[Neal]

Its always amazing to me how posts can get so Harley oriented.Some folk are so preoccupied with Harley bashing or defending they cant see the big picture.Its interesting that this article was very well balanced(about 20 percent of the content concerned Harleys)but over 70 percent of the posts are about Harley.The big picture isnt Harley......the question is will the teenagers of today and the 20 somethings stay on motorcycles into their middle age to replace boomers(by the way all middle aged grey heads dont ride Harleys)as they inevitably leave the marketplace.Will the sportbike rider of today grow into the middle aged Gold Wing Rider of tomorrow?Are cruisers(of any make)a boomer phenomena or will younger folk go that route?Dont think we are smarter than the companies(including Harley)...which copanies thrive depends on how they read the future.Whether the motorcyckle industry as a whole continues to boom depends on economics and the general legal/social view of cyclists.

 

[Neal]

Fair enough.I think Harley is already doing it....whether they are able to pull it offf is something else

.First,I think they need to establish a viable roadrace program to establish there sportbike bonafides.The VR1000 program failure was a big setback and I think they need to regroup.

Second,they GOTTA get a better(VROD type) engine in that Buell.The type of younger rider Buells are intended to attract arent going to be impressed by a hopped up antique motor.

Third.They need to expand the VROD line into other models(including the dressers).Given the engine layout this wont be an easy engineering task;however the romance of a 45 deg air cooled 2valve,single crank pin,engine is not that important to those under 40.



The hardest part will be to maintain enough of the "Harley image" to set them apart from every body else while they transition technology wise.its not always possible for engineers to pull off the marketeer/styling ideas.I dont know how they will do this.Luckily they are a LOT SMARTER than me........ I think they are set well for the next 5 years or so with the boomers,but after that it will get interesting.