Sorry to hear that. Unfortunately its happening everywhere.
The US automotive industry, motorcycle industry,andmanufacturing in generalneeds to stand up and take notice.
I work for a Chevy dealer. Service, New Car Sales and Parts are all down.
The sad thing is that quality is sliding and the US manufacturers and labor force needs to figure this out. Quality control sucks.
Dont get me wrong, Im still buying Chevrolet but Toyota and Honda are moving up fast. They will surpass if U.S.workers dont start to take pride in their jobs and turn quality around.
MikeM

 

We need more people able to afford them without being in debt, unfortunately incomes are stagnant or declining since 30 years for 99 % of the population, debts can not trick for the loss of income anymore.

the top 1% does well thank you.

US needs a NEW DEAL :



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Calm down. In due time this will all pass. Look at it this way. Now the stealer must offer "discounts". OMG the humanity. Maybe they will even cater to the customer!

On the positive side this is the time to buy a cycle. New or used. Get your $ together and get out there and muscle the seller until he bleds.

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What Wall St is doing is selling off!

 

Sorry to hear the bad news Glenn. The union contractor that I work for is pretty slow. You know a week here and a week there.
If the weather would clear up like last week we can go for a ride.

 

I believe EVOrider is close in his statements. The lending industry has been living too large in the "other people's money" theory for too long. Somewhere, sometime, the bill has to be paid. If lenders borrow money to be able to extend further loans, sooner or later a debtor(many debtors) become over extended and the debt stream starts a reversal so to speak. There are many many people and corporations that bit off more than they could chew and it is catching up to them. All spending and no saving, growth just for growth's sake, is bankrupt at best. The economy goes trough cycles...I've seen many during my working life and this is another cycle. I only hope that we can pull out of any bad times by doing the right things. Creating "packages" to try to get consumers to spend more is only a patch that will create more problems later. Slow, steady growth is better in the long run than everyone trying to buy everything right now and creating economic upturns that sooner or later turn into downturns. Luxury items such as Harleys ,boats, or whatever are the first to feel the crunch of the downturns. Survival depends on the planning/management that occurs before the downturn.

 

I have tried the "bike is good on gas" argument, and it just does not work to your ultimate advantage.

1. $200 rear tire - 10,000 miles
2. $150 front tire -20,000 miles
3. $1000 insurance / year
4. $50 complete oil changes (primary, trans, engine, filter)
5. $30 engine oil changes (filter, Oil)
6. Vehicle cost

Take all of this, divide it by your riding season / mileage and you will see they are a terrible argument for "economy".

Harley sells disposable income - the first thing to be hit when the economy slows down.

I hope that the prices of new units stays at list (the way it is in Canada anyway) to help us keep our resale and they LOWER prices on accessories to encourage existing customers to visit the shop regularly. The revenue stream from sundry items (and profit margins) will keep Harley going. It is easier to spend a bit more money on shirts, chrome, boots, etc than a new unit.

 

As a few know and most don't, I own my a semi truck & trailer. I haul equipment and machinery and it has been slowing down for the past 18 months. You might say it's the trickle down effect... When mfg'n and buildingslows down, soon so will everything else.

What is saving me right now is the fact that my equipment is paid for and this allows me to be selective with what I haul to stay profitable. I need a new trailer, but with things as they are, I'm going to keep it and remain debt free until after the elections.

Something I noticed in the past 3 decades and that is the economy goes thru a cleansing process to weed out the weak and the bottom feeders. What I see that compounds matters this time around is the war that our great president has got us in the middle of.... Our country is spending more money then what it has in its goldreserve to back up our currency... thus our dollar is worth less which means it has less buying power. Bush needs to stop spending money the country doesn't have..!

Trucking is directly effected by the economy and those of us that pay close attention to the big picture will be able to see the forest beyond the trees.

I want to replace the bike I soldthis past Julyso badly I can taste it, but at the same time, I don't want to take on any more debt until I pay off whatpersonal debt I alreadyhave. It scares me to death to even put on another 10-15 grand of debt for a bike...
Those of us that will survive for tomorrow will do so by protecting our credit rating today.

As more and more people go bankrupt, it will only slow down this countries recovery... You can't borrow money to buy anything if you have bad credit.

A lot of folks haven't been directly effected yet or are only beginning to be effected, but we are in a recession, pure and simple !

A bike rates right along with a boat... you have money to throw away... buy one, but you will never get your investment back out of it unless you hang on to it for 15 yrs

 

The Motor Company will weather the storm, andthey are taking the right steps to position themself for the future.

 

I've never bought or ridden a bike "just" for the economy. However, I rode it to work last summer and fall, and barely drove my V-10 powered F250SD. No matter how you slice it, even with the montly payment, I broke even financially, or maybe came out ahead...and got to ride everyday. The ride is worth a lot to me, but my bike gets 45mpg, and my truck gets 8mpg. My wife also rode her bike to work. Her Durango gets 13mpg and her bike (883)gets about the same as mine. May or may not be coming out ahead, but we sure are having fun.