Even a broken clock is right twice a day & a blind squirrel can find a nut. I can tell you about cracked frames, engines needing top ends @ 6000 miles, scissored flywheels, etc. & that's my firsthand experiences, I'm happy you found a Harley that wasn't built on a Monday or Friday....

 

Comparing Apples to Oranges but I think is interesting. Here’s a list the major car corporationsthat sell in the U.S. and the brands they currently offer here.
Aren't they all just trying to survive. I'm sure that all of the individual parts are made around the globe to be as cost effective as possible including
Made In America

Parent Company owns
BMW Group owns BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce.
Daimler AG owns Mercedes-Benz and Smart.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles owns Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, and Ram.
Ford Motor Co. owns Ford and Lincoln.
General Motors owns Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC.
Honda Motor Co. owns Acura and Honda.
Hyundai Motor Group owns Genesis, Hyundai, and Kia.
Mazda Motor Corp. owns Mazda.
Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance owns Infiniti, Mitsubishi, and Nissan.
Subaru Corp. owns Subaru.
Tata Motors owns Jaguar and Land Rover.
Tesla owns Tesla.
Toyota Motor Corp. owns Lexus and Toyota.
Volkswagen Group owns Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Porsche, and Volkswagen.
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (ZGH) owns Lotus, Polestar, and Volvo.

 

I am aware of which bikes are made and in which plants, but even moving a couple hundred jobs to York still equated to hundreds of jobs gone permanently. Unfortunately, that is why Trump is dissing them on Twitter. That is just how he is. He praised the **** out HD when the meetings were going on in DC, thus the closing of KC set him off. But anything sets him off as we know now.

Indian can't build the bikes fast enough these days and it is not 2014 anymore as far as production numbers. So I believe your statement is incorrect. Watch the video on the engine builders in Osceola Wisc. Most of them have been there the entire time building the motors and are damn proud of that like any manufacturer.

But back to HD, the bigger problem is demand for the product and their overly fat union contracts, which drive their labor costs up. So perhaps the redesigned Sporster will go the way of the Streets and be manufactured in India too? Time will tell. It is an interesting time to be a HD enthusiast and motorcycle lover in general.

 

 

the only lying douchebag here is you.

 

I think you mean't with the other 105,000 other owners...

 

All this is fascinating to me and I honestly don't know exactly what to make of it. Harley has had parts made overseas for years. Showa forks, Keihin carbs........ anyone? I am old enough to remember when people were breaking out in hives about that ****.

Has anyone read "The Iron Redskin" ? It is a fascinating book about the history of the Indian motorcycle company up to its end in the 1950's. As one might expect, there are some references to Harley in the book, but generally the book is from a pro Indian point of view. Very well done IMHO. Towards the end of the book, the author, Harry Sucher, surmises that the reason Harley survived when Indian failed was due to the fact that Harley was family owned and Indian was stock holder owned. Interesting theory and I believe it is correct.

That ain't true this time. Harley is run by a board and is answering to shareholders. Harley is making decisions biased on stock holder returns and sales numbers for next quarter, not what will happen 5 years down the road when all the "create more new riders" campaign and other efforts will bear fruit (if they do). I have said it before and I firmly believe it. Harley's big issue isn't coming out with new models to attract new riders, or spending tens of millions to build new plants were they can produce cheaper. It is beating the stupid thinking out of their management. Specing out a cam bearing that is going to fail because it is 10 cents cheaper, buying wheel bearings with near plastic ***** because they can save a dollar per bike, releasing engines without enough testing to identify problems like sumping, using parts from China even when they should well know their customer base will reject that............. and on and on. They are choking the life out of the brand based on stupid thinking that some dip **** learned from some jackass in his college MBA class. They have spent untold millions designing, developing marketing these new bikes and if they do the same stupid **** with them that they are doing with their current stuff, then they will have the same old problems with any new customers they manage to attract. Maybe I am a pessimist, but I fear it will turn out well for them this time.

 

 

 

Actually, people use various means to calculate whether to buy or not buy products. Why should his be any less important than yours? He provided sound reasoning and wasn't a dick about it until someone else took offense and behaved like a dick.