Came across this article. Can't speak to the authorship as I have never heard of The Motley Fool but it's a quick read.



https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/comp...iqD?li=BBnbfcN

 

hmm.. good read... thanks for sharing

 

They just aren't as profitable as last year at this time, but still making a good profit. Buyer demographics have changed as us older guys die off and younger people aren't into Harleys too much since they didn't grow up in the biker gangs and chopper eras of the 50's though 70's which created a secret desire to be a biker.

While this will seem blasphemy, if H-D could secretly buy out Kawasaki, change nothing whatsoever and just rake in the money, they would be better off and could keep on building Harley Davidson bikes that are getting increasingly out of anyone but the rich's price range.

 

I used to subscribe to Motley Fool. David and Tom Gardner are pretty sharp cookies in the realm of investing. But I think they are missing the key ingredient to Harley's business model - "Baby Boomers".

Baby Boomers brought Harley to the party. We reached our peak earnings in the last decade and had a lot of discretionary funds to buy big toys. But I think there is more to it than that.

We were groomed to love bikes early on. We we were at that influential age as the biker culture was coming to be. From 1955 to 1975 the "bad ***" Biker culture was being defined. Marlon Brando, Lee Marvin, Jame Dean, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Elvis Presley, etc were branding what it meant to be a "Biker". Biker equated to Rebel. Biker equated to independance. The Biker image was deeply imprinted in the back of my brain. Though I owned more metrics than I can count, the bike I really wanted was still to be bought.

It wasn't until I got to middle-age that I could afford a Harley and I am on my third one. But now I am old. My last Harley is a Trike because some old injuries were making the legs a little less reliable. And therein lies the rub for Harley. The market has followed us Boomers most of my life. When I was 17, the bikini clad babe on TV selling me Pepsi was 17. When I turned 30, the Ford salesmen were 30. When I turned 45, the guy at the bank wanting me to lend me money was 45. And now I see people my age selling me Depends, Viagra and pills to help me remember.

Go to a rally and take the mean age of the Harley owners! There is Harley's market. But seasons are changing. My local dealer is trying to get in as many trikes as he can find. A lot of bikers still want to ride but need the extra stability. And we are all getting closer to that final ride.

Will there be a new generation of Harley Owners? I don't know. But it definitely will not be as large as the Boomers. The Biker image is not part of the "snowflake" identity. Being a rebel is not held in high regard with the millennials. And there lies the future of Harley.

 

Great post! The big caution factor that Harley needs to keep in mind is pricing yourself out of the market. There was a time and place where they could command the lions share of the market but people are keeping their bikes longer now. And it’s hard to justify a $54,000.00 touring bike. But yet they will still sell them

 

Motley Fool owns stock in Polaris and recommends buying Polaris stock. Polaris makes Indian. Motley Fool seems to write these "HD is doomed" articles monthly...I wonder why?

 

the younger generation is too busy texting and playing video games to enjoy anything outside. hard to sell motorcycles to people that are scared of the sun the rain the wind.