Sticker Shock!
Road Captain
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 687
Likes: 5
From: Maryland
No way. I buy used. Low mileage, well-maintained Harleys are everywhere...and the money saved buys a lot of accessories, gas, motel rooms and beer. For $40K I can buy a great used Harley, go on a great vacation, put a new 4:11 posi in the Chevelle, pay some bills...and have money left over. There are times in the dealer's showroom when I feel like telling the guy buying the new bike to take good care of it because I'll be buying it from him in 5 years.
Tourer
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 326
Likes: 5
From: N.E. Ohio
I have a friend who is a Harley mechanic, he once told me, I would be surprised at the number of people that come in and say "I want that one" and then pull out the cash to pay for it. There is no shortage of people with enough coin to buy whatever they want. A friend of mine who just retired went and bought a new CVO ultra and then went out and bought a six figure motor home/toy hauler. I haven't seem him since. He mentioned his first stop was going to be Daytona, after that just follow the sun.
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 2,053
Likes: 39
From: San Diego
Perhaps our anger is misplaced here.
Maybe it not so much that Harley is racheting up the price of their bikes as it is our government that is deflating the value of our dollars with their policies.
Someday we will look back as these being bargain prices, as we tote wheelbarrows full of cash down to the dealership to buy even their cheapest bikes.
And as jmacdonald5 states, as the bikes get increasingly more complicated, and less and less buyers have the time, ability, knowledge and skills to customize them for ourselves, the CVO will be the only chance they have to get a nicer than production ride.
Maybe it not so much that Harley is racheting up the price of their bikes as it is our government that is deflating the value of our dollars with their policies.
Someday we will look back as these being bargain prices, as we tote wheelbarrows full of cash down to the dealership to buy even their cheapest bikes.
And as jmacdonald5 states, as the bikes get increasingly more complicated, and less and less buyers have the time, ability, knowledge and skills to customize them for ourselves, the CVO will be the only chance they have to get a nicer than production ride.
Last edited by Uncle Paul; Feb 13, 2014 at 10:13 PM.
Grand HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 4,002
Likes: 1,240
From: On the Front Range, CO
I know I certainly don't fit the description you've provided, and a short visit to the CVO Harley forum will confirm I'm not the only one.
They are expensive, especially the Limited, or in years past, the Ultra Classic.
That said, my last new purchase was my 2010 CVO Street Glide, which is now a Road Glide. I've had other bikes since then, but it's going to take something really special to make me buy new again. Like the 2015 Road Glides!
And yep, I went there...a CVO / nonCVO disagreement combined with a 2015 Road Glide speculation!
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 13,402
Likes: 941
From: Illinois
So! There are still many dozens of custom builders that get $50K to $150K for a bike. When I look at one of them and the 14 Limited CVO for $40K I see the CVO as a better bike with far more features and service life not even counting the better resale. In the upper end of motorcycles the CVO is a bargain. A paint job from someone like Perowitz (SP) can run over $20K.
40% of the wage earners in the US can afford the higher end vehicles. So for those that can't. Just were did you go wrong in planning your future?
40% of the wage earners in the US can afford the higher end vehicles. So for those that can't. Just were did you go wrong in planning your future?
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 9,975
Likes: 5,214
From: Michigan
It seems just like yesterday (actually 1974) that I was trying to convince my cousins that we should jump from our Honda's over to Harley-Davidsons.
I can still remember their resistance to paying about $ 3000 for any motorcycle!
I was the first. I bought a 1975 Sportster XLH 1000 in October, '74.
By November I realized that is much too small for me.
(How'd all those HUGE bikers ride those things for so many years?).
After riding my Sportster, both of my cousins ordered their '75 Super Glides and I sold the Sport to a friend of mine and got my first bagger, a '75 FLT Electra Glide. As I remember it, the Super Glides were about $ 3300 and My FLT was $ 3995 (plus taxes).
I tend to keep my bikes a long time.
I kept my 2000 Ultra 13 years and it had 77,000+ miles on it when I sold it in October, 2012.
Shortly after that I picked up my new '13 CVO Ultra.
I'm in no terms "rich", but this may very well be my last motorcycle and I thought (as my wife did) that I may as well get something I like.
New handlebars, new exhaust, a SERT and dyno tune, a windshield that fits me, and a few other goodies and I'll have a bike that I plan to keep until I'm no longer able to ride.
We all make decision based on our own situations and if I want something, and I can reasonably afford it, why should I not buy it?
That, as a friend of mine says, "is why you never see a luggage rack on a hearse"!
I can still remember their resistance to paying about $ 3000 for any motorcycle!
I was the first. I bought a 1975 Sportster XLH 1000 in October, '74.
By November I realized that is much too small for me.
(How'd all those HUGE bikers ride those things for so many years?).
After riding my Sportster, both of my cousins ordered their '75 Super Glides and I sold the Sport to a friend of mine and got my first bagger, a '75 FLT Electra Glide. As I remember it, the Super Glides were about $ 3300 and My FLT was $ 3995 (plus taxes).
I tend to keep my bikes a long time.
I kept my 2000 Ultra 13 years and it had 77,000+ miles on it when I sold it in October, 2012.
Shortly after that I picked up my new '13 CVO Ultra.
I'm in no terms "rich", but this may very well be my last motorcycle and I thought (as my wife did) that I may as well get something I like.
New handlebars, new exhaust, a SERT and dyno tune, a windshield that fits me, and a few other goodies and I'll have a bike that I plan to keep until I'm no longer able to ride.
We all make decision based on our own situations and if I want something, and I can reasonably afford it, why should I not buy it?
That, as a friend of mine says, "is why you never see a luggage rack on a hearse"!
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Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 2,144
Likes: 10
From: Mass
I'm not sure I'd paint all CVO owners with such a broad brush stroke.
I know I certainly don't fit the description you've provided, and a short visit to the CVO Harley forum will confirm I'm not the only one.
They are expensive, especially the Limited, or in years past, the Ultra Classic.
That said, my last new purchase was my 2010 CVO Street Glide, which is now a Road Glide. I've had other bikes since then, but it's going to take something really special to make me buy new again. Like the 2015 Road Glides!
And yep, I went there...a CVO / nonCVO disagreement combined with a 2015 Road Glide speculation!
I know I certainly don't fit the description you've provided, and a short visit to the CVO Harley forum will confirm I'm not the only one.
They are expensive, especially the Limited, or in years past, the Ultra Classic.
That said, my last new purchase was my 2010 CVO Street Glide, which is now a Road Glide. I've had other bikes since then, but it's going to take something really special to make me buy new again. Like the 2015 Road Glides!
And yep, I went there...a CVO / nonCVO disagreement combined with a 2015 Road Glide speculation!
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 24,653
Likes: 9,113
From: Snow Hill, NC
It's what you are willing to put out...I waited until I was 42 to buy a 07 FLHTC and 18000.00 smackaroo felt like 40000.00 Some folks can't lay that kind of cash down or handle the monthly payment and I say to the ones who can, go for it...