"Get it. Cruisers out sell everything other category of bike here in the US. Your problem is you don't want a cruiser."
It wasn't always that way. And, as all things change eventually, it proabably won't stay that way.
Cruisers sell so much here because they're fashion statements. Fashion can be changed if someone, or some company, wants to try hard enough. A revolution could be started with as little as one unique product. The iPod is a decent, if not perfectly analogous, example.
The best example is Harley Davidson itself. Twenty years ago, Harleys were considered old, slow, dated and obsolete by almost everyone. And yet they started the whole cruiser revolution by convincing people that they were the alternative for the independent soul. No, they didn't introduce a radically new product. But it was unique by the standards of the day. And they made it cool to own one, and therefore, own a particular lifestyle. They changed the fashion of the American motorcycle scene.
An another example from Europe: The Ducati Monster. Ducati was smart enough to pick up on a grassroots motorcycling fashion statement. Big seller.
We now are reaching saturation in the heavy cruiser segment. Indian and E-H failed not only because of mismanagement but also because they were selling into a market that is already well served. We've got all of the Japanese manufacturers, Victory, the "custom" makers all battling for the scraps of a market that H-D has won hands down. The future may not be in producing more heavy cruisers. Some company will probably take advantage of that someday.
More choices are better for all of us. Resigning ourselves to the "cruisers and supersports can only sell here" mentality is resigning the power of the consumer. There are more than a few people here who would love to have a broader range of bikes in the U.S. If enough of us are heard, we might see a change.
I always tell newer riders that there are other options besides cruisers and supersports that they should consider. Fact is, most of them don't really even know that other bikes exist. If we keep insisting that other bikes can't sell here, that will be true in this country.
Oh, I'd also like to to point out (as some have already done) that the Bonneville is NOT a cruiser. It's a retro standard. I could also argue that the R3, while still a heavy cruiser, is unique to that segment in many significant ways.