Originally Posted by Hawg Runner

Personally I like the denim and blacked out look, when I had my 63' FLH for 45 years that I let go in 2016 she was black gloss paint and chrome, but these bikes now a days seem like so much more to clean and keep shine, am only 69 years young, but might be am tired of keeping all the polishing up, wish they would of kept the wide front tire on the Street Glide Special like on the Ultra Classic instead of the 19 tire, when I get the extra coins am gonna go for the wide tire kit for the front. To each their own.

Originally Posted by Numa Albornoz

Sounds like you should go into politics, a lot of words and nothing really said And as far as the blacked out look, everyone seems to want them over the old standard chrome, nice try though.

Originally Posted by jimglassford

....... of the brand name. I would not rule out a future where Harley is an Indian or Chinese owned company.

Originally Posted by ratpick

When considering this question I'm reminded of a philosophy class lecture years back in which the professor said that sometimes when questioning history we can make more sense of things by reframing the question. In this case the question isn't why Harley is on the decline, but instead why were they ever so successful in the first place. I believe their success was mostly accidental, or at least incidental, driven in large part by the mystique imparted by TV and movies of the 70s-90s in which almost all motorcycles were HD. Popular culture is a fickle thing, however, and they've moved on to vintage (looking at least) British and Italian bikes--seriously, pay attention to the bikes featured in movies/TV these days. I think politics played into this change as well, since we now have a cadre of American hating progressives controlling the narrative in Hollywood and media in general, so it makes sense they now eschew an American icon brand like Harley Davidson. In decades past these same bozos were drawn to a sort of blue collar, PBR drinking, idealized "working man" motif of simple yet pure values, and Harley Davidson played into that fantasy as well--however, they've since realized that bikers in general are pretty much the antithesis of the progressive nonsense that's permeated society and social media, and on the rare occasion you see an HD on the big screen these days it's not portrayed at all favorably. HD would have had to spend a fortune on marketing just to maintain the status quo and offset the lack of free publicity, and their attempts lately to set trends, or even capitalize on existing trends, are laughably inept--wide tires, denim paint, bobbers, blacked out trim, etc, etc, all brought to market 10-15 years after their popularity first ensued only served to show how embarrassingly behind the curve they are. HD certainly made hay while the sun was shining, and now that their popularity is on the wane I think they'll go back to more of a niche market of people who actually ride bikes instead of keeping them as a garage decoration/status symbol. Certainly a much smaller market, but hopefully one they can service successfully in the long term. Going forward I'll miss all the like new garage queens that can be had for pennies on the dollar versus new, but otherwise I'm fine with it.