Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Millineals may kill off Harley Davidson

The low point of Harley was back when AMF had the company. If they make quality machines they should do well.

When old bikers go to nursing homes

If you rode the small bore Honda's in the 60's, one never gets motorcycles out of their now ingrained DNA.






One of these motorcycle companies needs to bring back those bad-azz'd 90cc's-185cc's. No male teens could resist and I assure you they won't be the panzies they are today. There are no participation trophies other than the road rash and broken bones...., Bring it!




DMc : )

If every parent issued their kid a 22rf rifle and a mini bike, we would live in utopia.

As Sheryl Crow would say, did you "never have one minute of fun in your whole life" ?

MM

Too many see a Harley as a fashion accessory.............and they make a big share of profit on the accessories too.....

I had a three cylinder Kawasaki 500 in 1969. It was the fastest street bike on the market at the time. 0 to 60 in so many seconds (cant remember how many) It was like being strapped to a rocket. It's a wonder I lived through that period.

Those were the first and forerunners of today's Japanese crotch rockets - amazing performance for the day. I remember a shootout between the Kawasaki 500, the new three cylinder Triumph 750 Trident and Norton 750 Commando sometime around the early 70's. The Kawi had the fastest time through the quarter mile, the Triumph had the highest top end and the Norton was in between both of them. - second fastest quarter mile and second highest top end.

I'll be 65 this year and a few months ago bought a bright red Yamaha FZ07 700 cc twin (689 to be exact), so I'm not exactly helping Harley's longevity.

Maybe there it is so , but here there seems to be no shortage of superannuated fellows pulling up in their nice new chrome studded leathers complete with frills that would make pocohontas swoon and go weak at the knees, days of hard men riding rats has gone.

I remember....$999 meet God machine........

Are you running straight pipes to the fish tails? baffles? maybe there's a muffler I can't see under the bag...

I wouldn't say they have little interest i see tons of younger folks on bikes. My kids prefer dirt bikes. He wants an adventure bike after that. Id say HD sales are down because they sell a $15K bike for $35k.

I'd have one in a heartbeat if the cost wasn't so nuts. I can buy 40ac of land for $35k. The don't make that anymore.

The Mach IV came out when I was in high school and I actually put a small deposit down on one that winter. Luckily the little dealership went belly up before delivery and I ended up buying a Yamaha instead. Had a few close calls on that one, but I probably would have killed myself for sure on that Kawasaki bullet.

Jerry

In other news, a lot of millenials can't afford a $35K boat.

Crazy.




Dave

The infamous Kawasaki H1 triple, the widowmaker. 384# with 60 hp. While the power pales in comparison to a current 600cc four stroke that weighs 410# and puts out 110+hp, the real issue with the late 60's and 70's vintage bikes is the chassis, tires and brakes were woefully inadequate.

I would take a swag that provided the bottom end and transmission can handle it, proper development with tuned pipes, porting, reeds, carbs and head work could bump the H1 triple in the 90hp neighborhood. Insane in the original bike, downright sporting in a modern chassis.




(and yes this is an H2 750 triple)

The market is saturated with good used product. Simple as that.

Polaris industries axed production of the victory brand and slid all their eggs into the Indian brand. (probably due to the above ^^^)

There are soooo many bike choices for true riding enthusiasts. Dirt, dual sport, adventure dirt/pavement, adventure pavement, cruisers, customs, choppers, bobbers, board track tributes, cafe racer tributes.... (I'm barely scratching the surface).

For the most part, big harley's are often "garage queens". They have been good quality bikes in recent decades, basically from the Evo's on up (yes even twin cams) and there are tons of them out there for sale with low miles and in pristine condition. People are buying THOSE bikes (if they are looking for Harleys).

But, with young people that actually have a pulse and are able to detach from their social media tethers for more than 30 minutes without dying... Adventure/sport bikes are more popular than fat lazy cruisers like I ride.

They had one on one of those cable TV auction shows recently. Perfect condition. Might have fetched $10K - don't recall for sure.
The commentators were saying how a lot of them got resold just because the power to weight ratio was so outrageous that they scared a lot of riders.

What ND said.

I predicted 25 years ago that the market would be flooded with low mileage Harleys when the "Rubbers" (rich urban bikers) started selling their bikes.

I tried REALLY,REALLY hard to like H-D's for a looooong time. I believed it was my responsibility as a good Wisconsonite, sort of akin to being a Packers fan. Every time I've ridden one, though, it's been a disappointing experience. Mediocre handling, poor ergonomics, and low power meant The Motor Company will be getting no money from me.

Harley doesn't market to that crowd. This crowd doesn't want to go to a dealership, they want to order online and customize. harley has invested huge in their dealerships while the world is going Amazon.