that is a fact.

 

It's a bagger world out here in the Midwest. With all the small farming communities linked by miles of highways, it's the perfect environment for them and why they were made.

 

I can attest. The vast majority of the bikes I see here are either baggers or Jap sport bikes. Not much variety at all. Seeing a Dyna is a legitimate event for me.

 

Yep, everyone starts with a UJM/Sport bike/Sportster and then goes straight to baggers or in the off chance a Softail. Might see a Dyna here or there, but very rarely.

 

Boy!!! Not around here. But then this is the SF (East) Bay area. (About 50 miles of where Charming would be HA HA!!)
Dyna's are everywhere. Tall T-Bars, 1/4 fairings . . . etc.

Baggers too. Lots of Road Glides now. I never used to see those around. Just Street Glides and full on Ultra's.

 

Simply amazing that HD stops manufacturing great bikes as soon as they get a platform to an elevated level.
FXR - first to go
Buell - especially the Ulysses
Dyna - 06 and later were excellent and rivaled FXR performance and handling

I have not ridden the new Softail or Softail Dyna yet however I do like the looks of the new Sport Glide.

 

It all comes down to money, plain and simple. It's about cost, and inventory, and the WORLDwide market. The US market is just a drop in the bucket where that is concerned. When Dynas and FXRs aren't selling in Germany and UK and all over the rest of Europe or the Far East, HD will limit their overall lineup based on what the REST of the world wants, and forget about the US market, no matter what WE want. If they can sell 10 Softails overseas for more money versus 5 Dynas here for less, that's more money for their stockholders.

 

Hence this picture:

 

I'm guessing some of y'all have either forgotten or weren't around when the FXR was being being made. The "faithful" howled about the non-traditional looks & it didn't sell that well, so the FXR got replaced with the more traditional looking Dyna. That said, H-D could bring the FXR back rather quickly, as bagger riders have been enjoying a stretched FXR frame for 33 years now.

Regarding the Dyna, I love my '02, but if you think a 27 y/o chassis with the swingarm mounted to a rubber mounted engine/tranny combo that was designed to mimic the looks of a 60 y/o chassis is a "great handling bike", you are sadly mistaken. It handles well enough for a cruiser type bike, but it is not "great handling" by any stretch of the imagination. Nimble enough & comfortable, but that's it. I also have to chuckle under my breath at the "club bikes". "It's all about the power & handling, bro." No it ain't. If it was about handling, we'd be seeing more wider 16", 17" & 18" front wheels, as well as lighter weight wheels & those tall t-bars don't exactly lend themselves to climbing around the bike & getting under the paint. If you just like the look, great, but quit with the excuses.

Why'd Harley kill the Dyna? Sales, maybe? You can't swing a dead cat 'round here without hitting a bagger or Softail (or Sportster, for that matter), but Dynas are scarce as hen's teeth. It's a neat bike that I obviously like a whole bunch, but it did not/does not belong up on the pedestal that a bunch of folks put it on. 'N hey, if you think they're really all that, there's a plethora of low-miles garage queens out there for less than 1/2 of new & that leaves more money for mods, right?

I'm 2nd generation scooter trash, but H-D riders are their own worst enemy. "Not traditional enough!" "Too metric!" Kripes, it's not like there aren't a go-zillion Harleys out there for every taste & budget & if the FXR & Dyna were so friggin' great, people would've bought more of them.

 

The correct statement is not that they closed a plant. It is that they moved the production to an new more efficient plant. For about the past five years York was transformed from a rickety 26 buildings to a modern single building with a layout that as planned will accommodate the new production at a saving of 65 to 75 million dollars a year.

About 2 years ago H-D stated publicly that they were working on a new unified frame system. Most thought that it was for the Touring bikes. It was for merging the Dyna and Softail families. H-D managers struggled for a new name and staying with one or the other. Softail won out as they had already ended the V Rod line and couldn't tolerate two more. So they picked the longest lasting and best selling line and called them Softails. They bare little in common with the past softail models as they do the Dyna line.

My resume with motorcycles starts in Mar 1956 and has included over 100 motorcycles and 500K miles riding in over 62 years. I was with various metric bikes until I was 62 and retired 15 years ago. Then I got the first H-D. I have kept with H-D ever since and have had all the families of bikes that they offered.

When the 18 line of Softails came out I test rode the Fat Bob. I immediately traded my 15 Fat Bob for its current version the Fat Bob S. It is so far ahead of the past models in all aspects. This line of cruisers is world class in performance and handling.

Just test ride a Street Bob or Fat Bob. You may be surprised.