Hardley's Troubles Continue

[Bob Denman]

Harley has their own collection of fans: Good for them! :clap:
If they all want to "Dress alike, Act alike, Talk and walk the same, and wear the same clothes..."

Who are we to judge them? :dontknow:

 

[UtahPete]

If you wanted better performance and much better reliability coupled with lower pricing you bought Japanese. People who had an upper crust and could afford overpriced technology bought German. It was not unusual for a Hardley buyer to pay through the nose for the basic bike then have to spend thousands more to "stage" it for performance that came right out of the box for foreign bikes. The marketing change from motorcycle shop to t-shirt boutique didn't help the image either.

:agree: Yup, bought a new Yamaha VStar 13 years ago at 1/2 the price of a lower level Harley touring bike. I've put many trouble-free miles on that bike and it made for a very comfortable reliable long-distance touring machine. I didn't need to pay for the 'status' of a Harley, and I really wasn't interested in being part of that bad-boy culture anyway.

 

[ofdave]

I will offer my perception.

For years and years HD has been the haughty American made big bike and they made no bones about the fact that if you didn't ride Hardley you didn't join the "club". They priced their products in a premium tier even though their products were often times ancient technology or just unreliable as hell. Straight pipes piss off most everybody and made motorcycling difficult for those not riding Hardleys as they were lumped in with the outlaws.

If you are going to talk the talk you better be walking the walk. HD wasn't doing it much of the time and earned a well deserved rep as a poseur bike (or bar bike, take your pick).

If you wanted better performance and much better reliability coupled with lower pricing you bought Japanese. People who had an upper crust and could afford overpriced technology bought German. It was not unusual for a Hardley buyer to pay through the nose for the basic bike then have to spend thousands more to "stage" it for performance that came right out of the box for foreign bikes.

The marketing change from motorcycle shop to t-shirt boutique didn't help the image either.

I get it.
Rather than avoid the product(s) by not purchasing them, it is better to bash the company for what is your opinion.
Makes sense and produces good results, right?

 

[RinconRyder]

I get it.
Rather than avoid the product(s) by not purchasing them, it is better to bash the company for what is your opinion.
Makes sense and produces good results, right?

Hey, YOU asked the question.

Bashing the company would be something like "Harley's are a POS!". I did not bash them. I gave you several good reasons for feeling the way I do about their products. I also did not tell you to avoid buying one - it doesn't bother me one bit if you own a Harley or not.

I used to belong to an informal group of about a dozen riders. All of us rode Japanese bikes except one little bitty girl who rode a beautiful purple and chrome Harley low-riding-something-or-other. It also sounded great. In fact, if you were anywhere near it on the road it would overpower all the other bikes combined. And when she shifted gears everyone nearby stopped to see what happened to their bikes. (My '16 RTL SE makes the same crashing sound when shifting into first or reverse.)

It was a good thing she was single because she paid dearly for that bike. And after she bought it she paid dearly again to lower it (she was just barely 5 feet tall) and put a "stage" package on it so she could keep up with the several 750's in the group. Oh, and every piece of clothing she owned came from a Harley shop. Even her underware.

Before her we had another Harley rider. His was a custom thingy which, in the mid-90's cost him well over 30 grand. On every single ride in which he took part we had to abort because something literally fell off his ride. We took turns towing a peach basket to collect the Harley parts and took up a collection to buy enough Loc-tite to get him through the riding season. We really did like the guy though because his straight pipes collected every cop within five miles and we could just sail by.....waving. Last I heard he quit riding due to wrist surgery from constantly blipping his throttle. Apparently something all Harley riders do to lack of an idle circuit.

 

[Easy Rider]

I will offer my perception.

+1

The few times I've looked for "accessories" in a Harley shop, they first ask what bike I have.......which is just wasting time when I am looking for gloves, for instance, and then they did various unfriendly and rude things when my answer was "a Vulcan....or whatever".

Then there are the owners..............similar stories.

Reputations usually are well deserved.

 

[UtahPete]

The first time I ever rode a motorcycle, it was a war surplus Harley and sidecar my uncle had in England. So, when I was ready to get into motorcycling here in the States, I dreamed of owning a Harley one day when I could afford it. But, the longer I rode and read up on bikes and riding, and observed the HOG formation riding on the superslab, the less enamored I became of the bike and what it had come to represent. Status, belonging, etc with a slight bad-boy tinge to it.

That obviously was a smart move by H-D to stoke that image and for awhile anyway it worked. But, I think H-D stayed with that marketing plan for too long and was too sensitive to its loyal fan base to be able to move where the market was going. Too bad - an iconic, revered American brand skewered by its own image.

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Oh, and every piece of clothing she owned came from a Harley shop. Even her underware.

And you know that because.........???? :roflblack: :roflblack:

 

[RinconRyder]

And you know that because.........???? :roflblack: :roflblack:

She actually showed us her dresser drawer. It was filled with HD items.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

[RinconRyder]

+1

The few times I've looked for "accessories" in a Harley shop, they first ask what bike I have.......which is just wasting time when I am looking for gloves, for instance, and then they did various unfriendly and rude things when my answer was "a Vulcan....or whatever".

