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Dec 11, 2017 | 09:14 PM

#111

kb_jag

Tourer

Joined: Mar 2010

Posts: 415

Likes: 149

From: new zealand

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billyhog

In reality Harley biggest challenge is the Adventure Touring. An area it has never been into. But BMW, Ducati, KTM, and the Japs are growing big with this in the USA. There is also the growing Indian competition, and to a lesser extent that of Triumph and Moto Guzzi. But the first with a shrinking cruiser market is becoming a concern.
It can pick some peaces but the biggest concern is the Adventure segment, this is something completely new for Harley and something it never did enter into. A wise move in this would be to make a Sportster Scrambler model with 20 kg less and a higher suspension. I'd say half of this is ready with the Roadster bike. But this enters young people into the brand and into the customization frenzy the Harley brand has.

This guys knows what he is talking about. Again, after many many years in shops, you can track the rapid decline of the 90's cafe racers, and next on the cutting block are riders like me, cruisers. Where did they all go.....They all kept going, were the rest of us stopped, at the edge of the pavement, where the stone road led to a dirt, and the dirt road led to no road, and then they kept on going. We see a huge segment or riders here who started out small, then went faster, then went bigger and faster, and as they continued on there two wheeled journey through the decades, along came adventure riding. The population here, is absolutely crazy for it. There are so many places to explore beyond the pavement where no one ever goes. Its what us dirt riders used to do as kids, proper exploration. Some guys go 12-15 hours riding, never touching pavement, but instead heading up to beautiful vistas in the mountains, and down old river tracks.

Its not my cup of tea, but I do get it, and again, the above poster is right, in many parts of the world, it is really starting to take a bite out of the market. Would be interesting to see if a scrambler or some sort of Vstrom variant is on HDs radar.