I'd say I disagree with just about everything you said. Harley was in trouble in the 60's and needed to sell of because their market share was dwindling because they were about 10 years behind the times. They sold outdated bikes at high prices, and the Japanese and Brits were putting them under. AMF continued the trend and churned out more bikes with terrible quality, and drove all but the most loyal customers away. The Shovel may have not been a terrible design, but lots of the ones that came out of the factory were terrible. I owned 3 Shovels and an Ironhead 80 Sportster, so I know a bit about the quality of those bikes. My 79 CBX made a Harley of 79 look like a Model T! Customers were slow to react to the Evo? You would be too if you had 30 years of vibrating, leaky, unreliable motorcycles to live down. Saying the bikes aren't really all that different today as they were then shows you pretty much know nothing about Harleys. Come and take a ride on my 82 bagger and compare it to my 01 bagger. Not even in the same league dude. The 82 was outdated the day it was made, and the 01 has been as reliable as a rock. And you are also incorrect about build quality between the Japanese and Harley in the 70's. My 76 Superglide had horrible build quality. From cobby castings, to horrible looking welds, to badly designed and engineered parts. In 1969 Honda came out with the 750 Four and blew away everyone's idea of comfort, performance, reliability, price, and build quality. That was the death song for Harley if they didn't step up their game. Ask the British about that one. If you compare that 69 Honda to a 77 Harley, you would see the difference even those many years later. Marketing can't sell an inferior product. You don't make 20 straight years of record profits on marketing. Harley did a complete makeover from management to marketing to manufacturing. It all has to work to be successful. They have a brand to envy because they earned it. They went out and talked to what the people want to buy and they made that product, and it is world class. The Japanese take a different approach. They make a product, and then try to talk you into buying it. Those are the real differences between the two. There are as many reasons to buy a Harley as there are people that buy them. I chose an Electra Glide over buying a new GoldWing because I felt the Harley fit my touring needs better and was a better value to boot. I was correct on both counts. I didn't buy a brand. I bought a bike, so your theory, while comfortable for you to think about, is not correct in any way.