Originally Posted by panheadache

I've always said HD needs to have a tiger team that visits local runs and rides and see what the masses are doing and produce a product that has mass appeal. ..

Originally Posted by Mr.Softy

You can always take a saw to them.

Originally Posted by downzero

I was there last year and the only ones I saw came off the demo truck. There were more Japanese motorcycles than Indians from any era.

I demoed the Chieftain and was hoping to like it but it was terrible. The transmission was clunky when cold and it had the check engine light on and a cylinder misfire even though it only had 150 miles on the odometer. The guy suggested that I should ride the other models that had a radiator, to which I told him hell no (water cooled motorcycles are against my religion). I really wanted to give the "other" American motorcycle brand a chance to impress me and instead the bike left a sour taste in my mouth and rode like a giant pile of crap for being a brand new motorcycle that costs as much as a Harley-Davidson.

As much as I am not a fan of H-D and some of their corporate decisions, I find it hard to believe that the revived Indian motorcycles are any real threat to them at this time. The real problem is that the population who wants a conventional Harley-Davidson is aging, and my generation doesn't have the income to buy durable goods like motorcycles. Wages/salaries have stagnated for the last 40+ years (depending on where you're at in the income bracket). We make less on average than our parents did when inflation is taken into account. It's hard to sell a premium brand to people who are the first generation to make less money than our parents. Maybe 10 years from now, those of us who chose not to have children will be able to splurge on expensive things like new motorcycles.

Originally Posted by Old New Rider

Yes. I couldn't afford a Harley until I retired at 61. Rode a couple of Hondas prior. But I do a lot more than bike, and corporations the last 40 years worked the **** out of us. Little time for R&R. If all I did was bike, I likely could have afforded a Harley.

Think about it - post WWII vets came back and lived the good life, union jobs, decent work hours, no electronic gizmos. You rode your bike.

I'm enjoying the **** outta the Harley today, and wouldn't have bought anything else, but yeah, younger generations have a million other distractions that we didn't have growing up, and don't get paid as well as we did relative to the price of things today. Pretty obvious what was gonna happen, no?