They’re at it again.

Found over at Filthie’s place – Harley’s new effort.

Ya gotta feel bad for the guys at Harley Davidson. The Japs build a better Harley than they do and can put it on the market at – at least 30 – 35 points less. Harley’s been hijacked at several points in their company history by corporate shit hawks that understand profits and margins but know SFA about motorcycles and riding. For awhile they found a niche with purists and traditionalists, and successfully positioned themselves in that market as a premium ride. But time comes for everyone. The elderly boomers are aging out of the motorcycle market. The corporate shit hawks are back again, and have farmed out a lot of their parts and aftermarket to the fuggin (hork, spit) chinks. I’m talking out of my butt…but hell’s bells! If your corporate image is American iron and pride…GAH

You know what’s next? Tariff the Jap bikes.

They did that back in the 80s with a tariff on +750 CC bikes. All the jap manufactures pretty much de-stroked their 750 CC bikes to 700. They were called tariff bikes. I had one. So did my best friend. They were amazing bikes.

I dunno what to make of this. The old pan heads, shovel heads and knuckle head engines went the way of the buffalo for a reason. When you take archaic designs and merge them with modern materials and tech …? As HD proved with the Evolution engine… oh boy, bad things can happen when ya do that…

How many rattling V-twins do you need in your lineup? They tried the electric bike thing, which is stupid on it’s face, especially for the money they want. Back in the day, I had a neighbor that was into bikes. He sold me my first one. He’d buy cars and bikes, even grab lawnmowers out of people’s trash, fix them up and sell them. He traded/sold up from a Honda 360 through a CB750, to Goldwings, which he pretty much stayed with. One day, he rocked up on a Harley. I’ve never laughed so hard in my life. He picked it up while in his hometown in the Shenandoah valley.

“A WILLIS FARM TRACTOR! IT RIDES LIKE A GOTTDAM WILLIS FARM TRACTOR! We had to stop a hundred times on the way back (he rode it back, the wife drove his car) to pick up the pieces that fell off!”

He fixed it up and sold it. To be fair, it was an AMF Harley.

Harley has the same problem that Lincoln and Cadillac went through – their market is dying off, and competitors make better products. Lexus pretty much was eating the American luxury cars lunch. As was Mercedes and BMW. So they upped their game and went after a new group of customers.

Here’s my deal. I’ve had Jap bikes my whole life. One, because I couldn’t afford a Harley. And two, I like the reliability, smoothness, and safety features of a modern bike. I like anti-lock, anti-dive braking systems. I like high tech suspensions that keep the rubber planted on the road. I don’t like my feet flat in front of me. Harley has a few models I’ve looked into, like the street 750. I’ve been thinking of getting a second, smaller bike for around town. But I can pick up a decent 750-850CC Kawasaki, Honda, or Yamaha all day long cheaper. Here’s the deal, I’m 62. Although I’m fit, I find it tough to paddle a 700lb bike backwards out of a parking spot. It’s not so tough on my Concours, since it’s so balanced, but I have to be pretty careful and think how I approach that task.

But the bike is light as a feather when moving. And how many bikes do I really need?

Probably just the one. I live in a small town. South of me are rural roads. North, mostly super highways.

The old dudes, like me, generally don’t want or need a big chunk of American pig iron bike. I can’t see me spending that kind of dough at this point in my life when I can get a decent used Lexus, and a small bike for a fraction of what those new Harleys cost. I want neither.

It’s not like I don’t see Millennials and Zoomers on bikes. I see them on what appear to me to be dopey street legal mini-bikes all day long. I also see them on scooters.

Maybe they should put out a model that appeals to this crowd. Not unlike the Honda 50s back in the day.

I have no answers. Only criticism. Go where the customers are, fools.