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HD aging biker problem...

I bought my first H-D back in 1972 when I turned twenty - it cost around $2,300.


1972H-D.jpg
 
nweaver said:
My point exactly: Harley's blessing, AND harley's curse, is they CAN NOT deviate from the air-cooled, v-twin, ill-handling cruiser template.
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A screaming 350lbs XR750 street tracker absolutely fits that mold, is inline with Harley history (like when H-D was a premiere RACING brand), and would kick the shit out of the Triumph Bonnie/Thruxton, or similar retro standards.

They don't need another brand to branch out. They need to get their heads out of their asses and re-educate their dealers.
 
Antarius said:
I hear people all day talking about how wonderful the "BMW S1000RR" is, yet I never see anyone buying them.
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Don't know where you're looking but I see them on the road all the time in the city... hard to say the age of a geared up rider, but a 30 something coworker bought one. It was his first sport bike.
 
product placement.
put one in the next Twilight movie and voila, little emo kids everywhere will want one.
I'll take my executive bonus now, thanks.
 
ohio said:
A screaming 350lbs XR750 street tracker absolutely fits that mold, is inline with Harley history (like when H-D was a premiere RACING brand), and would kick the shit out of the Triumph Bonnie/Thruxton, or similar retro standards.

They don't need another brand to branch out. They need to get their heads out of their asses and re-educate their dealers.
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This. You can sell an image for a long time, but eventually that image will start to get staid and that's when you better have something besides an image to back this up.

nicoj36 said:
harleys are a good ole fashion classic made in usa, very high quality and all american. sad that the american market is down and they're getting affected, workers getting layed off. just like general motors (gm), Ford, etc.

i wonder why they stopped the production of buells tho, they need to adjust to the new era and start producing modern looking bikes for the younger crowd. you always gotta keep upgrading/having something new. no way they'll survive with the same design/products over and over again (classic). but i hope they pick up with the economy
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Harleys aren't made in the USA. They're assembled, from overseas components, with a nightmareish mash of standard and metric fasteners. That shield is held together by brembo, showa, and mikuni. :laughing



As to those who say "Harley riders really aren't jerks about what you ride", well, I beg to differ. I've seen polite harley riders, but I've had some pretty hilarious encounters with some too. Including one who was broken down on the side of the road, I stopped to help him on the way back from the track with my bike in the back of the truck, and was challenged to "buy a real bike" when assisting him with diagnosing the electrical issues on his bike that had already gone through 7 engines. :laughing I felt like offering to race him, half a mile, and that's starting with my bike in the back of the truck. He can push it all he wants. :laughing
 
ohio said:
A screaming 350lbs XR750 street tracker absolutely fits that mold, is inline with Harley history (like when H-D was a premiere RACING brand), and would kick the shit out of the Triumph Bonnie/Thruxton, or similar retro standards.

They don't need another brand to branch out. They need to get their heads out of their asses and re-educate their dealers.
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... Eh... people don't want a Harley to be air-cooled for air-cooled's sake. They like the way it looks. The huge, shiny motor with the long, shiny fins. Same reason they have bikes now with fake carbs covering up the EFI. It's the look. You can certainly adapt the tech to a flat-tracker, and even have it look similar, but from what I've seen of the xr750 it probably doesn't still have The Look.

As for the Harley history, nobody cares about the actual history. They care about the history they care about, and create their own "HD history". If you asked most people if Harleys ever raced, they'd tell you that you were insane. What was that movie again from the 80's, where two guys travel across the US on their bikes? That's the history people care about.

Now, if they can actually re-invent themselves to include flat-trackers etc, I'm down with that. I just don't think they can sell a flat-tracker as a Harley from where they currently stand.
 
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sliverstorm said:
... Eh... people don't want a Harley to be air-cooled for air-cooled's sake. They like the way it looks. Same reason they have bikes now with fake carbs covering up the EFI. It's the look.
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:jaded Probably putting a carb on my injected '07 and prefer air cooled for simplicity sake.
 
sliverstorm said:
They like the way it looks.

....
As for the Harley history, nobody cares about the actual history.
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You don't think they're familiar with, at minimum, Evel Knievel? You don't think they'd look at this bike and intrinsically recognize it (or derivatives) as authentic Harleys, that speak of a legacy broader and richer than just Easy Rider and Hell's Angels?

1972_Harley_Davidson_%20XR750.jpg


People recognize the XR1200 as looking "correct." I'm just suggesting they build that bike properly, and base the engine and chassis off of their old 750 designs rather than their new 1200 sportster chassis. I'm also suggesting that the retro standards market is a more appropriate way for them to try to reach the youth market than via sport bikes (storm, MV), adventure bikes (ulysses), or street fighters (lightning).
 
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Just curious...Does anyone here actually uses their Harley as a daily beater?

Say 18-20k miles a year.
 
Wur's the swingarm mate?
and the rest of the frame?:dunno


I've seen thicker tubes on a mountain bike



1972_Harley_Davidson_%20XR750.jpg
 
flying_hun said:
The 80's? :rofl When were you born? :rofl

Easy Rider
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That's the one. Never seen it, only heard about it. And I was born in the 80's :laughing


Ohio, IMHO the XR750 is a pretty sick bike. But also IMHO, that's not what HD customers want. If it was, this wouldn't be the iconic Harley of today. The connection between the two is obvious, it is true, but if HD put an updated XR750 on the floors I don't think it'd sell.

I personally believe it's kind of like cars. A hardcore race car from the 60's or 70's would never sell, yet people are putting racing stripes and huge wings and glowing gauges all over their cars- these things are derived from racing vehicles- that's why people think they look cool- but it has 'diverged' and nobody actually wants to drive the race vehicle.
 
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Lovedoc said:
Wur's the swingarm mate?
and the rest of the frame?:dunno


I've seen thicker tubes on a mountain bike



1972_Harley_Davidson_%20XR750.jpg
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back when frames were made from steel this is how they looked youngster
 
Solution: Harley Davidson should include this with the purchase of any new HD bike... :thumbup
eox255basic_xl[1].jpg

hygienics$34133431[1].jpg
 
Lovedoc said:
Wur's the swingarm mate?
and the rest of the frame?:dunno


I've seen thicker tubes on a mountain bike



1972_Harley_Davidson_%20XR750.jpg
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orbframe said:
back when frames were made from steel this is how they looked youngster
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That looks to me to be an early alloy XR. The photo URL says it all - it's from 1972. Everyone had spindly frames in 1972. Hell, a Yamaha roadracer had a spindly frame in 1972. Lots of XR's since then have been put in other chassis. The point is the chassis needs to be designed for the application at hand. Dirt track doesn't need monster tubes.
 
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