I have felt for years that Harley should come out with a real starter bike. Around 650 - 700 ccabout 400 lbs. I think this would bring more new people to Harley. I know 2 guys, one has a Yamaha 650 V-Star and the other hassome kind of smallerHonda for ther first bikes.3 years back when they got them, they said in time they was going to get Harleys, but they really like them, and I'm not so surethe Yamaha guywill ever buy a Harley now, the Honda guy has already said when he gets a bigger bike he might stay with Honda now, because he loves that little bike. Back in the 80's I had a Yamaha 350 2-stroke, it was very light, and fast, but it gave me some good experience and was a big help for me when I got my first Harley, a 2000 1200-C it felt big, but the time on that Yamaha really paid off for me.
Now I have a 06 1200-C and this feels even bigger and heavier, but I love it. Now I feel if a person has no experience on a bike, a Sportster is a bit to heavy for first time riders.
So what do you think ? would the $ spent by Harley to make a real starter bike pay off ???
GP.

 

Well, they kinda did with the Buell Blast...and as far as starter bikes go...that's really not HD's thing, lol...more Honda's or Kawi's.

 

I thought the Buell Blast was the "starter bike" of choice for HD. Theylike touse it in their "riders Edge" classes.

 

I'd like to buy a Blast just to run the snot out of it [8D]

 

I doubt it would be a good idea for Harley. To get it into the entry level range and compete with the other smaller (cheap) bikes, HD would have to drop the quality such that it would not be good for the brand name. Just my .02

 

Hell no.....
but there could be some good threads in that new HD forum, like "some sportster guy told me to get a real bike".....

I REAL life, HD's are bike bikes,,,ther's nuff starter crap out there to satisfy the masses..
.
and Ive never heard a ANY TWIN under 650cc that sounds decent.........'

I'd like to see the 1200 become the 1340, like the 1200 shovel became the 1340 (or 74 vs. 80)..............
...Make em bigger, dammit....B.

 

+1 them little ****ers are like POCKET BIKES!!! [sm=happy046.gif]

 

The sporster was my starter bike.........I think it's a great starter bike, If it's to heavy, Then maybe a HD is not for in the cards for a person that thinks a sportster is to big.

 

The MOCO tried that when the Japanese bike imports ate their lunch back in the day. They bought Aermachi and marketed their 250cc and 350cc bikes as HD's here. Harley's niche is what it is, and it will never successfully be anything else. Likewise, no one can compete withH-D in the niche they hold.MOCO doesn't just makemotorcycles, it's an experience thing and Harley-Davidson owns it.

 

They also had the 125CC Sprints that look like the old 1920's models back in the 50's.