Buell was a hell of a bike. Too bad HD couldn't run with it. They were too stupid to see that they actually had something there.

Actually HD screwed it up before the Vrod with the twin cam 88. Which they got wrong until they came out with the twin cam 88B.

The lack of noise and vibrations was too much for HD enthusiasts.

__________________
1984 300SD Turbo Diesel 150,000 miles

OBK member #23

(\__/)
(='.'=) This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your
(")_(") signature to help him gain world domination

Some of those changes were to comply with the EPA CAFE standards for noise & emissions iirc.

Also when they decided to use a mistubishi fuel injection on the 2000-2001 FLH platform(had one) After 3 years and 2700 miles( I am not joking 2700 miles) and it spending a grand total of 13 months out of those three years in various dealer ships it was time for me and harley to part ways.

PS according to dealers I was supposed to spend another 2500 dollars to retune the fuel inj along with a Hi performance air cleaner, and change the exhaust to get it to achieve more that 25-28 MPG. I will never own another one. I will stick with my Victory. Never had a problem with it.

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86 300SDL. 250,xxx on #14 Head. One eye always on temp gauge.. Cruising towards 300K

HD has been talking about pulling out of York too.
The city has given them all sorts of tax breaks to stay but they are laying off workers and shutting down lines.

I predict they will simply outsource the whole manufacturing business to a Japanese or Chinese company and become a maker of fine badges...

__________________
"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy"

Current
Monika '74 450 SL
BrownHilda '79 280SL
FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban
Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee
Krystal 2004 Volvo S60
Gone
'74 Jeep CJ5
'97 Jeep ZJ Laredo
Rudolf ‘86 300SDL
Bruno '81 300SD
Fritzi '84 BMW
'92 Subaru
'96 Impala SS
'71 Buick GS conv
'67 GTO conv
'63 Corvair conv
'57 Nomad

I see a lot of younger guys (20's-40's) riding V-twins; S&S, STD and some HD; but they're riding custom/semi-custom bikes that aren't Harleys. I don't think the engine concept has necessarily lost luster but the "stock" packaging may have.

__________________

1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

I don't know much about HDs, are the custom shops that fab the upscale bikes ($40k+) making any money? Maybe HD should get much smaller and go after that market with semi-custom factory bikes.

Their problem is not production costs, it's getting people to buy their bikes. The design is outmoded, and they can't seem to expand beyond their existing customer base by presenting products a broader market wants to buy. If Harley can't deal with that, they are finished. They need to hire some Ford guy to show them how it's done, it's not impossible. I don't think you will ever see them leave the US, if they did, their loyal customer base would collapse. I do wish they would build a factory overseas so we can compete better in the world market with some sort of more Euro-style bike. So far, the V-rod, a Euro-style Harley, has been a disaster. It just plain costs too much, and is too damned big.

The do have a small assembly plant in Brazil. (Mostly for favorable tariff treatment for the local market.)
Here's something interesting about HD parts sourcing.
http://www.bus.wisc.edu/grainger/harley-davidson/

Well, BMW seems to be doing OK at the moment in the upscale bike market:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/bmw-profits-boom-on-global-recovery-and-chinese-demand-2042438.html

dynalow, you ALMOST hit the nail on the head...

What you should have done is taken Doyle's hand and shoved it up his @55 instead of shaking it. Didn't you feel his other hand in your pocket while you had ahold of the other one?

HD just got slammed with some half-assed, retro-style tax ($24,000,000) that our Demo-heavy Assembly and Senate passed and "Diamond Jim" Doyle gleefully signed.

Willy G. (Who I met and personally had the pleasure of being amazed at his attentivness to minute details...story later...) and company are letting the people of Wisconsin know that $24M is the straw that's breaking the camels' back...it has nothing to do with the Union workers in Milwaukee. It's the f***ing taxes and the fact that the State feels it has the right to keep coming after those that really work for a living...and not living off the state itself. Those loans? Someone in the State Legilature must have figured that if HD is getting loans, they somehow have a right to tax that company more...'cause they have the cash available and if you're a Wisconsin-based company with the nice infrastructure in place, you're not just going to pull up tent-stakes and leave now...eh?

Someone mentioned Mercury Marine...they too, used to be a Wisconsin product...but they pulled their manufacturing processes out of Fond du Lac (fond' due lack) because of Union issues and taxes by the State. And where are they now? In some state that appriciates having tax-paying citizens gainfully employed and not asking the State to hold their hand and tuck 'em in at night.

Wisconsin knows the story of the Golden Goose...they just don't believe it.

And they're killing ANY goose for revenue 'cause they just can't say no to the lazy, the lard-oes and the Unions. And they're too stupid to figure out that you just can't keep on borrowing if you have no more PRIVATE-ENTERPRISE BUSINESSES IN BUSINESS to help pay it back. Banks can't be THAT STUPID, can they?????

