I'd venture that HD will get the deal done, Ducati cannot survive by itself and if VW wants to get rid of it, it's gone, Ducati doesn't fit VW and I'd imagine the deal with them was that VW put in some cash to keep the company going.

It's amazing that folks think that HD, the most successful heavy cruiser touring bike company in the world, that somehow its current product type makes management too stupid and incompetent to manage a tiny company like Ducati. Their products have buyers with different objectives but both are in the motorcycle market.

As to HD being technologically deficient, folks saying haven't kept up on HD since AMF days (which by the way kept HD alive vs almost killing it, again most don't know the full story).

Today's HD have sophisticated electronics, including throttle by wire, BCM (thats body control modules like new cars) Brembo 4 piston brakes, the electronics have been significantly upgraded running ecm and bcm with canbus technology for several years. Throttle cables and carburetors have been gone for a long time, EFI has evolved from crappy Italian Magnetti-Marelli systems the obtained in the late 90's that were really marginal into higher end Delphi controlled systems that are state of the art closed loop wide band 02 sensor systems with significant computer controls.

Integrated electronic communications systems from Harmon Kardon run the radio, cb, intercom, bluetooth, GPS systems. I can even hook my Iphone to the HK head unit and take or make phone calls if I choose and the sound quality on the bike at 80 MPH is better than in your car I kid you not...

Hell my 2016 HD has a friggin radiator, OMG!

For 2017 the newest 8 cam HD vtwin engine was introduced, a water cooled 4 valve per head single cam engine, that is cooler, more powerful, quieter, the entire primary drive system was revised, frames have been redesigned for better handling and ride.

For those of giving HD grief, it just proves they don't know jack shit about whats been going on inside HD, and assume that a bike you ride like a monkey fucking a football must be massively better than one you ride sitting upright because it looks older, like it was designed in the 1940's.

Maybe it fits, maybe there are things Ducati does that HD wants to move into HD, perhaps HD's massive parts system, dealer network, distribution network, in the usa will help Ducati grow in the US market as well, and Ducati might help HD into the India market.

I guarantee you the folks in Milwaukee are not just sitting around saying "Hey Willie G, we didn't lose enough on Eric Buell or MV Augusta, and we've got a couple hundred mill in cash here with nothing to spend it on, lets go buy Ducati...."

quote:

It's amazing that folks think that HD, the most successful heavy cruiser touring bike company in the world, that somehow its current product type makes management too stupid and incompetent to manage a tiny company like Ducati.

HD has proven it several times. No amazement needed. Insanity - doing the same the over and over again, but expecting a different result.

I can see it working if they keep the brands mostly separate and leverage efficiencies. I think Ducati dealerships should be pure. I can see Harley dealerships having a few Ducs on the floor. Some Scramblers for the well-heeled middle age rider's young adult son (daughter, wife?) and a Mulitstrada because he has always thought about trying an Adventure riding trip.

HD engineers are busy at work developing a method to make Ducatis leak oil.

I thought we had a rule against misleading thread titles? None of the "reporting" on this (a term I use as loosely as possible) indicates there is any serious intention by HD to buy Ducati beyond the rumor that they are possibly exploring it. The thread title makes it sound like a done deal.

quote:

Originally posted by zoom6zoom:
HD engineers are busy at work developing a method to make Ducatis leak oil.

That joke was funny 34 years ago, before H-D (due to the efforts of the AMF era leadership) introduced the EVO engine.

Now such comments are just nonsense.

quote:

Originally posted by DMF:

quote:

Originally posted by zoom6zoom:
HD engineers are busy at work developing a method to make Ducatis leak oil.

That joke was funny 34 years ago, before H-D (due to the efforts of the AMF era leadership) introduced the EVO engine.

Now such comments are just nonsense.

No, it is still a little funny.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by DMF:

quote:

Originally posted by zoom6zoom:
HD engineers are busy at work developing a method to make Ducatis leak oil.

That joke was funny 34 years ago, before H-D (due to the efforts of the AMF era leadership) introduced the EVO engine.

Now such comments are just nonsense.

No, it is still a little funny.

No, it is still a lot funny. Somehow HD will screw it up. Leave it alone. Let Ducati make some of the best sporting bikes on the planet with Ducati or another company at the helm. HD, stick with making overpriced couches on wheels.

I visited HD dealerships many times over the years that HD owned ( and mismanaged) Buell.

Never ... not once ... did I encounter a salesman, manager or any other employee who lived, understood, enjoyed, owned or rode sport bikes, or had any interest in road racing. Never.

