H D bikes

[New Englander]

14 hours ago, cobfly said:

Had a nice little ride today. Down the river, up the crick.

Looks like beautiful riding country.

[766 Man]

8 hours ago, Ian Beale said:

I saw an article somewhere a while back that management got optimistic to the tune of an over-production of about 80,000 bikes -

DDG Search Assist

"Harley-Davidson's production capacity is currently set for 300,000 bikes a year, but they only sold 124,500 motorcycles last year, resulting in a significant overproduction of about 70,000 bikes. This mismatch has led to layoffs and a reevaluation of their operational costs.
 gaukmotorbuzz.com carglassadvisor.com "

gives an idea

  Could be a bit of Cadillac Syndrome going on with HD.  One of the factors behind Cadillac's market slide was its association with previous generations as a status symbol.  The nature of youth rebelling against age was at the core.  HD was a company that marketed on rebellion but never anticipated that itself would become the target.  Customers have choices besides buying HD and to some degree are doing it.  HD used to be considered cool but some of the kids of those cool riders associate HD with broken homes and absentee fathers.  I still think the targeted customer has an income disparity with HD products but there are other reasons and HD will not last long running at one third capacity without major change.  

[New Englander]

The company I flew for owned Ducati. Dumped a lot of money in them, turned it around and took it public before finally selling it off at a profit. We probably could have bought a bike at a discount back then but Ducati are for the serious performance rider, something I grew out of once realizing I was mortal. Our maintenance coordinator puts some serious miles on his BMW. If I was looking for that type of ride it's something I'd look at rather than something everyone else has. It's the same with my Commando. It has something of a cachet. People have heard about it but few have ever seen one. Antiques now they still perform. Yes, a new Jap bike is less to maintain and will out perform it but I don't want what everyone else has. 

[Jacka]

On 3/28/2026 at 6:52 AM, New Englander said:

Where to begin? I've been riding since I was a kid. My first bike was a BSA . Through the years I've had a few rice rockets and still have and ride my Norton. Yes HD capitalized on boomers that finally had the money to afford the bike their mother wouldn't let them have. They sold them the image, the Screaming Eagle accessories, the full set of leathers including chaps, boots, and a jacket that looked like an outlaw gangs patch HOG! in smaller letters Harley Owners Group. I watched a bunch go down that route and laughed to myself. With the exception of a few none of those guys are serious riders and many not very good. They're all aging out now.

One of the aircraft mechanics I know who was a serious rider with bikes in the cafe racer variety made the complete switch. He bought a new Heritage Soft Tail and invited me to try it. I scraped the crap out of the foot boards just attempting to leave the parking lot. I sheepishly rode back to him and he said these bikes aren't made to go around corners. He is still riding with a sidecar putting thousands of miles a year in all sorts of weather, an exception to the HD sales target.

I'll keep riding my ancient Brit bike. It's got plenty of performance for the back roads and the few miles I ride a year. I stay away from traffic and distracted drivers. It brings a smile to my face every time I ride. I can't even imagine shining up a bike and putting it in an enclosed trailer to FL or Sturgis where most of the other bikes are very similar except for the assortment of accessories and bars.

I'll say this for HD. They've taken what was often dead on the side of the road and made them reliable machines.

Harley is like just like JD.They have or had a awesome marketing program. They both sold stature and your status was linked to their products. Not all people that bought are like that but many are.

[766 Man]

18 minutes ago, Jacka said:

Harley is like just like JD.They have or had a awesome marketing program. They both sold stature and your status was linked to their products. Not all people that bought are like that but many are.

  Harley sold stature?  Since when?  Did they advertise in girlie magazines?  They knew they had an image with the outlaw crowd and never did anything to change that perception by design.  They had their dealers build new stores to attract the white collar crowd.  Their stores look like an upscale car brand dealership but with all the scary leather and stainless skull doodads but still keep the grease and grime in the repair shop to put the old school HD owners at ease.  Back to the white collar guy buying a HD because they knew they attract a certain type of woman.  Let us just say some women like the shakes of the bike and leave it at that.  Sure HD can have an ad of a hot woman dressed in leather sitting on the back seat but would be improper to talk about much else.  That does not mean all that much in recent times with women supposedly liberated from all that.  

[Jacka]

Just now, 766 Man said:

  Harley sold stature?  Since when?  Did they advertise in girlie magazines?  They knew they had an image with the outlaw crowd and never did anything to change that perception by design.  They had their dealers build new stores to attract the white collar crowd.  Their stores look like an upscale car brand dealership but with all the scary leather and stainless skull doodads but still keep the grease and grime in the repair shop to put the old school HD owners at ease.  Back to the white collar guy buying a HD because they knew they attract a certain type of woman.  Let us just say some women like the shakes of the bike and leave it at that.  Sure HD can have an ad of a hot woman dressed in leather sitting on the back seat but would be improper to talk about much else.  That does not mean all that much in recent times with women supposedly liberated from all that.  

Come on,if you drove a new Harley from  the 90's on it ment you had money,wealth and you made it.It also brought with the idea that you drove the best or that's what they wanted the perception of.Just like JD,same deal. Good advertising team brought them a lot of sales and money. 

[766 Man]

2 minutes ago, Jacka said:

Come on,if you drove a new Harley from  the 90's on it ment you had money,wealth and you made it.It also brought with the idea that you drove the best or that's what they wanted the perception of.Just like JD,same deal. Good advertising team brought them a lot of sales and money. 

  But that is more like the buyers creating stature.  But yes for quite a few a HD was on quite a few things to buy lists.  Just another product to separate them from others by saying I have a bike and the others do not.  How much wealth is debatable as many bought on financing plans versus writing a check from cash for 25,000 dollars for example.  

[pt756]

My neighbor who loved to just ride had BMW.s, told me a story from the 80.s guy was trying to start his HD, stood right up and kept using the kick starter. finally he just hit the electric start, that was back when I understood HD to not be very reliable, funny story had to see it I guess,

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

3 hours ago, Jacka said:

Harley is like just like JD.They have or had an awesome marketing program. They both sold stature and your status was linked to their products. Not all people that bought are like that but many are.

 I don’t think JD is a status symbol anywhere other than maybe the suburban lawn mower market. And that is a relatively recent development. If someone ever traded a 1066 for a 4440 based solely on a really great ad, I’d sure like to hear from them. 

[lorenzo]

Picture taken. 3-30-2026

 

[New Englander]

CHPs need something modern:

[twostepn2001]

[yellowrosefarm]

I guess HD did have some influence on other bike manufacturers

[yellowrosefarm]

[yellowrosefarm]

[yellowrosefarm]

[yellowrosefarm]

All 3 of the Japanese look a likes are for sale under $3000. The Indian and comparable HD's are $8000+.  So, while imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, it doesn't pan out on resale value.