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Quad 4 engine...

A big piece of shit. GF had a Pontiac with that motor.

GM also thought they could take a motor built for gasoline and modify it for Diesel use.

As GM found, no you cannot.

Back to your regular thread....

Harley is the Colt of motorcycles. Relying on a once dominant name and reputation. Old technology. Old designs. Nothing new. And have to spend twice what you paid for it to be reliable.

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Originally posted by PowerSurge:

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Originally posted by calugo:

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Originally posted by PowerSurge:
The Live Wire failure is just one issue. There’s a lot more to it than that. The market for Harleys is drying up. People want smaller, more reliable and better handling bikes. Their continually dropping sales numbers prove it. Getting rid of him is just rearranging deck chairs on the titanic.

I think it's to early to consider the Livewire a failure since it just recently started arriving at dealerships. From what I read the Livewire is a test bed with other less expensive E-bikes to follow. While HD is struggling it's also true that motorcycle sales across the board have declined so it's not only HD that has seen a decline in sales although their sales have suffered more of a decline than other brands.

There’s no debating the current Live Wire for sale is a failure, test bed or not. Makes no difference if some of the technology is going to be used in other bikes. Besides, what does that say about HD if they’re beta testing the tech on their customers’ bikes?

There is a debate whether or not the Livewire will succeed or fail since the bike has only been in showrooms for less than 2 months. Also the Livewire is not a beta tester, just developed with the intention of using the technology to build smaller less expensive e-bikes in the future.

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Originally posted by GWbiker:

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Quad 4 engine...

A big piece of shit. GF had a Pontiac with that motor.

Off topic but the cylinder heads were so failure prone GM offered a factory remanufactured one in addition to new ones.

Some of those remans in the chain were real beauties. It got so bad that before I sent one out to a wholesale customer or sold one over the retail counter I would pull and inspect it.

HD has made the mistake of burying their heads in the sand and not up keeping a product that was current. several years ago walked into a dealership with cash money in my pocket. they refused my offer and basically said that price on sticker would not be lowered $1 and said to take it or leave it....so I walked out /went to a Honda dealership and paid cash for a VTX 1800F2... HD makes more profit on the dodads of clothing/accessories/jewelry/etc for those that have bought into the fake HD lifestyle. several friends asked why buy a Honda vs Harley and my reply that I could by 2 1/2 Hondas for the price of one Harley and I thought the Honda was a much better value and a better product..... drill sgt.

I recently heard about Triumph beginning a relationship with Bajaj (Indian company) to build bikes in the 200 - 750 CC range. I wish Harley would do something similar and sell them in every market possible. I think they would be a big seller down here (Guatemala) if priced right. Speaking of Bajaj, I just bought one of their Dominar motorcycles. Great bike! The cost was a little over $3000 U.S. Check them out if you like. https://www.bajajauto.com/moto...kes/dominar-400/home

Last June Harley announced a partnership with the Chinese company Qianjiang. They are going to build a small standard bike for Harley. Qianjiang builds the Benelli brand motorcycles and the image at the announcement looked just like the Benelli TNT300.

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Originally posted by Bigbuck5:
I recently heard about Triumph beginning a relationship with Bajaj (Indian company) to build bikes in the 200 - 750 CC range. I wish Harley would do something similar and sell them in every market possible. I think they would be a big seller down here (Guatemala) if priced right. Speaking of Bajaj, I just bought one of their Dominar motorcycles. Great bike! The cost was a little over $3000 U.S. Check them out if you like. https://www.bajajauto.com/moto...kes/dominar-400/home

The mid 60's HD Sprint, manufactured by Aermacchi, was actually a pretty good little bike.

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Originally posted by DaBigBR:
How long before Harley Davidson is acquired by a large automaker, an investment firm, or a competitor and begins Harley in brand name only?

AMF. Pun intended.

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Originally posted by stickman428:
Posted by Bigdeal.

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I've long felt bad about Indian's demise as I would have loved to have seen them survive to compete in today's marketplace.

I wouldn’t feel too bad about Indian’s demise. Out of the company’s ashes something pretty neat has arisen and the brand is trying to make a comeback. (With the help of Polaris of course)

I’d take their FTR & Bobber over anything HD makes.

Though I might agree with you that both those bikes are sweet, neither is what younger buyers are looking for, both from a styling and $$$ standpoint. Those are also niche pieces which likely will not provide a sustainable market for Indian.

Harley Davidson, the best bike I ever pushed.

What's the difference between a Harley and a Hoover?

The position of the dirt bag.

H-D time in the sun has passed. The younger generations have very little interest in owning a H-D. The electric bike was a $30,000 dud. They have some serious issues to deal with.

Discontinuing Buell was the beginning of their failure.

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Originally posted by shovelhead:
... My thoughts for what they are worth, there has to be a end to the mantra that anybody can do any job. ...

Most excellent point. From to top bottom, from putting in the wrong CEO to telling the employees that they are nothing but replaceable cogs.

As Mark123 stated, letting Erik Buell go was probably the worst decision they could have made. An American made sport bike, with many forward thinking ideas, that could actually compete with Japanese and Italian bikes and draw in a younger customer base. And now with the recent entries into the E-bike world, they are already a step behind because they passed up the younger customers, who wanted the style and performance of the Buell bikes. I honestly think a Buell bike will be a collector bike, and increase in value. Especially the short lived Rotax powered bikes, which were only produced for a year or two, as well as their Ulysses "dual sport".

They decided to focus on their tried and true philosophy, keep selling the same bikes because people were still buying them. The majority of their sales came from merchandise anyways, and people buying Harleys typically had the finances to afford a Harley, while T-shirts still flew off the racks.

As a rider, I can understand the allure of a Harley. If you have never ridden one, it is possibly the most relaxing bike there is. They ride very comfortably, with the soul stealing exhaust sound. But there is no way I would own one, unless I had a second bike. And with a wife and kids in the house, there is no way I could afford the bike that would appeal to me. My wife and I were actually in a Harley shop a few days ago, and I pointed out some bikes that I liked. And I commented, they are about the same price of my retirement bike, a Honda GoldWing. I even asked what she liked better, a GoldWing or a Harley. Who knows, maybe in my retirement age, I may change my mind about the GoldWing.

I never thought they were over-priced, IMHO the fit and finish of a Harley, can't honestly be compared to an import bike. The paint jobs, overall craftmanship, leather seats and bags, etc... Their famed (un)reliability issues ended with the Evo engines. The only downside, is I do believe they intentionally make them underpowered, because they know most people will upgrade to the Screaming Eagle components. Another SigForum member said they are like the Colt of motorcycles, and that's pretty accurate. Even their semi-successful V-Rod, was kind of a marketing failure, because it wasn't a "true" Harley among the purists, and it's a very capable motorcycle, if that's they type of bike you are looking for.

I don't see Harley totally fading away, I think there will always be an interest, especially world wide. But I have already seen local Harley shops not only switch owners, but a few have shut down completely. It's kind of sad, because it is an American icon, and I hate to think of them getting bought out by another company who doesn't create the passion that Harley once did.

In the meantime, my wife and I will just have to suffice with a 17y/o V-Max...