Another Record?

From the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch online classifieds :



99 HARLEY DAVIDSON Softtail Custom, blk, $5000 extras, alarm sys. $13,200



96 HARLEY DAVIDSON LOW RIDER, 17K miles, $9500/obo.



02 HARLEY SUPERGLIDE: With hardbags. Divorce forces sale. $13,500.



And, for you old school peeps :



72 HARLEY DAVIDSON SPORTSTER, kick start, runs. First $2500 takes it.

'04 Lowrider $14,995

'04 Softtail Standard (don't see a custom) $13,695

'04 Superglide $11,995



I chose the lowest price on each of these. Price doesn't include the $215 freight fee listed on the site. The Lowrider seems to have taken the biggest drop. Don't know what the MSRP on a '99 Softtail was, as a Custom let alone the Standard, but add the cost of freight, and it probably held its own. Assuming MSRP was paid with no grease tax, and ignoring the $5000 in extras. The Superglide doesn't help my argument at all. But then, that's assuming someone pays the $13 k for it, and that the owner paid sticker for it.



I don't want anyone to think I'm Harley bashing. I'm bashing folks who think Harleys are immune to Supply and Demand.

I was actually surprised about 2 years ago when I saw a Harley commercial on television. Think it was the old man telling his kids about how me missed out on buying a Harley...



That's when I started looking at HD prices. I could not recall them buying TV spots before, because they never needed to. How many people noted that, in addition to the growth in earnings this past quarter, HD shipped more units, as well? They're playing catch-up with demand, and the lower prices I've been seeing in the paper looks like they're just about caught up.



Forgive me if I misunderstood your intent, Buzglyd, but you wrote,



"Don't forget about all those low mileage used Evos flooding the market and depressing the used prices.



That's gonna happen soon, right?"

Sounds like sarcasm to me. Like I said, I might be wrong--I've been wrong before--but it sounds like you don't think the HD used market will be saturated any time soon. If I happen to be interpreting that correctly, that is the sort of thing that makes the poster appear to say that HDs will hold their value indefinitely, or that nobody will ever sell their Harleys, or they'll never tire of being pretend bikers (No, I'm not saying all Harley riders are pretenders...but I personally know 3 who ride less than 1000 miles a year).



Heck, I'm even looking for a Road King to come down to an attractive price. Nothing in the Harley lineup would sway me from my Valkyrie, to say nothing of my CBR1100XX...but I want a long distance bike, and women seem attracted to Harleys. Hey, if one bike can get me in the saddle in both meanings of the word.... ; )