with american ironhorse filing bankrupcy is this a sign to come for the smaller chopper manfactures. i think the choppers are cool, but they are fad bikes, mainly from all the t.v shows and there time has run out....... thank god i bought a production h.d instead of the ironhorse outlaw i thought was soo cool........ just my opinion .........kerry

 

they like so many others were building poser bikes with big motors on them, ride it to the bar park it show it off ride it home clean for two hours part it till next year bikes.
market can only support so many of them and the prices were out of line.
granted they had some cool ideas just not real ridable bikes.

 

Last summer, I was in Austin for the Republic of Texas bike rally. I was having a drink at the bar in our hotel, and struck up a conversation with the woman sitting next to me. She was quite intoxicated, and quickly got "diahrrea" of the mouth. She said that she and her husband own the Iron Horse dealership in Ft. Worth, and that they were still sitting on 63 bikes from 2006 (this was June 2007). I took that as a sign that the "chopper craze" was on the down fall. She proceeded to tell me that between Jan. of '07 and June '07, they had shut the dealership down for 1 week on 3 seperate occasions just to cut down on overhead........All I could say was WOW. Bad deal for them as business owners.

 

My sentiments exactly. They are neat to look at, but not very functional. If I am going to spend $20,000+ for a machine, I am going to have my @ss glued to the seat. I could never make a cross-country trip on one of those things like I can on my Hog. I'm all about having a nice looking scoot, but not at the expense of enjoyment.

 

Most are more than $20K aren't they?? My friend has one and dropped about $33K for it.

Beautiful bike, and when we ride, everyone comments on his bike, but his butt is sore after a 40 mile ride and he is always looking for a gas station.

 

I've heard a lot of guys talk about how they hate harley, everybody's got one, yada yada, while they're sitting on their S&S chopper with the valve covers painted to look like a shovelhead. Kinda funny in a way. Honestly I'm starting to look at choppers like I do most jap bikes. Some of them look kinda cool, but I have no desire to have one. What the chopper craze did do was inspire factory bike builders with some different styles to go along with the comfort and smooth ride.

 

I think most of the Iron Horse models are really not very practical for everyday of long trip. But as a second bike or a bar hopper they are pretty sweet. Many of the bikes people, like one of my friends paid between $35,000 to $45,000 for one a couple of years ago and now i`ve seen them all over ebay and in the classifieds for $16,000 to $25,000.

 

I couldn't believe they were forced into bankruptcy for such a small amount of money. They owed 3 investors $120,000 and that is why they were forced into it. Serves them right for charging so much money for a bike. They have so much markup in their bikes I'd never even consider one.

If I was looking at a bar hopper I'd just get a new Sucker Punch Sally bike for $16,000. They use Harley or S&S engines and Baker Transmissions.

 

My pops has an american ironhorse legend, and all i can say is that my butt hurts after 30min of riding it. Nice looking, but totally useless scoot.

 

My buddy works at the Fort Worth HD shop and he told me last week that the old Iron Horse Dealership is going to be turned into a new Indian Dealership. Apparently someone is resurrecting the company.