[49245]

Really torn.....

On the one hand living in the midwest (Indiana with no helmet law) where harley dealerships are about 5 miles apart...the thought of never seeing another do-rag makes me very very happy....but on the other hand due to simply masterful marketing harley brought a crap load of new riders...more specifically women onto the scene by targeting the crap out of em with sportsters.

**I can still appreciate an old school harley guy....you guys are still cool.

 

[60885]

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[schizuki]

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[Buzglyd]

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[Buzglyd]

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[sachiwilson]

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[36231]

Hmmm, an E-Glide with an airbag and cup holder...Sharing the sales floor with it's Honda counterpart...

 

[pdad13]

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[sachiwilson]

I live 20 miles from Tijuana. I prefer tequila, my good man.

 

[Buzglyd]

I live 20 miles from Tijuana. I prefer tequila, my good man.

Sounds like we might have to get some San Diego MoFos together for a ride.

 

[pdad13]

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[pdad13]

Aw, us second-class East Coast members always get left out of the good events. The annual ECGTPB Regional Needlepoint Craft Show and Bingo Tournament just doesn't draw as well.

 

[60885]

Motorcycle Heaven discussion.

LOL I just can't see it happening but life is stranger than fiction. Can you imagine the conversation that is going on in Motorcycle Heaven between Mr Honda and the HD founders. I doubt those guys would like this idea..

 

[57085]

LOL I just can't see it happening but life is stranger than fiction. Can you imagine the conversation that is going on in Motorcycle Heaven between Mr Honda and the HD founders. I doubt those guys would like this idea..

The ones I'd really like to see react to a Honda buyout of Harley would be the guys at Harley who thought it would be a good idea in the '80s to sue Honda for, among other things, making the Rebel look too much like their bikes, and copying the potato-potato-potato exhaust note.

I'm definitely in the "never gonna happen" camp myself. Harley's main appeal has been "We really do make them like we used to" and their American-ness. Hard to see either of these going over too well with Honda's culture, although Honda did come out with a new CB750 that they're not selling here...

 

[mscuddy]

...maybe they can build something like this...

Dirt Bike (Zhejiang Longwise Technology Co., Ltd.,China)

 

[Kenneth_Moore]

Honda-Davidson

Given the fact that HD is a publicly traded company, anybody, or any company, with sufficient capital can but the company. The question then becomes, how does the aquisition serve the interests of the Honda stockholders? I'd take a look at what's been happening in the auto industry, with numerous aquisitions and subsequent divestitures, to get some ideas on how this might go.

Most people who know a little about AMF's aquisition of HD look at that period as the worst time in the company's history. Quality was low, sales dismal, products out of touch with the market. However, a closer examination shows that AMF sunk millions into HD's manufacturing infrastructure, and thus positioned the company for sucess following the management LBO in 1980. What would Honda add to HD in that venue?

Here's another thought: in the 1980's HD asked for and got tarriffs on imported bikes of...what was it, 800cc's and up, to protect them while they rebuilt their market share. Talk about irony if the very company that legislation was aimed at turns around and buys HD. "Buy Bushwood?! He wants to BUY Bushwood?!?!?!?"

Last thoughts: Harley has required their dealers to pump MILLIONS into their facilities, equipment, advertising, training, and creating a uniform "look and feel" to a degree far beyond anything any other manufacturer has done. The other bike shops around here look like Big Lots versus Nordstroms compared to HD. I'll bet Honda would love to have a Toyota/Lexus scenario...and every flat-totin, "Buy American" Electra-Glidin' good old boy would crap their chaps if they got it.

 

[schizuki]

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[schizuki]

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[60885]

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[60885]

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