For discussion: Op-Ed about Harley’s future

[chuckthebeatertruck]

Thoughts?


https://www.splicetoday.com/pop-cult...-rebellion-era

[joe fxs fxr]

Hmm, that's a different perspective on the situation. I like it. The articles I read about the previous CEO and the changes the new one is making focused on price and customer demand. HD will survive, but you can't turn a battleship around quickly. It's obvious that the demographic is ageing out, and old grey hairs in charge need to figure out what younger riders want.. I think this CEO gets that.

But I disagree that the rebel aesthetic is going away. Companies like Lowbrow Customs are doing very well providing parts to make stripped down bikes for young riders. HD needs to jump back on that bandwagon, like they did with the special sportster models a few years back. The new sportster is actually a good bike, and young people like it because it's fast. A stripped down custom paint series would sell well. The Lowrider ST is an awesome bike, they should have an entry level version of it and a Road King as an entry touring bike. If I ruled the world...

ps I still laugh at them, because Vivid Black, the mainstay of Harley paint forever, is now an upcharge. Clear-coated primer is the base color now. Talk about cheapening the brand.

[jgover]

The motorcycle customer has changed quite a bit. Just a few years ago, very few 16-25 year olds were into motorcycles or motorsports at all. I am heavily involved in motorcycle dragracing and saw very little participation from teenagers or early 20's wanting to get involved. Now that seems to be changing a bit. There are more younger people showing up and getting back into it. It seems motorcycles may have skipped a generation, but I think there is hope. I see it with people wanting to learn hands on trades and work on engines, etc. Younger people seem to be getting back into it.

As for Harley, no idea what they can do. Over the years, they are without a doubt the most successful company ever to build motorcycles, but that said, throughout the first 50 years, they adapted, and did so quickly. The next 70 years seems to have changed and they got comfortable. Probably because there was no Indian, Excelsior or any of the 100's of other mom and pop companies to compete with after the boom in the early days. At first HD weren't involved in racing at all, but around 1914 when they started, they never looked back...until they did. Rules and classes that were HD only popped up, eliminating competition and again, letting them be "comfortable". The comfort was so strong that it literally became brain washing, with loyal fans ignoring anything that wasn't HD and making claims about HD being the most powerful and best...when the street bikes were being released making 68HP to the rear tire and weighing 800lbs.

Look at the NHRA push with HD and Vance and Hines...people literally would make comments saying how good a Harley was. It was no Harley and had its own set of rules to be competitive at all, much like other racing in the 80's when Honda and others found loopholes and entered...then were basically banned.

The new sportsters have crazy power and are very capable bikes and the Pan America is one of the best bikes HD has ever produced, yet the marketing push is still "Big Bike". I have no idea what HD can do, and they likely will survive if for nothing else, because they are essentially the only american manufacturing option and because of the long standing brand base.

One HUGE step for the company would likely be to find a way to reduce the stigma from the Non HD crowd that HD is garbage, and also from the HD folks that anything else is garbage.

[duffeycycles]

Notice they are not in dollars...2026 X 440 Motorcycle | Harley-Davidson IN

[droptopford]

I think there is a lot of truth in that article.
The one thing missing IMO, regarding the decline of the brand, is/was the corporate suits saddling up to lead the company down the same road as 'Bud Light'.