what shocks are you using

 

Over a month ago we posted an article about the direction Harley is going. You can see it at this LINK. Some interesting info, patents and photos in there.




Then, a little over 10 days ago we posted this-

In case you have not seen Harley-Davidson's New Business Plan-

Here it is. Get Ready!



No Sportster or Softail models mentioned at all.

Electric is second on their list.



In response, some folks said you could see the Sportsters listed under the Street tab, to which we replied-


They're boiling that frog slowly, but they are doing it.

No where under the Street tab does the word Sportster appear.

No where under the Cruiser tab does the word Softail appear.

Also, look closely under the Cruiser tab...where is the Heritage?

Now look under the Touring tab...you will see the Heritage there.

They are blurring the lines, and getting prepared to do some pretty big things over the next couple of years.

It won't be long until there is a whole new crop of HD riders who won't even know what the words Softail or Sportster mean.


Finally, I just saw that the UK has moved up their date to less than 15 years from now. NO new ICE vehicles will be sold in the UK starting in 2035...that's coming up pretty dadgum fast. The world is changing and HD does not want to be left behind...in fact, looks like they want to be leading the pack.



A couple of years ago I would have never believed it....BUT....

Two things I observed in the last week-

1. A twenty-something guy who has been riding since he was 10, the last 4 years on his Sporty, told me he was selling it. It has gotten too dangerous for him to ride with all the inattentive cagers out there.

2. Devin (the "D" in DK) stopped by a Dealership and saw the Harley Balance Bikes for kids. See them at this LINK



He is getting one for his son, Gabe, for his upcoming 4th birthday.

That, I believe, is how Harley plans to stay in the motorcycle game.

Gabe will have his first Harley at age 4. At some point down the road he will probably get a Harley E-Bike. Then when he turns 16 and gets his license, he will get a Harley motorcycle....probably an electric one. That will be what he has known since is first one at age 4.

It's a whole new world!



P.S. Here's a photo of a bike I would have loved to have as a kid! In fact, I'd like one now, but I know I would hurt myself. :laugh:

 

Opinions vary.

 

Over at the Adventure Riders forum, they LOVE electric bikes. I wonder how many years it would take to cross Europe or go from Alaska to Patagonia?

On top of that, the mining conditions for the cobalt, and the many countries that use children to mine is deplorable. In my opinion these people are diving headlong into a pool, without having any idea where the bottom is. I can somewhat understand major cities using electrics where the people are stacked on top of each other like sardines, cutting smells and noise, but they are pushing too much too fast. Thats my opinion.

 

I don't know why this is so difficult for some of y'all it's actually pretty simple. just because it doesn't say sportster doesn't mean they are getting rid of it, when the bronx comes out you will most likely find it under the street section also along with the sportster and street. When the pan America comes out it will most likely be under the touring section, when the other electric bikes come out they will be with the livewire under the electric. If they still made the vrod it would have been in the cruiser section. If they make a dual sport or off road section it can be multiple types of bikes in that category from a true dirt bike to a sportster scrambler to a stripped down pan America type bike. So instead of clicking on a family of bikes like sportster and looking through a bunch of different types of sportsters made for different purposes you click on a category like street bikes, touring bikes etc.. and you get all of the bikes they offer in that category. It makes it easier for people who are new to harley which is who they are trying to attract, someone who already knows harley will know what they are looking at

 

Lol prob just got some new kid in the MoCo that does web sites and decided it needed to look differently. I worked for the Fed gvmt for over 27 years. You cannot believe how many times regulations and laws changes because some new puke decided it was worded incorrectly. They never got better, just different.

I see companies rearrange their web sites all the time. Microsoft is the worst. They always change stuff, and once in a while they improve it. Most of the time not.

 

That's it a lot of the time. All of the new "kids" on the block, whether it be the junior programmer or new product manager, immediately want to change something to put their stamp on things. I briefly did tech support for an ISP. It's amazing how many different names and icons MS changed between versions of their operating systems, but when you clicked on them they all did the same thing.

I've already stated my preference that H-D preserve the Sportster name and spirit in the new modular bike line. It can be done, but it could be another one of those "old ideas" that the new kid on the block is determined to stamp out just to make his mark.

We keep telling each other to ride their own ride. For a lot of riders, limited range and long charging times make the current electric motorcycle offerings useless. I can't imagine trying to cruise across large swaths of the United States and having to spend as much time charging the bike as I do riding it. On the other hand, give me a bike with the performance, range and price of a Sportster Iron 883 or a Street 750 and it would work just fine for me in commuter service.

 

Is this all what have been left from Sportsters lineup in US?

 

They enjoy electrics as a dirtbike, to have fun on MX track or somewhere in fields. I suppose nobody yet expects full electric replacement for adventure.

 

I did just read that Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman just completed filming their new "adventure" from Patagonia to Los Angeles on HD Livewires. Claimed they got 200-300 miles per charge, then charge overnite, sometimes "borrowing" power from locals.

Would be interested in seeing how bad they did.

I would like a dual sport bike again (dual sportster?) and browsing through craigslist I saw a KTM 1190 Adventure. So I did what I usually do, look up reported issues, specs, and maint costs. WOW at 18K is the valve service, not a bad interval, but a whopping $900 for said service. Not sure how HD rates compare, but I do know much of this can be done diy'er with reasonable skills. I could afford a used KTM, but not the maint costs, if I had to have a shop do it.

Now when the livewire batt goes out, do you have to contact that little kid to crawl down in the hole to mine cobalt to get a new one? All these folks that declare how green they are and seemingly care less where or how the stuff is mined. They send child labor laws back 100 yrs just to cut emissions.