harley davidson GETS it..check out this ad...

[streetheap]

HD will die - again.

As the yuppies continue to age - HD will see its market eventually end up in old folks homes.

They did a great job rebuilding themselves - and growing the company by targeting the segment of the population that would not only "get it" but could also "afford it".

What they have not done is look of an alternative demographic.

Yes they do have Buell and they made the V-Rod - but everything else that they make is 50 year old technology. The youth of today (and the potential HD buyers of tomorrow) are all about technology.

Someone like me is their demographic, although I'm sure not their target. As far as the tech thing, there's something to be said for working on your own rigs (especially if you're broken down in the middle of BFE). I realize the gearhead crowd is not necessarily who HD is looking to target these days, but the gearheads may be what it needs to sustain themselves if times indeed do get lean for them again. I don't know. Bikes are almost more processors than they are mechanical these days; you cant even dick with the exhaust without hooking it back up to a computer to dial it back in. It will be interesting to see what happens.

BTW: the Thruxton I posted above: twin carbs baby! 8)

[dingbat]

Heh, Harley Buyers,,,,, bunch of dorks. HD's marketing is brilliant though: Rebellion, neatly packaged and price tagged.

[Parallel Man]

When I was a kid I would have killed your mother for a motorcycle (I wouldn't kill mine because I needed her to buy the bike!) I begged and pleaded with my folks to buy me a trail bike. Any brand: Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Indian, it didn't matter (The Indian name was revived for a few years in the mid '70s for a style of off-road bikes.)

Anyway, no dice. They wouldn't budge.

Fast forward 10 years. I'm out of college,doing well, got good credit. One day I cruised into a Yamaha dealer and walked out with an XT 550. Nice bike. Really sturdy, fast, turned on a dime and was street legal. (Remember the ice bikes that chased James Bond down the mountain in FOR YOUR EYES ONLY with the machine guns mounted on the handlebars? That was my bike. . . . well, without the ice cleats and machine guns.)

I rode it for a year. Got tired and through a quirk of fate sold it for more than I paid for it new.

Never had a bit of interest in a motorcycle since. Whether HD lives or dies or whoever whereever has another motorcycle doesn't matter to me one way or the other.

As far as the copy in HD's ad, yeah, it's cool. Like the sentiment. Everyone will read it, yell, "DAMN RIGHT!", stomp their feet, drink a beer and tomorrow morning go back to doing exactly what they did the day before. It's sad the fate of the American Experiment is it is failing by virtue of the single greatest threat to a participatory republic: apathy. Few care, only a small percentage participate in the process and even a smaller percentage actually make the decisions. (We are supposed to be ruled by the "will of the majority." Well, when only 60% vote and the decision is by 51%, then that means the country reflects the will of 31% of the people. That's sad.) So, I appreaciate Harley's efforts and hope everything works out for the best. But I won't be encouraged until the day when I see 85% of the people participate and 80% of incumbents defeated, Until then we deserve what we wrought upon ourselves.

End of rant.

That is all.