Harley to be Built in India

[DragonLorD]

Is that just your opinion or do you have some facts to back that up.

I have not had even one minor issue with my Harley. Granted it only has 20,000 miles on it and virtually none in the last two years since I got the Spyder. But from what I know (and sometimes that isn't much) and the people I know that own Harley's, they are not a troublesome machine and are very well built.

it is just my own EARNED and EXPERIENCED based opinion which means yes - i do have a bucket of my own personal facts to back that up.
but if you are looking for bigger facts, maybe google some tests or something

fancy afternoon milkshake? - combine all ingredients , sit on your Harley and start engine - perfect milkshake whitin a seconds. got it? - no? - just follow recipe

 

[SSPSpyder]

If it ain't broke, you don't have to fix it...

Here's some food for thought.

Did a Google search -
Victory motorcycle repair modification upgrade
can-am spyder repair modification upgrade
Harley Davidson repair modification upgrade

the results-
Victory 21,900 hits
Spyder 48,400 hits
Harley 258,000 hits

kinda/sorta backs-up what my buddy (a Harley owner) keeps telling me
"when I break down, there's a Harley dealer on almost every corner"

My reply - "I don't worry about that, my Spyder and Victory don't break down"!:2thumbs:

 

[DragonLorD]

Boy, can this ever become a flamefest or what?? :shocked:
In an era when your Honda, Kawi, Suzi or Yammie only needs fuel to keep running for what seems like forever, there are still too many stories of Harleys needing rebuilds at 60000 miles or less... They've got styling, the name and legend, and... I have to admit that I can't see what else... and I lament that fact! I've ridden some nice ones, but nothing that jumped out and made me want to go buy one.
(Okay... I admit to throwing the punch... let me have it!)

:agree:
:roflblack: :roflblack: :roflblack:

finaly someone else, i thought they beat :cus: out of me :gaah:

 

[mxz600]

How so? I fail to see your logic in that.

Did you read the article? Maybe I read it wrong, but I took it as Harley is sending parts made in America to a plant to be built and sold in India. The bikes built in India will not be sold over here. If Harley was to sell bikes all over the world that are built in India, well shame on them and I for one will never buy another.

 

[Bob Denman]

Anything to help out a friend! :2thumbs:
...and truthfully I'd rather NOT have to say or think what I do about Harleys... I'd like to like 'em... but it just doesn't happen!ray:

 

[Bob Denman]

Did you read the article? Maybe I read it wrong, but I took it as Harley is sending parts made in America to a plant to be built and sold in India. The bikes built in India will not be sold over here. If Harley was to sell bikes all over the world that are built in India, well shame on them and I for one will never buy another.

Still... if they could keep the assembly here it'd keep some jobs in this country...

 

[DragonLorD]

Anything to help out a friend! :2thumbs:
...and truthfully I'd rather NOT have to say or think what I do about Harleys... I'd like to like 'em... but it just doesn't happen!ray:

same in this part of the world :clap:

 

[Firefly]

Here's some food for thought.

Did a Google search -
Victory motorcycle repair modification upgrade
can-am spyder repair modification upgrade
Harley Davidson repair modification upgrade

the results-
Victory 21,900 hits
Spyder 48,400 hits
Harley 258,000 hits

kinda/sorta backs-up what my buddy (a Harley owner) keeps telling me
"when I break down, there's a Harley dealer on almost every corner"

My reply - "I don't worry about that, my Spyder and Victory don't break down"!:2thumbs:

Considering HD has been around FAR longer and holds a MUCH larger market share-- your results should have shown even MORE numbers for HD's.

They got a bad quality rep back in the day--- and the AMF fiasco didn't help at all.

The V-Rod engines are well known to go 100,000 miles or more without any service done other than oil changes.

I'm just not a fan of their products.

 

[Firefly]

Did you read the article? Maybe I read it wrong, but I took it as Harley is sending parts made in America to a plant to be built and sold in India. The bikes built in India will not be sold over here. If Harley was to sell bikes all over the world that are built in India, well shame on them and I for one will never buy another.

You read it correct. They are making PARTS here --- shipping them to India for final assembly so they can sell completed bikes in India.

My concern is that 9 times out of 10 this leads to them deciding to build the parts there too-- and then shipping them all over the world and eventually putting the guys in Wisconsin out of their jobs. (SP fans--"They terk der jobs!").

How long will it take the wall street shareholders of HD to see the profit can skyrocket by using cheap labor overseas-- once they get a taste for it with the assembly-- they'll start moving more production there.

HD riders bleed Red, White and Blue more so than other brands --- and just the idea of a plant being built in India will NOT go over well-- regardless of what they're really doing at the plant.

