave them a task that could change HD's image and get potential customers. the first group come up with the NOVA, a water cooled OHV engine cofiguratgion and chassis. The other panel, led by Trev Deeley a canadian dealer / importer came up with...tada, The Harley Owner's Group. Harley won with both though. They used alot of thelater chassis designs from theNova to created the FXR. HOG was released later.
I remember when the Fatboy was introduced and alot of customers didn't like it. We painted most of our customers, only to regret later.

 

Just marketing hype, like the one that says HD were selling Harleys in 1903, not true either, but it makes a good story.

 

Buckeye, please support your story about Harley no selling in 1903, dont just post something like that without any supporting evidence sir...

 

Pres Reagan's $750 tariff on big Japanesebikes gave them some breathing room and the Evolution and Softails saved them. HD7585is right - His bike started the HD revolution.

 

Interesting... I read an article/interview a year or two ago where one of the Honda MC VPs was quoted as saying one of their major problems was that their bikes were too dependable. Their plan was to change the engineering and design to requiremore service ala "HD". Apparentlythe MoCo has the correct formula for breeding customer loyalty and dependency... Buy aGoldWing and you never visit the dealer again, by aHarley and you're back every 2500-5000 miles. That's the way the Japanese see it anyway...