Well if he can provide me an opportunity to purchase a fully liquid cooled Limited with the 131 Motor in it STOCK, along with the other electronics that are not standard added as STOCK, and also include real brakes and suspension.. at about $5k less then what they are charging for a new 2020 Limited today.. I'll buy a new HD. Otherwise I'll keep the one I have...

 

Well Ford is abandoning markets and their next foray into electrification is to use a storied name for a four door cross over built in Mexico, how tone deaf can they get? Plus nearly twenty eight billion dollars in leased cars whose value plummeted as the used car market imploded. Their deal with Rivian to provide a platform for Lincoln to build an EV off of collapsed. They completely screwed the pooch with the Amazon Delivery roll out so the orders went to Daimler instead. Tesla certainly is over valued and Musk even stated as much but people want to buy their cars and now they have a CUV (Y) and their plant in China sells all it makes in China. Tesla is exciting and brimming with technology the old automakers cannot compete with.

 

I am tired of hearing that Harley's failure was that they were making bikes for old people. They are crappy bikes for old people because they keep adding 40-50 pounds every model change. Do they think old people possess superhuman strength?

But new riders, of any age don't start with an Ultra.

While I had a '47 Knuckle, my first real motorcycle was a '61 XLH. My best friend rode a BSA. New riders want adrenaline. Why do ninjas, sport bikes and nakeds sell so well. It is the twist of the throttle.

Thats is why I had such high hopes for the Street. But no one at Harley had their reputation on the line so it sucks. That was a huge missed opportunity and a product of corporate thinking. No *****.

I ended up buying a Bonneville thruxton, and a M/G V7 Racer. (I always have a sportster, it is my therapist and why I am in such good mental health!)

Harley was not building for old men, they were thinking like old men. I was never impressed with Matt's leadership even when he was making his bonuses.

Also, they need a radical attitude change at the dealership. Hell, they bad mouth the sporty, they bad mouth or ignore some guy who rides in on a Honda. They don't really care if you buy/bought a Buell, Street, V-Rod and even the sportster.

I am also not not a fan of the Harley cathedrals. They thought the grass was greener on the automotive side, but they never were and never will be.

 

Interesting read - especially the comments.

https://advrider.com/harley-davidson...ent=05_07_2020

 

I enjoyed this one and I want an Astroglide NOW, Damnit !!!

"I think the absurdity of the livewire going into production is the best indicator of what happens to a maker of legendary and iconic motorcycles when they are managed by people who are too stupid to see the contradictions of trying to manufacture and sell expensive motorcycles using "identity" tactics. Perhaps a new 2020 CVO offering designed to honor the new American Space Force could save Harley Davidson. Name it the "ASTROGLIDE." I'm pretty sure they will sell a lot more of those than the Livewire."

 

Ya, good read.. .comments are pretty much inline with any MoCo article written that allows readers to make comments. Harley is going to be a much smaller company, and many dealers will disappear/close. It ain't doom and gloom and I don't think they'll ever go away, but I am being realistic... 7+ years of sinking sales.. Some dealers still have bran new '18s on the show room floor. There isn't anything in their future that looks real bright. Pan America, Bronx...?? Not.. They'll see maybe a little bit better sales then the FXDR. Where did that end up now? It's just my $.02...

 

Here's my take on the stock market in general. It's an emotional roller coaster. I haven't noticed anything that's ever "priced in" as far as the market goes. The favorite saying is the Market is forward thinking. Yeah, maybe 30 minutes forward. LOL. I've seen too many times when the DOW is up 300 points, and somebody coughs in the MiddleEast, and the market turns 400 down in the next 30 minutes. So much for forward thinking, or "priced in".

What the stock market HAS become is a high frequency trading game, run by computer driven algorithms. I don't see traditional "fundamentals" setting the prices of individual stocks much anymore, and hasn't for quite a while...I'd say at least the last 10 years. If you look at the stock market just in the last few months, it's gone down from a high of almost 30,000 to a low of 18,xxx, and then back up to 24,000 yesterday, 5.7.2020. Why is it going up when it was announced that we lost 20 million jobs in just April alone? In fact, why has it gone up at all since the 18,xxx LOW? WE have only had more deaths and more cases since that point, and it isn't EASING either. So there sure as hell aren't any fundamentals driving it up!

What might be driving it up is what has been driving it up for a long time: SPECULATION. Another good word for it is GAMBLING! LOL. Let's call it what it really is, LOL.
One legit thing that has been driving it up has been 401K money being put to work in the market on a monthly basis. The money has to be put somewhere, and it has been put into stock funds for the most part. So that explains a lot of the upward momentum for the overall market. And that will continue. I think the rest of the move has been the Trillions put into the economy by the FED. Stock market gamblers are betting this money will help businesses recover from the downturn. We'll see how that works out. Personally, I think any recovery is going to take a long time. I don't believe in this so-called V_Shape Recovery.

 

I don't think this has been posted before but apologies if it has.

It's a long watch but well put together and has some interesting facts some of which I knew and other I didn't. It's a millennial view of the Harley problem and has validity because of who the future riders are going to be.

For my part I am, at 71 years old, almost certainly on last two Harleys so I won't be of much help to boost sales and it's obvious the next few years are going to be very challenging to HD. They have survived lean times before but I fear the current set of circumstances are different and the most challenging of the company's history.

Time will tell....

 

Oh every swinging dick has their fvcking opinion on this ****. So sick of it. Just get out and ride dammit!!!!
sorry....

 

Harley doom and gloom posts go here.