Re: You're all wrong. Er, or maybe you're all right, sorta.
You're probably going to kick me out for this. But what the hell.
The fact that Harley separated the Buell stores in a couple of places does not a strategy make. They would have to make a huge committment to Buell to do this properly. They would have to provide lots of financial and materail support to get it right, and possibly, suffer through some losses. And they'd have to commit to a long term strategy. I doubt their shareholders would like it, but shareholders are very often wrong. They look at quarter to quarter results, understandably. But pandering to shareholders has killed many long-range strategies.
If the Buells were to become H-D's, they'd really have an uphill battle trying to sell them. I essence they'd be attempting what is known as a "line extension." And line extensions that overreach the relevant are usually not accepted. I would argue, that with Harley's current market position and brand image, sportbikes are a stretch. I'm pretty sure this is why Buell is still just a niche manufacturer--they're still considered Harleys by many. Another rule of thumb: You can't stay a niche manufacturer forever. You either have to move into top 10 or so in the market, or you are going to die eventually. The only way around this is to create your own category, which is exactly what Buell has tried to do with the "streetfighter" label. Problem is, they're still in Harley dealers, with Harley salespeople (who don't really give a crap), with Harley stuff everywhere around them. This is not how you build a sustainable brand. Kind of ironic since H-D has been so succsessful cultivating their own brand.
Point 2: You're right, Harley did suffer with poor quality during the 70's and 80's. But that was really only part of the problem. Harley sold a good amount of bikes, but their market share and positon was completely ravaged by the Japanese who were building bikes that were more desireable. Better performance, better reliablity, and better price. Plus they were different than Harleys. I was too young to ride streetbikes in the mid and early 80's, but I remember people talking about how they loved their Japanese bikes because they were so powerful, reliable and"refined." No one really taked about "character" then. Then a funny thing happenend: Tastes began to change for a large amount of people. Harleys started to become more desireable. Everyone seemed to have a Hondakawasukiha, but a few wild ones on the fringes still had Harleys. That was alluring. H-D wisely capatalized on this. Hence the cruiser boom was born. Let's also remember that that was only about 20 years ago. Not really a long time. So the claims that "people have been predicting the end of the cruiser boom for decades" don't really hold water. It only seems like a long time.
To put the time frame in perspective: In roughly the same period, Volkswagen went from being the world's most successful car maker, to near-extinction, to boom again. Now they seemed to have leveled off some. To say that Harley's fortunes are now set in stone forever is a mistake.
Now it seems like everybody's got a Harley. Hell, even Harley owners make fun of the "newbies and sheep." I'm not saying H-D is going to go away, I'm just saying that to maintain relevance, it is entirely possible that they may have to evolve in the not-so-distant future. We look at H-D as this unassailable monolith. No one is unassailable in the marketplace. Other companies are always working on ways to chip away at you. And things will always change. You only have to look at H-D's entire history for proof of that.
Lastly, I didn't say that Harley spends no R&D money. I meant that it takes a lot less money to refine their designs that to completely revise their models every few years. The spend a lot less R&D money relative to other high-performance manufacturers. Cruisers, especially Harleys, are relatively low-cost, high mark-up and profit items. Currently, there's no need for them to spend a lot in R&D.
Oh, and you may think that Cadillacs are ugly, but there's no doubt about how successful they've become.
Maybe this only got me probation?