Wandell: Harley-Davidson needs to be more agile, seek new customers
 

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So why was Buell axed then?

they need to tell most of their Dealers to stop acting all high and mighty

I think Buell was a victim of poor marketing and it's inability to keep up with competitors. I didn't see any eyebrows raised until the 1125R came out and by then it was too late.

To be honest, I'm surprised the Vrod has lasted as long as it has.

I've heard (but don't know for certain) that the V-Rod does pretty well overseas.

This is why a lot of dealers are apparently signing up to carry ATK (US/Korean made) as entry level bikes according to some of the mags.

It is a very euro styled bike.....much like the XR1200X. I don't see a whole lot of those on the roads here.

Nuts. If the dealers had brains, try's push the lower end sportys as entry level. Selling a foreign bike at an american dealership just seems funky.......

It's called reactive marketing...:whistling:

Asian bikes I've never heard of, coming soon to a local HD dealer near me??!! :unsure: Guess it makes sense now - fits with all the Asian-made clothing.

Generate foot traffic into the dealership. How many of the HD dealerships out there now handle another brand? Lots I'm guessing. My local was looking at Victory, but it never came to pass. It's all about the foot traffic into the building.

Funny, because if you look at all the country of origin..... electrics from Japan. Suspension and wheels, same. Frames and engine castings, Mexico. They do stamp the tins at York......:Poke:

FXDRYDR is right. All the motor clothes are now from China, so the question is...... just what the heck IS American made anymore???? Even our flags come from China!!

My short $.02.

They can do whatever they want to attract the new, but it won't work unless these dealers do, indeed, get down off their high horses and bulid a relationship with their customers. Then, when the noobs are ready to move up, they'll beat a path back to the door where they were treated so well.

For my second penny's worth, keeping their current customer base...
They're currently doing it wrong. The only way to get me, and those like me, off our current scoots and onto the new is to make them irresistable. That means significant improvements without tradeoffs. Currently the MoCo cheapens production methods (with the resultant hit to quality) in order to make more $ for the stockholders, and alienates those who put on more than 147 miles a year in the process.
How about giving us the new frame, bigger motors, etc., without cheapening things in other areas. We'd much rather have paid another $150 MSRP and kept our Timkens in '03, for example.

In a nutshell, make us a bike that will essentially last forever, then give us a good enough reason to trade it in on a new model anyway.
They'd be rich beyond the dreams of avarice if they would do that.

I think the new Indian-sourced 750s have the potential to do very well, assuming the dealers sell them properly. They failed to do that with Buell, and they do a poor job with Sportsters.

But Dave's right, they also need to get serious about building quality Touring bikes that'll go the distance without the inexcusable quality issues. I'm looking at riding to the west coast next June, and I have my doubts about the bike making it. I shouldn't feel that way about a 2 year old, $24,000 bike.

Oh, and a third penny's worth.

Stop using your customers for beta testing.
It's not like the innovations are coming so fast and in such great numbers that you can't get it right before you make us pay for it.
Put some test mules on the road, fer chrissakes.

Concur. For what Harley stuff costs - it can be made better and once-again designed to be repairable.

I am rarely inside a dealership and I will not buy anything made in China unless there's no option. However, I refuse to buy anything made cheaply offshore that's priced at a US-made price point. I'm talking about the $450 leather jackets made in China. Dunno, but guessing they cost well south of $100 - maybe closer to $50 - and I just refuse.

Cheap stuff gave us the appetite and got us over Chinese-made. U.S. workers lost their jobs as factories closed and the work was off-shored. Now ever-so-gradually, companies are raising the prices as if the stuff was made here. Uh-uh...

• I don't like that their stuff is dumped here.
• I don't like that our pols listen more to lobbyists than common sense.
• I don't like our lack of a trade policy...
• ...and I don't like getting fukd.

I get it that U.S. stuff costs more and so long as the quality is there, I'll gladly pay. We have a standard of living and expenses that the Chinese don't and I'm happy to pay to keep an American family fed. I'm good with that, but I won't let an American company fuk the entire country and pocket the proceeds while doing it.

So... on a rare trip to the dealer, when I spied a new, loaded Road Glide and asked the price - I was floored to learn it was $32K+. That's damn near what I paid for my car.

Looked at the new BMWs too. Still pricey and still tied to the dealer via technology, but IMO a much better value for the coin.

Guess I was all full of piss and vinegar... Feelin' better now. Thx... :sofa:

This.

When I test rode the K1600GTL this past summer, aside from being amazed at what a phenomenal bike it was, I felt like an absolute f*cking moron for spending the same amount of money on my Limited. Don't get me wrong, even though it keeps breaking, I love my Limited, but the K1600 is tenfold the bike the Harley will ever be.

Same feeling I had riding the GS. It's a boatload of money, but with the exception of carrying a passenger all day, it does everything better than the Limited.

No fooling, I haven't grinned so much on a motorcycle since I was a kid riding a dirt bike.

I believe it. I was really impressed with those bikes. Love my Harley, but value for the money between the two is not even close.