Sorry to say it, but if the State legislature doesn't call itself back into session, real soon and rescind that series of half-assed taxes, there may be no HD to save AFTER the November elections...and the Dems will have no one to blame except an Out-Of-Office, Lame Duck Govenor and their up-rooted-from-their-Capital-seats Dems.. THEMSELVES.

And, as usual, the Repos will be left with the mess to clean up.

If I was working for the State of Wisconsin right now, I'd be looking for a new job in another state, or remembering what goes into the makings of a "Big Mac."

__________________

M. G. Burg
'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K
.'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K
..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K
...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K
....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K
.....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K
......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp
.......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125
.
“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~

Let's face it, HD is a modern antique. Kind of reminds me of the Royal Enfield. I almost want to say "serves them right" because of the stuff they tried to pull about patenting the sound.

BS.

I will stick to modern technology. I'll take my Duc over a Harley any day.

__________________
'85 300SD (formerly california emissions)
'08 Chevy Tahoe
'93 Ducati 900 SS
'79 Kawasaki KZ 650
'86 Kawasaki KX 250
'88 Kawasaki KDX200
'71 Hodaka Ace 100
'72 Triumph T100R

While many folks deride HD owners for the slogan "LOUD PIPES SAVE LIVES" the fact remains, it is pretty hard to argue "right of way" with them, when 50 of them, in a pack, are all coming down the road in the opposite direction from you....

__________________
1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

"During 2009, the Company shipped 223,023 Harley-Davidson motorcycles, a decrease of 80,456 motorcycles, or 26.5%, from last year. The Company’s shipments in the U.S. in 2009 continued to be negatively impacted by the challenging economic environment. On January 22, 2010, the Company announced that it expects full year 2010 shipments of Harley-Davidson motorcycle units to be between 201,000 to 212,000. (1) This represents a 5% to 10% reduction from 2009 shipments as a result of two key factors. First, the Company expects global economies to remain challenging, specifically in the U.S. with continued high unemployment and low consumer confidence. Second, the Company expects continued price competition from other manufacturers as they reduce excess inventories, in particular, old model year motorcycles. Additionally, the Company anticipates price competition at a local level as retailers discount excess inventory driven by contraction of the competitive dealer network. "

"Restructuring Expense and Other Impairments

2009 Restructuring Plan

During 2009, in response to the U.S. economic recession and worldwide slowdown in consumer demand, the Company committed to a volume reduction and a combination of restructuring actions (2009 Restructuring Plan) in the Motorcycles and Financial Services segments which are expected to be completed by 2012. The 2009 Restructuring Plan was designed to reduce excess capacity, exit certain business operations and lower the Company’s cost structure. The Company’s planned actions include:

• consolidating its two engine and transmission plants in the Milwaukee area into its facility in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin;

• closing its distribution facility in Franklin, Wisconsin and consolidating Parts and Accessories and General Merchandise distribution through a third party;

• discontinuing the domestic transportation fleet;

• consolidating its vehicle test facilities from three locations in Alabama, Arizona and Florida into one location in Arizona;

• restructuring its York, Pennsylvania motorcycle production facility to focus on the core operations of motorcycle assembly, metal fabrication and paint; and

• exiting the Buell product line.


The 2009 Restructuring Plan includes a reduction of approximately 2,700 to 2,900 hourly production positions and approximately 720 non-production, primarily salaried positions within the Motorcycles segment and approximately 100 salaried positions in the Financial Services segment. These reductions began in 2009 and are expected to be completed during 2011.

Restructuring charges consist of employee severance and termination costs, accelerated depreciation on the long lived assets that will be exited as part of the 2009 Restructuring Plan and other related costs. As of December 31, 2009, approximately 2,000 employees have left the Company under the 2009 Restructuring Plan. "

http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_US/Media/downloads/Annual_Reports/2009/10k_2009.pdf

SRJ,

Don't ask for an explanation, but HDFS (the financial services subsidiary for dealer floor plan financing, customer vehicle financing and rider insurance agency sales) did a lot of paper shuffling with its finance receivables in 2009. They pushed them around and created some special purpose entities for who knows what reason...all in the name of accounting standards compliance.
That might be where BH saw an opportunity for lending. Collateral on their loans would be mostly dealer and customer loans owed to Harley. Those I suspect have high interest rates by today's standards.

HD riders are a different breed of rider. they are so loyal to HD they practice a religion, the religion of Harley-Davidson. HD needs to take advantage of that loyalty by continuing to offer up the product that brought them to the dance in the first place; an American MADE AND PRODUCED product.

however, on the business side the government only knows how to do one thing to business:

tax it into exile.

by the time the taxes are taken care of there is very little to run the business on, thus margins are SLIM to NONE. Small to medium businesses need and deserve an incentive to continue operations, else they will dry up and die.

hello China, Mexico, Japan, Korea we love sending our $$$$ overseas, don't we?

Killing the geese that lay the golden eggs, one goose at a time........

pretty soon, our great American manufacturing concerns may become empty buildings only inhabited by the ghosts of the workers who once built a great nation.......

Sing it Hank....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2vem1j3Z4g