[LimeSqueezr]

I don't think H-D sales will suffer much because of Sept. 11. Indeed, anything that's an all-American icon to the point that owning one is downright patriotic will probably see an *increase* in sales unless the economy gets much worse than just a run-of-the-mill recession.



Look for other products to try to capitalize on what H-D has been doing for years, but at least they can't be accused of exploiting tragedy. They've been marketing the same way since the days when you could carry a hunting rifle on a plane and they just asked you to make sure it's unloaded.

 

[LimeSqueezr]

There's a reason for the way they're referred to...

The Motor Co. is the part of HDI that makes H-D branded motorcycles. Buell is a part of HDI but separate from the H-D Motor Co. thus it is accurate to say Buells are made by Harley-Davidson but they are not "Harleys." I agree it's confusing and kind of ambiguous when people just say "the Company" without saying whether they mean the corporate parent or the subsidiary, but it's nothing to get paranoid about.

 

[LimeSqueezr]

Re: Their share price performance is unmatched in the biz

you're right that in their best economic times Japan has sometimes actually registered a higher *overall* material standard of living than the US. So have several European countries. HOWEVER those countries do not have a significant underclass of poor people who tend to stay that way no matter how good things get. They drag the standard down. I don't want to start a controversy about whose fault it is, but we do have that. When you back out those people and compare middle-classes and then figure in the incredible degree of freedom (who knows how much longer it'll last) that no other country can touch (Japan is a police state by comparison) there is no standard of living anywhere like it in the world.

 

[LimeSqueezr]

Don't have any myself but...

I know a guy who has a Moto Guzzi tatoo and another with Triumph (the old Meriden-style logo). NEVER seen one for a riceburner though. It's one of those things we all know would look utterly absurd but nobody can explain exactly why. Then because it's so absurd I'm sure somebody has one. I mean, it wouldn't be much sillier than cartoon characters and I've seen some of those.