I started riding motorcycles in the 60s. The only people who rode them were rebels and troublemakers. Honda started the big sales with "you meet the nicest people on a Honda" ads. Then later on Harley convince a lot of older people it was cool to ride a Harley. I once had a credit union employee tell me her husband was buying a Harley for an investment. Now all the posers are getting too old. Who cares, lower your production and reduce your dealers because the big sales days are over.

 

We are the odd sock in the drawer. A lot more people don't own motorcycles than do. Some people can't get it through their heads that not everyone is interested in motorcycles. I went from the age of 24 until I was 54 and retired before a friend and I went to a Harley shop and I started kicking tires. I ended up buying a bike because it was a social thing. He had a bike and it sounded like a good time. If he didn't have a bike, I wouldn't have bought one. If your social group doesn't ride, you're not apt to go mingle with the Village People at the local Harley shop.

 

Yep. I thought when they started developing the driver-less cars that it would be a waste of time and effort. I mean who would want to just ride and not actually drive? When we were kids we couldn't wait to get our car/bike and get on the road. It meant freedom, but it seems nowdays they just aren't interested in cars/bikes anymore. They would rather call Uber, and eventually just use the automated cars to get where they need to go. Freedom doesn't seem to mean the same thing to people anymore.

 

Guess I gotta go return my helmet

 

Same here.

I love these threads that just go to show how out of touch boomers are and how they feel personally attacked over broad social trends.

 

Harley’s bikes are too expensive. It’s not rocket science. If the supply of garage queens runs out, I might get a new one, but the Limited shouldn’t be the only touring Batwing available. Why did they eliminate the Classic and Ultra Classic, which were great sellers?

My son who rides, has a little baby. He and his wife work their *** off, EMS/Fire, no way are they spending $20k on a bike.

 

Classic! Festus, put that one in the Boomer Echo Chamber Hall Of Fame.

 

Surprising considering they are much more expensive.

 

ouch!!!!!!!!!

Rofl!!

 

[QUOTE=eighteight;18901722]Fair enough, however they also don`t seem to buying the other brands either.
The industry as a whole is rather stagnant


And it would seem that many younger people today view cars as only an appliance or necessity .
The world changes and that's O.K.[/QUOTE]

That's the correct way to look at it too. Thanks for posting this.

But before all of us start blaming the younger folks for all the declining sales, let's heap some blame, or reasoning, on our own age group too. Blaming all of the declines on the upcoming generations is just a little too easy and convenient to suit me. Maybe some of the reasons are OUR OWN age group has a lot to do with it.

Personally, I think the Big Sales years were big because a lot of rich people wanted to BE COOL, look like a badass(that they really weren't), and join in some groups, like HOG, and have an instant membership into the "CLUB". I know this for a fact. I've seen it. Dentists and Lawyers who bought and quit riding..but they rode a Harley! So the FAD has been over for a while now, and it showed up in lower sales.

But there is another group that hasn't been mentioned, and I'm surprised that it hasn't. It's the riders that "dropped out" because they just got fed up with the whole Motorcycle Experience. They got tired of being "USED". They didn't make their money by being stupid with it. Let's face it. Owning a Motorcycle is WAY more involved than just buying it and putting gas in the tank. It's an EXPENSIVE HOBBY. And it's gotten more expensive over the last 20 years. Expensive to buy, and way too expensive to maintain and REPAIR. It's not just the repair expense either. It's the TIME expense to the owner..thew time it takes to get the bike to the shop and then pick it back up again. People are busy working, and when the get free time, they want to ride, not have a bike in and out of a shop all the time. And they get pissed because their bike HAS TO GO TO THE SHOP!!!!!!!!!! Why can't this motorcycle stay on the road and not require this kind of repair so often?(they ask).

Let's talk about the experience....like going to Bikeweek for instance. I used to love going to that each year and Octoberfest too. Well, folks got tired of jacked up hotel rates for 60 year old hotels and rooms, and having a week long commitment to stay there too. The Vendors got tired of being ripped off on Vendor fees too, so now the Bikeweek vendor areas are pathetic.
Participation at the events is lousy and in decline, by vendors and riders.

Finally, "smart money" customers got tired of being used by Harley as guinea pigs on new products that weren't ready for release with all the bugs worked out. Their attitude was "screw you Harley, we deserve better than this" . And they got pissed too at the Harley Fanboys that told them to shut up and quit whining. In my opinion, that was the last straw for them. They understood that with nobody holding Harley's "feet to the fire" for shoddy design, there would never be any reason for improvements.

So, we as a "Mainstay" group of loyalists have reasons to see why sales have fallen. And WE are as much to blame as anyone else, or any of the other social forces working against US.