Part of a MSN Article dealing with Harley Davidson....

I don't have anything against female owners and riders, but how times have changed from the days when anyone riding a Harley was considered to be a 'lowlife thug'....


"Now Harley has bet its future on what it sees as a particularly desirable market: women. "They've been trying to branch out from the core customers," says Diedrich, the Edward Jones analyst. "And they have done a lot to make Harleys . . . more appealing to women."

To that end, the company has introduced certain features to attract more female riders, including softer clutches and lower frames, to allow a shorter rider to keep her feet on the ground. Meanwhile, Harley has been marketing to women aggressively. "They're the only manufacturer that I'm aware of that has a division solely devoted to marketing to women," says Genevieve Schmitt, whose online magazine, Women Riders Now, gets 80,000 unique visitors a month.

In this at least, Harley's timing is perfect. Last year the Motorcycle Industry Council released a survey that took the industry by surprise: Women's share of the motorcycle-riding population had jumped to 12.4% in 2008 from 9.6% in 2003.

Beyond new customers, Schmitt says, she thinks Harley may gain another advantage in building up a female customer base. "When you convince Mom to ride, she's very likely to give her blessing to a son or daughter or a husband to ride. If you have Mom in your corner, you have the whole family."

Here is the complete Article:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...-the-hill.aspx

 

Yep and at the same time they have convinced people that dresers are cool and chrome isnt... quite a change from even 2004 (I do like the easier to pull clutch on my 07 Sporty though)

 

They can try but they aint gonna convince my mom to ride anytime soon. In their big game of marketing no one is off limits. Every man, woman, and child should have a harley.. and wear all the appropriate clothes. I'm thinking ... mini bikes are commin.

 

Well, I'm one of those "over-the-hill-boomers" in the article and just bought
(like 3 weeks ago..) an '09 1200C. I hadn't ridden more than 20 miles since 1969
when I owned a '58 A-10 BSA 650.

I wanted a modern version of the bikes that I rode 40 years ago, bikes that I
didn't have to jam my heels in my *** and lay down on the tank to ride and
only the Sportster met that criteria. I don't want something the size of a Big
Twin, I want a leaner bike and while there are plenty of damn fast crotch rockets,
none of them suited me.

I probably am a typical buyer...

BTW, gorgeous day today so I got out and rode. It's starting to come back..

 

Yeah I can see it now....

A bunch of 'Baby Bikers' cruising the roads on their Harley mini-bikes.

 

There is definitely a campaign going on. Last summer my wife helped our local dealer run a ladies night. They laid on wine, live music and prizes and attracted about 20 women. I think they are definitely struggling to increase brand appeal.

There was an article in the NY Times last week that highlighted a major problem with the Harley image. The article said that Harley only appeals to geezers and has lost the majority of the young market to Japanese and European brands.

 

Awesome!

Hope they are marketing the sportster as the perfect Girls bike to get started on???



Duck!!!! incomming!

 

No, that would be the Deluxe

 

Interesting article and probably very true about the average rider age increasing. You just don't see younger guys riding anything (any make) in the numbers you used to see 20 or 30 years ago.

 

This may explain the "Iron"