OK, except for the brief period when Bruce Rossmeyer's daughter
Shelley, ran the Triumph and Ducati enterprise in Ormond Beach. OK, and once, when a young mechanic in Sevierville, TN's HD dealership talked XR1200's with me, once.


If HD buys Ducati and tries to sell them in their brick and mortar stores alongside HD cruisers and Sportsters, history will repeat.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK: ... Harley-Davidson is lining up a takeover bid for Italian Ducati...

People that don't like Harleys or its culture will always talk shit. It's tired, old, and weak.

I give it the same credence as 9mm vs .45 arguments. Subjectivity and tribalism run amok.

I just like motorcycles, all sorts. Granted, a plasticy anime looking crotch rocket or even most Ducatis isn't my style at all, but I appreciate them just the same. Most can't or won't extend that same sort of philosophy toward HD. They are very polarizing, clearly.

I'm not a motorcycle person, so I don't have a dog in the fight. Personally, I like the look and the sound of Harley Davidson bikes and I really like the look of some of Ducati's and BMW's bikes but don't care much for any other bikes. However, having said all that does any die hard Ducati lover really think that their bikes would be in better hands if the company was bought out by a private equity fund or some hedge fund? At least HD is a motorcycle company. Sure they want to be as profitable as possible but they want to build bikes. If a hedge fund bought Ducati tomorrow and they discovered that they could make more money making Ducati toasters instead of Ducati motorcycles then they would make toasters instead of motorcycles. Seriously, for anyone truly passionate about motorcycles, guns, tools, whatever - when was the last time that a buyout by a private equity firm resulted in better, more exciting products for the passionate followers of that company's products? If VW really wants out of owning Ducati then it's going to happen. The question is would they be better being owned by another, albeit different, motorcycle company or by some private equity firm that only cares about maximizing return on their investment not necessarily about being a motorcycle company?

Nice assessment, CHEG.

^ that pic is hilarious.

quote:

Originally posted by DMF:

quote:

Originally posted by zoom6zoom:
HD engineers are busy at work developing a method to make Ducatis leak oil.

That joke was funny 34 years ago, before H-D (due to the efforts of the AMF era leadership) introduced the EVO engine.

Now such comments are just nonsense.

Do try to keep up...

http://www.latimes.com/la-fi-h...70605-htmlstory.html

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:
People that don't like Harleys or its culture will always talk shit. It's tired, old, and weak.

I give it the same credence as 9mm vs .45 arguments. Subjectivity and tribalism run amok.

I just like motorcycles, all sorts. Granted, a plasticy anime looking crotch rocket or even most Ducatis isn't my style at all, but I appreciate them just the same. Most can't or won't extend that same sort of philosophy toward HD. They are very polarizing, clearly.

And the weekend warriors in buttless chaps pretending to be an extra in Sons of Anarchy on their Harley's looking down their nose at any other style of bike is tired, weak, and old as well.

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:
Didn't read the article yet but I wonder if this is the result of the gargantuan hicky VW took recently.

That is what is claimed as to why the VW group MAY sell Ducati.
Financial issues due to 'Dieselgate'.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve 22X:

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:
Didn't read the article yet but I wonder if this is the result of the gargantuan hicky VW took recently.

That is what is claimed as to why the VW group MAY sell Ducati.
Financial issues due to 'Dieselgate'.

Hmmm, I don't think the "VW Group" has financial issues. Not with these motor vehicle products in production...

Audi. Volkswagen Group's cash cow, Audi, aims to sell 2 million cars by 2020. ...
Bentley. ...
Bugatti, Lamborghini & Ducati. ...
Porsche. ...
Skoda. ...
Seat. ...
VW brand. ...
VW commercial, MAN & Scania.

quote:

Originally posted by GWbiker:

quote:

Originally posted by DMF:

quote:

Originally posted by zoom6zoom:
HD engineers are busy at work developing a method to make Ducatis leak oil.

That joke was funny 34 years ago, before H-D (due to the efforts of the AMF era leadership) introduced the EVO engine.

Now such comments are just nonsense.

Do try to keep up...

http://www.latimes.com/la-fi-h...70605-htmlstory.html

I keep up just fine, but the oil leak jokes aren't about a possible mistake when installing a clamp on just the 2017 touring bikes. They are about all H-D engines having a reputation for constantly leaking oil. However, that reputation was developed before the EVO, and then the Twin-Can engines, which are "oil tight."

Therefore the oil leak jokes haven't had a basis in fact for more than 3 decades.