IF I understand what you're getting at.......

That might all be true except for the fact that you CAN have way more performance and still have a quality, reliable build. Aftermarket guys have been taking stock harleys, and with anything from just a cam exhaust upgrade to a full blown big bore kit, and getting tons more out of them.

It all boils down to cost vs QA guidelines. They get by with the cheapest parts they can, and in their limited testing, they stay within acceptable params and call it all good. Then when real world testing takes place: i.e millions of riders, then issues start showing up on those cheap parts they thought were going to ok.

I saw that for YEARS in the furniture industry. Lets get our wood or fabrics/leather from a cheaper source to cut costs. Then a couple years down the road, and products are being returned for broken legs..

 

I deal with this very issue every working day and from past experience I'll tell you it's about a 40/60 split with the 40% being what transfers from paper to the real world seamlessly. The 60% side ranges from minor tweaks to a complete redesign to make it work. Throw in a major new product release and tight timetable and a lot gets tossed to whims of lets run with it and deal with revisions later. It's a numbers game at the corporate level, as long as projected failure rates are below a certain threshold it's acceptable. We the end user take the beating.

 

sad but true..remember some years back the hot mess Toyota got themselves into using cheap repro parts on their legendary reliable high quality Corollas and Camrys..some throttles were sticking, think there were brake issues, can't recall all the details..but it bit em' in the *** and took awhile to recover..skimp and save in the short run without concern for long term brand impact..consumers deserve quality and value for spending their hard earned income on products damnit!

 

Yes you can do what you stated,but not do a race motor with HD parts .Not build a motor that's bad *** fast.The Chevy in the Sprint car stops at the Bow Tie . Nothing GM about it. It's all about light weight rotating mass. That's why Indian went to a full blown race motor to kick HDs ***. Polaris has a bottomless pit for a racing budget.

 

Where does corporate reputation factor into this equation? Or do they just accept that a certain number of customers will be lost to other brands forever?

 

Regardless of reputation, Corporate tends to side with where the money can best be made. Unfortunately as of the last decade this seems to be the most driving factor in Corporate decisions.

I feel like up til the 90's major corporations (for the most part) actually did have the consumers best interests in mind. Now, it's the shareholders best interests...

 

Best money made on the short term (quarterly numbers) too. I don't know of any companies that play the long game anymore.

 

 

Do you realize how much **** Cycleworld would have gotten for even uttering Harley brand new motor in an article about sumping? Yea, they did bring it up in a racing context, but they didn't say anything about the M8 which was probably smart on their part.

We know better tho...

 

Semi related it seems as this is also in IT, Tech in general, and still in refinery (bro now works at one) The engineers being engineers comes from a lot of outside sources. Companies don't hire people then think "we need engineers, maybe we should take this employee and train him to do that." its more often "go find some cheap out of college guy" It sounds like I've had it better in this regard than some of you but if that is the case you have my sincerest condolences.

It's times like this I wish I had the extra money to throw at a crate engine (or scav one out a junkyard) just to see what issues crop up over time. Ah well.