Nice Color

 

right on the money!! I believe that was the primary driver. Second was the old guys who hated fuel injection have bought their last bikes or are dead. Harley needs to sell to younger more tech savvy crowd like it or not!!!!!!!

 

Rushmore was likely in process before Polaris even bought Indian and definitely before they came out with the Thunderstroke.

Rushmore came out the same year the Thunderstroke did. I find it hard to believe HD has clairvoyants on staff so......

 

What ever you believe. So you think having competition is a bad thing??

You know that Indian had this is the works well before 2014 and HD knew about it. Like any other industry you know what your competition is doing. If you don't your not doing your job and will be left behind.

Can you list for me all the innovative thing HD did prior to 2014. Nothing they produced basically the same bike year after year. Not anymore, competition dictates otherwise. Lets be thankful.

 

get your head out of the sand. It's called competition research. Silly to suggest anything else. Harley changed at a snail pace prior to Indian and others setting the standard. just common sense brutha. This and the fact that the Harley buying demographic is dying off makes industry move forward. All the auto companies know what next years models and features basically look like. Same thing.

 

The best thing that can happen to us consumers of everything Harley is for Indian to stay in business. The MoCo may lose some market share, but the competition will produce better bikes.

 

Well to start with:

How about the new Touring Frame in 2009
103 engine in 2010 (standard models)
96' engine in 2007
6 Speed Transmission in 2007
Throttle by wire in 2008 (i believe)
Changes to helicut 6th speed gear in 2010

I agree that competition is good for Harley-Davidson but to make the assumption that we will all be seeing nothing but 2004 Harley-Davidsons if it weren't for Indian is ridiculous.

 

Considering how long it takes to not only develop new technology like Rushmore but to test it, redesign from failures, tool up the factories, get sign off from suppliers, build the supply chain, train employees not only at the dealer but manufacturing level, build a pipeline and do all the conversions necessary with documentation for ISO certifications, warranty, etc and get the CARB sign offs - Rushmore and HD innovation was likely in process before Polaris acquired the the Indian name in 2011.

Again - Indian may be nudging HD now but they didn't create the HD we've seen since 2011.

 

The 96 & 103 engines are really the 88 tweaked.
But the 107 is new.
As far as the other changes there are minor. I took them 20 years to do that.

We need the competition.

 

I agree with you that competition is a good thing but insinuating that Harley doesn't innovate unless it's push by Indian is a ways off. Let's face it, the Rushmore gadgets is just to reaction to what is happening to the mobile tech market. Every car has the innovation and it was about time the motor company adapted.

When Victory launched you didn't see an increase in innovation from Harley. HD is more about evolution than revolution. The M8 was probably on the drawing boards way before the Indian launch or should i say relaunch 3.0. HD comes out with a new motor every 15 years or so. The 107 didn't happen because of Indian.

Oh, that 09' Touring frame ain't a minor change. Let's get real already.

I am hoping for Indian to do well though. It serves us HD riders just fine.