Thanks yes a typo (or spell check), and yes I'm aware the EVO was designed under AMF ownership.

 

I disagree with most of your comments. Most everyone here has a passion for Harley Davidson. The brand is as iconic as Coca-Cola, Levy's, Chevy etc. For those of us who love the brand Harley Davidson it hurts to see it cheapened with parts made overseas. The companies that make these parts are not H-D companies, they are subcontractors that make parts for H-D and other companies. The price for the parts is cheaper not only because of cheap labor but also because the quality is cheaper. Even when a company like H-D specs out a part, it doesn't mean that it will be done to their specs. A few examples that come to mind are the Asian drywall that was corroding pipes, the hardwood floors that were giving out toxic fumes, the airbags that were failing, etc. Some companies can get away with it while others find out when parts begin to fail in the field, such a H-D bearings.

As you say, everyone wants to make the most profit that they can, including these Asian companies. So corners are cut wherever they can. Just because a part is made to make it past the warranty period doesn't mean that a part is well made. We all remember having owned a tool, part or appliance that lasted 10-20 years and now they barely last a season or two. I still have a TV that we bought in 1978. Do you think that we can say that in a few years about the new LED televisions? I doubt it. We have been conditioned to be a disposable society and so parts are made to last only so long before we are forced to dispose of it.

Again, the reason that I, at least, is making a big deal is because when I bought my bike, I was proud of buying a Harley Davidson, even if I was paying twice what I would have paid for a metric bike. Now that H-D has chosen to cheapen their brand, it hurts. Even if I never buy a H-D bike ever again, it hurts that my children or their children won't have the pleasure to buy an American icon, made for Americans by Americans. And yes, I also understand the global market crap. That doesn't mean that I like it, and for that reason I am here whining about it.

I love tools and find myself having to visit flea markets, garage sales and Estate sales looking for old, "made in the U.S.A" quality tools instead of going to the store and buying overseas crap. I see the time when future generations will do the same when they want to buy an American motorcycle that is not made out of imported parts.

 

The opening of the Thailand plant, and the closing of the KC plant were both announced before the tariffs... so I'm not buying any of the BS he is serving up.

At some point they will start sneaking in foreign made bikes like the street and hope no one notices.

I will never buy a new bike so I could care less

 

Meh, you should pay $20.00 to the person wearing your shirt for advertising your products..................

 

They were, how would you like to buy a high quality american made plain white tshirt. Only $40.00.

 

A master plan was set in motion in 2015, it would be the unveiling of the M8 platform in 2017 but that wasn't the real "new platform HD was unveiling", the new platform was a coup d'éˇtat on the aftermarket companies selling high performance products to all buyers of new HD bikes. Realizing that HD was now under the scrutiny of the EPA and would have to follow all emissions laws they put in place an internal rule, that rule was that all warranties would be trash if a customer put anything related to emission, chassis running gear changes on a bike that wasn't an HD product. Keep in mind, the moco always stated that swapping out pipes and tuners were emission violations but it wasn't until HD themselves were fined $30M by the EPA for selling race tuners did it become something they would enforce.

Despite receiving a bailout from Reagan in the 83's (by using tariffs I might add) HD decided the world needed electric bikes and kawasaki OHC look alikes to make it's path forward in the new world. This is about nothing more than shareholder profits and while making money for it's shareholders is the company's #1 responsibility the offshoring and building of bikes for foreign markets is unacceptable to most Americans, both riders and non riders. We don't like Maytag making our washing machines in Mexico, shipping them back here having the electronic board screwed on in Iowa and then slapping a 'Proudly made in the USA" sticker on it". It's no damn different.

This has been the way it is for 30 years now, you buy an HD, it's a blank platform waiting for aftermarket parts to make it run and perform better. We have junk Asian suspension, Chinese electronics and crappy manufacturing tolerances. We've tolerated it since HD bought back AMF with the promise they would step up to the plate and this is their answer. To that, I say "FY and the horse you rode in on". The warranty is a piece of paper, unless it's a SE stage 1-4 failure you might as well wipe your *** with the warranty, it's useless.

Some will say I'm wrong and that's ok. I've seen it go both ways but I've seen it go wrong more than right so that's how I come to my conclusion. Elmer Trett, Bonnie Truitt, Erik Buell, S&S, Steve Cole, Dennis Rich and hundreds of others have helped this company stay afloat in one way or another and now an opportunity to point the finger to the President as the blame is disingenuous at best.

You can start at 2:00 mark. The moco has lost it's way but even more damaging they've lost the trust of their customer base

 

Maybe HD should shut down new bike manufacture indefinitely and use the saved variable cost (the millions absorbed in aluminum and steel tariffs) to buy up all the used bikes on the market. Use the fixed cost to, instead, manufacture replacement/repair parts in the US. Fill the showrooms with shiny used bikes backed by a moderate dealer/factory warranty on the frame and engine (any custom parts on the bike as received can/should remain or be replaced for extra charge by the dealer at the buyer's request). CVO could go nuts doing some aftermarket work on old bikes instead of just changing paint jobs on the same SG/RG/UC models every year. Sell them according to whatever the market will bear according to NADA plus dealer markup. This would relieve the glut on the bike market, increase demand/value on used bikes, and increase the relative amount of US parts and build time per bike. It would at the same time please and pizz off the curmudgeon crowd, shake up the American bike market, and substantially increase profits in foreign markets where old is usually more desirable than new (the opposite is true in the US, but this would be turned around by forced attrition of the new bikes).

 

That's a great idea!!!! Maybe I can get Haynes or Fruit of the loom to pay me.

 

The Street is the only foreign made bike Harley has manufactured overseas. The other models are "assembled" in a foreign country. I don't want a Street and it's easy to find out if a Harley was imported into the USA. And why would they re-import the same models they make in the USA.

 

WRONG!!
The motor was conceived and designed by Harley Davidson...AMF provided money to keep Harley in business and did not change the company in any direct way.
There is/was no HD Family.

Correct.....More or less.

All we owe AMF ( if anything) is that they poured cash into the company and kept it alive, unfortunately the company didn't do anything to improve quality under AMF and instead continued to spiral downward with regard to quality control.

The late 70's Harleys were by far the worst Harleys ever built....They were little more than junk.
All you could hope to do with a new Harley in the late 70's was get it home, take it apart and build it into what you wanted it to be.
My new '79 Low Rider was a piece of **** from day one and it took a year and a buttload of work to get it right.
Everyone of my brothers and friends that bought those bikes had the same problems with them and we all just rebuilt them and went on about our business.
When Vaughn Beals and the investor group (including Willie G. Davidson) bought controlling interest in the company back from AMF there were two major projects on the table at Harley Davidson, one was the "NOVA" project, a V-Four, water cooled motor, in partnership with Porsche and the other was the EVO, which was a more traditional 45 degree, air cooled pushrod V-Twin.
At the time Harley could only afford to put one of those projects into production and they opted for the V-Twin EVO in order to appeal to their traditional customer base.

There are a lot more facts and details involved in the whole process.....But I am far too lazy to type any more of this ****.