actually I thought they stated as jumped up sportsters.

If it doesn't move me when I look at it I don't care how great it rides. It's got to be visually appealing. Metric styling cues on a Harley Davidson priced vehicle... can anyone say Victory?

They should have retired the the Fatbob and Streetbob mo****r, those names were tied to a D frame code which no longer exists.

 

This is the front of a Deluxe. It's not a good look but I would imagine it can't be that hard to change.

 

Their are 10 companies right now working 24/7 to be the first one to have a kit to put an round headlight, and a full rear fender on the new fatboy.

These are just temporary changes anyway...Harley is working feverishly on products to keep their customer base.

https://www.google.com/search?q=harl...w=1280&bih=581

 

Eeewwew!!!
Just nasty!

 

I remember reading his bio when he got hired. Guess they felt they needed a fresh outside non-Harley influence. I was concerned then as Ford Trucks were getting goofy. If I had written the job description, part of would have said, " before moving on to a new customer base, make sure we keep the existing customer." Or, "don 't throw the baby out with the bath water." While they have tried to go after the mythical new customer, they have forgotten about their base. We are probably written off by accounting as being too old, too stubborn, and too likely to keep or current ride for more than 2-3 years. But they are wrong, I like practical innovation and technology that works. Harley has become the beta-max of technology. They are competing with Microsoft to make their technology seem like it works, but it needs a lot of fixes. I don't get it when I see what other brands can do in 1/3 the time. This is a corporate attitude. They starting thinking that they deserve the salaries and bonuses they give themselves. It is catching up with them. You can only protect each other for so long. Fortunately, they have momentum, my hope is they have enough momentum to make it to the next leadership team. The words I do not want to hear "Buy out time."

 

These are great bikes to me. Lighter powerfuler and tighter. I'd prefer analogue gauges and I don't care for the Fat Bob. But the rest is golden

 

Attachment 610844

 

Every time they make a change they say, they will never buy another, just like when evos came out.

 

No. More like an FL with a Sportster front end. You couldn't put a Shovel motor in a Sportster frame. That bike was a big deal.

I'm okay with it.

 

I'm 100 percent behind Harley introducing new models to bring the company into the modern age. But in all fairness, the V-Rod wasn't it.

In essence, the V-Rod was sort of like a softail with a powerful engine. Softails are infamous for their horrible lean angle, s*** brakes, and generally **** poor handling. But the one thing softails did have going for them was classic styling and a very cool look. The V-Rod, on the other hand, looked chunky and cumbersome and like a bad caricature of what it should have been. In short, the V-Rod had all of the bad characteristics of a softail with none of the good.

True, the V-Rod wasn't a softail and had a lot more power and better brakes. But because it handled so poorly people ended up riding it more or less like a softail. Which is exactly why it never sold well.

Now if you took that engine in put it into something kind of shaped like a Dyna, but with inverted forks (preferably Ohlins), adjustable rear monoshock, Brembo 50's, and a medium fat rear tire, you would have the Harley version of the Arch KRGT-1.

I would buy one of those the day they released it, and I bet a whole lot of other people would too. I would love to have a "performance Harley" that actually performed, and the V-Rod sure wasn't it. The only reason I don't already own a KRGT-1 is because the base price is $80k.

The new Fat Bob has some potential, but it's still quite a stretch to call it a performance motorcycle. It's still fat, stubby, heavy, and even the 114 version is going to be underpowered compared to most any naked bike on the market. Now doing get me wrong, I love fat tires and I do think the new Fat Bob could be made into something pretty cool and unique that performs reasonably well. However, I have no illusions that it would take some serious cash and a whole lot of mods to get it there.

So is it worth it? I don't know. The new Fat Bob is almost $20k with tax and title. Throw in $10k for exhaust and some other mods to make it less ugly and perform a little better and you're now around $30k. For crying out loud, you can buy a Diavel Diesel for less than that!

So I support Harley attempting to modernize 100 percent. I just wish they had done a better job of doing it.