 

[Firefly]

didn't want to be offensive at all, my point was somewhere else, i just didn't like that a fact alone that HD will be built in India will affect quality in bad way, i found that one offensive. It is 21st century a world is a global place.

Sorry if I misunderstood you--- but the way you worded it sounded like you were against Asians (Americans or otherwise) making parts......regardless of where they lived or if they were citizens.

 

[mxz600]

Still... if they could keep the assembly here it'd keep some jobs in this country...

:agree: But if people can't afford them unless they are built there, I guess a small piece of the pie is better than none at all.

I'm going to my room now to lick my wounds from the beating I just took from my fellow forum members.

And for the record I am not an ambassador for Harley. I am not a typical Harley owner, I own one Harley t-shirt and two caps (all gifts). I have no Harley tattoos and no stickers on my truck. I just happen to own one and think it's a fine machine.

 

[Bob Denman]

I sure didn't mean to be part of a beating here... If your Harley floats your boat, then that's great for you!:clap: ...and I will admit that they build some gorgeous-looking bikes! :doorag:

 

[DragonLorD]

Considering HD has been around FAR longer and holds a MUCH larger market share-- your results should have shown even MORE numbers for HD's.

They got a bad quality rep back in the day--- and the AMF fiasco didn't help at all.

The V-Rod engines are well known to go 100,000 miles or more without any service done other than oil changes.

I'm just not a fan of their products.

i would say that V-Rod is the best in my eyes but again it is not Harley, it is well ingeneered bike with H&D logo and price mark on it

 

[Star Cruiser]

Can we call this a true merger between H-D and Indian????

:roflblack: Awesome!!!! Wish I could have thought of that.

Sorry about starting a "Flametest" here. I just thought it was interesting that the "American Dream" was being outsourced. Of course 90% or more of the Harley periferrals (T-Shirts, shot glasses, and other trinkets) are made in the global economy, but never thought the assembly would be somewhere else. Toyota assembles in Canada and the USA and somehow we still consider them "Foreign".

 

[mxz600]

I sure didn't mean to be part of a beating here... If your Harley floats your boat, then that's great for you!:clap: ...and I will admit that they build some gorgeous-looking bikes! :doorag:

Thanks Bob, I was just joking about the beating. Things on forums can get out of hand rather quickly sometimes. But hey, if everybody liked the same thing we wouldn't have all these choices.

And my Harley hasn't exactly been floating my boat lately. Since getting the Spyder two years ago I've only put around 500 miles on it. It's just not as fun anymore.

 

[tweeder]

You read it correct. They are making PARTS here --- shipping them to India for final assembly so they can sell completed bikes in India.

My concern is that 9 times out of 10 this leads to them deciding to build the parts there too-- and then shipping them all over the world and eventually putting the guys in Wisconsin out of their jobs. (SP fans--"They terk der jobs!").

How long will it take the wall street shareholders of HD to see the profit can skyrocket by using cheap labor overseas-- once they get a taste for it with the assembly-- they'll start moving more production there.

HD riders bleed Red, White and Blue more so than other brands --- and just the idea of a plant being built in India will NOT go over well-- regardless of what they're really doing at the plant.

Me too, if not that then they will find it cheaper to build over there and ship the final product here. Why couldn't they ship the final from here to other parts of the world like they do cars?

 

[Firefly]

Me too, if not that then they will find it cheaper to build over there and ship the final product here. Why couldn't they ship the final from here to other parts of the world like they do cars?

If you read the full article, they mention that India has a high import tariff on completely assembled vehicles. Here in my town we had the same kind of thing happen with Clark Equipment... but WE had the import tariffs on fully assembled forklifts --- so they would just ship them in from Japan without the forks installed and thus got around the tariff.

 

[Firefly]

i would say that V-Rod is the best in my eyes but again it is not Harley, it is well ingeneered bike with H&D logo and price mark on it

Says who?

The engine was co-engineered with Porsche and is built here in the USA. To the best of my knowledge the rest of the bike was designed by HD.

 

[Neez]

Well, I'm aware that we live in an age of globalization, and that Canada, where I live, is more of a trading nation than a manufacturing one. Still, nationalistic sentiment can sometimes cause us to be a be a bit irrational, and I'm no more immune to it than the next guy. Case in point: recently, a Canadian Harley rider asked me if "that thing" I was riding was a "riceburner". "Nope," I told him, "Canadian as poutine and saskatoon pie. How 'bout yours?" I could tell by the look on his face that I had scored some one-upmanship points, so I didn't tell him that some Spyder parts come from Austria, Germany and China. Foolishness, I know, but I enjoyed the moment!

 

[wyliec]

does it realy mather what is built where at these times?
built by Asians in Asia or built by Asians in USA? - same difference

What is this supposed to mean?

Firefly,

I didn't see your post #15 before I sent mine. I found his remarks pretty upsetting.