Has anyone seen this horrific article...sent shivers down my spine! http://www.forbes.com/markets/2007/0...partner=aoltix[:@]

 

This is funny to me. Lets see, HD drops Dunlop and now goes with Michelin, so now all the die hard HD riders are in a scramble to buy Michelin tires. Why? well if HD is putting themon their bikes then they have to be great, right? Oh please, wake up,it's all about getting the best deal. Just like the crap HD oil.[:'(] So does this mean that all them die hards are going to run out and buy a Honda if this merger takes place.[8D] Funny ain't it.

 

Willie G. Tamagachi

 

HOLY S*#T BATMAN??? My Stocks went UP!!!

A Honda with an ATTITUDE??? HAWIE-DAVIDSON (LOL)

 

Hawree, Davsdon!!

Makes sense, majority of HD parts aremade in China, Korea, Taiwan, Malasia, etc...

 

Hmmm . . . Scary. Toyota may one day own (Merger with) GM too.
It's Harley's own fault sales are dropping. They flooded the market. They shot themselves in the foot with this EPA stuff trying to ban other American motorcycle companies who were flying under EPA's radar. By producing more machines, quality has dropped. I was at the shop today. 3 PO'd customers w/07 machines all w/problems ground into mulch on this board. One was back for a software update(2nd time), one was a clutch issue, and one was heat/missfire related and had wiring issues in the fairing).
I'm sure they thought the VRod was going to be a bigger hit.
They need to look back to what they did 2 decades ago that saved them.

They'll be ok.

 

Wow, news to me. I had no idea hd sales were down. I see more hd on the road here inAlbuquerque, than anything else. Sure, there are a lot of Hondas, but I still think I see more hd. Of course, when I see any other bike other than a hd, I tend not to notice as much. But when I see a HD, I look those puppies up and down. Always looking to see what they may or may have not done to their ride that I like or would like to do to my bike. Guess it is all in what you look for.

 

I think Harley is running on borrowed time actually..It's a simple case of demographics. The average age of a Harey buyer is something like 46 or 48! and that number has been climbing. Go to a dealer and look at the people browsing, most are middle age(us). We grew up with Harley as the bike to have, and for us it's stil the bike to have, but my kids(15 and 17) are part of the next gen to buy, and Harley's are seen by most young ones as an "older guys bike). These kids today want Hyabusa's and GSXR's. Harley's market share is literally dying-off, and so the number of sales will continue to drop in my opinion. It's a business cycle that is starting to run it's course. Look at what GM Ford and Mopar are up against. 3-5 years and Toyota will be #1 for the next 20 years. It's still a beautiful looking bike in my world, but between the EPA and the You-Tube generation Harley is gonna have a tough time in the next 10 years. I think we will at some point see some kind of major gamble by the Moco in a new type of machine, maybe not right now, but probably within the next 5 years....just an opinion...

 

Depressing... I'm adding some Rum to my coffee after reading this!

 

I'm not worried about HD. They may be the last ones to the party but they will show up. I see them maintaining their line of touringbikes, reducing the number of Dyna's and Softailsand expanding on the Vrods to capture some of the Next Gen crowd. As riders get older, they end up movingto a touring bikes, regardless of generation. At 35+yrs of age, not many people can ride for extended periods of time on a crotch rocket.