Then there are the owners..............similar stories.

Reputations usually are well deserved.

To be completely honest I have had that same experience but only occasionally. Most Harley riders, outside biker gangs, are much more like the rest of us and compliment whatever we ride no matter the brand. There is one restaurant hang out here that enforces "foreign bikes in the back only".

In that informal bike gang we used to trade rides often. I was amazed at how small the Road King seemed after my Wing and the Harley guy said he could not believe how smooth and powerful my Wing was.

 

[johnsimion]

The Rebel

There are about three Harley riders in my neighborhood. All of us are nice middle-aged guys and pretty well off. All three of the Harleys are black. All three have loud pipes. All three Harley riders wear black leather, a gray goatee and those funny little black half-helmets that don't have any padding so they can crack their skull open in an accident while thumbing their nose at the helmet law. Mind you, this is not a rant against Harleys. The bikes themselves are nice cruisers IMHO but just overpriced. These are nice guys, too. If they all want to project the same image, that's fine with me. Personally I hate fitting into a stereotype. I bought a blue Spyder and wear a hi-viz full-face Arai helmet and hi-viz jacket. This makes me the "rebel" in the group. "Born to be Mild ..." LOL

 

[Bob Denman]

There are about three Harley riders in my neighborhood. All of us are nice middle-aged guys and pretty well off. All three of the Harleys are black. All three have loud pipes. All three Harley riders wear black leather, a gray goatee and those funny little black half-helmets that don't have any padding so they can crack their skull open in an accident while thumbing their nose at the helmet law. Mind you, this is not a rant against Harleys. The bikes themselves are nice cruisers IMHO but just overpriced. These are nice guys, too. If they all want to project the same image, that's fine with me. Personally I hate fitting into a stereotype. I bought a blue Spyder and wear a hi-viz full-face Arai helmet and hi-viz jacket. This makes me the "rebel" in the group. "Born to be Mild ..." LOL

:clap: When everybody seems to want to be different: they all start looking exactly the same again! :roflblack:

 

[Spyder_Cowgirl]

Enron

That's what audits are for. Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) is supposed to take care of that--now that Enron is dead.

A little behind in my forum reading .... and this is a slight hijack.

Contrary to popular opinion ... Enron is NOT dead. Far from it ... they are still one of the biggest players in the oil and gas industry, especially in Texas. But, now they are called EOG -- an acronym for???? Enron Oil and Gas

Now, back to your regular thread ... sorry for the hijack. .... All the best ... Ann

 

[ofdave]

:clap: When everybody seems to want to be different: they all start looking exactly the same again! :roflblack:

very similar to the adv crowd, (mostly 1200GS) around here
"proper name" on the clothing, boots, and helmet, usually the priciest too-less than 10% seem to venture off pavement, but they have the "look".
and the color matched outfits on the Wing riders is a hoot to see
and the KLM guys are proud until you ask if they've had any problems and they change the subject.
It's all about fitting in to your own crowd I guess..

 

[ARtraveler]

A little behind in my forum reading .... and this is a slight hijack.

Contrary to popular opinion ... Enron is NOT dead. Far from it ... they are still one of the biggest players in the oil and gas industry, especially in Texas. But, now they are called EOG -- an acronym for???? Enron Oil and Gas

Now, back to your regular thread ... sorry for the hijack. .... All the best ... Ann

The employees that lost their whole pension investment when the stock crashed, I am sure do not feel the same. Upper management continued to push the stock sales well after they bailed and left everyone holding the bag. :thumbup:

 

[Easy Rider]

All three have loud pipes. These are nice guys, too.

IF....they have no respect for others right to a peaceful, quiet world to live in, then they are not "nice guys".

Enforced or not, loud pipes are ILLEGAL.
"Nice guys" do not enjoy being criminals.

 

[wyliec]

IF....they have no respect for others right to a peaceful, quiet world to live in, then they are not "nice guys".

Enforced or not, loud pipes are ILLEGAL.
"Nice guys" do not enjoy being criminals.

What is the db reading needed to be illegal in Fla? I asked my son-in-law (NYS State Trooper) about loud pipes awhile ago, and he said they have no way of checking the actual db level of a bike. They use a subjective method as to whether or not they will issue a ticket.

 

[Bob Denman]

...and nobody is checking ANY pipes for excessive noise.:gaah:

 

[RinconRyder]

They use a subjective method as to whether or not they will issue a ticket.

If the rider has priors he has loud pipes! hyea:

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

I could get in trouble for this probably! IMO, guys who have loud pipes on their bikes and trucks do so because they have small pipes between their legs! :roflblack:

 

[Easy Rider]

What is the db reading needed to be illegal in Fla?

Don't know. Don't need to know for them to be "illegal".
There is a Federal law against tampering with engine parts that affect emissions.......including noise emissions.

However.....I think there is no mechanism for enforcing those Federal laws, except maybe against the manufacturer or dealer.

So then as a practical matter, it falls back to State and Local noise ordinances and the cops are having a hard time these days just keeping up with serious crime.

None of that changes the fact that creating excessive noise is an illegal action, in addition to being inconsiderate and anti-social.