For years we've talked about and seen stories about HD struggling to compete in the global market. Yet every move toward that goal is derided by "the faithful." Most recently it's been beaten to death in e-bike discussions. In the past year it was overseas factories and production facilities and dissention on President Trump's protectionist trade policies. The truth is the heavy motorcycle market is struggling world-wide. Since there seem to be so many passionate opinions on this I ask;

Just exactly what do YOU want Harley-Davidson to do to survive as a company?

It's a wish list, but please, let's try to keep it realistic. Plain old simple "wishes" are welcome, but if you're going to detail how your plan for the future is going to save the company, please offer some substance to support your position.
Keep it clean, polite and on topic. Keep racial, political, religious and xeno bias out of this discussion!!!
Let the fun begin!

 

Let them die... they need to do some solid engineering, stop using new owners as guinea pigs, and make bikes that compete. They need to rethink their pricing as its insane. 15k for a base model m8 with worse brakes, power, handling, weight than a 10k naked sport bike. For what you pay you should have at least adjustable suspension.

dont forget its not just cruisers competing with harley, i had a brother tell me if he was my age he wouldnt even think of a harley. Any sport bike will out handle and outrun most cars and bikes. Sportbike clubs are everywhere now. Harley got what it deserved when they treated buells like crap, putting them in the back with used bikes.

 

I've got a full enough plate running my own business. I'm not going to tell anyone else how to run theirs.

 

I'm waiting to see what the Pan America is all about and if that powerplant will be the MoCo's future. I'm also interested to see what kind of range they'll get out of the Live Wire in a few years. They need to make a mid size bike that will compete with Ducati's Scrambler Icon. They could have used Buell for this instead of killing the brand.

 

 

The pan america has me worried. The competion for it has decades of expeirience and i dont think harley knows how to build the suspension necessary for an adventure bike. The 1200 adventure bike class has some pretty powerful aand well built bikes. I cant see anyone actually taking one off road and being confident it will bring them home. There is a reason teneres do so well and its because they are insanely reliable.

 

This is what the PanAmerica is up against: Starting at $10,395, 118 mph, 57 mpg, 493 pounds fully fueled.

https://www.bmwmotorcycles.com/en/mo...re/f750gs.html

 

I think quality control is their biggest issue. Stop cheaping out on all the bearings they use and stop using the public as guinea pigs. One other novel idea would be to stand behind your product with a much better warrenty. I have several friends who have jumped on the Indian band wagon because they got tired of HD's crap.

 

A Softail with a smaller batwing with radio and GPS and hard bags. Some of us don't want a heavy touring bike.

 

the pan america is for all the harley diehards who want an adventure bike but wont ride anything but a harley. Its going to be way more expensive than most adventure bikes and not have the tech or features.