I dont know what it is but even though ive liked Harley's ive always had something against their approach and brand image.

something too American and only targeting a specific crowd

excellent article brother you found

although my perception is that hd like the re's have their own charm and own cult following and its not aiming for the young guns at all and i do agree as majority of them would like a jap bike with new age designs and r&d worth millions......

my guess was due to recession and everything which had hit usa pretty bad bikes wernt sellin as they used too....esp these expensive ones

if hd tries to change its image now they are going to be in serious trouble no matter what happens......

i think they should keep their bad ass image and roll out more vrod-- type models and lil bit cheaper....


i have seen so many guys.... changing their gears from sportsbike to tourers when they start hitting 40 lets see if the trend continues

but brother.... this article really tells something aint it....

as for india yup spare parts are really going to be an issue wht they have to take care of is a.s.s and mobile vans which can be dispatched out on any highway....

although im not planning a hd now one bike is enough hehe but way down the lane say around 50 i would definately look for a tourer. and hd will be my first choice

cool winds in India....... brotherhood riding along.......... difficult........

personally for me, my next bike will be Enfield and not HD........ tooo American, with no spares and service available........ maybe I'm too young for HD....... will wait for another 15years........

I cannot really suggest what different should they do but but this brand is more bark than bite

Making the world believe that a cruiser frame and engine will make a good streetbike is foolish.Eg: XR1200 sportster. Let's hope they don't make a sportsbike with their cruiser engines.

It is like Enfield trying to fit a full fairing on the bullet 350.

The Bavarians learnt it the hard way with their new S1000RR.After testing S1000RR, Cycle world said. "This is what a proper sportsbike should be, no duolever and paralever s**t". Still the asymmetry remains a big question.

Similarly Harley must change it's ways to impress the new generation. It has shut off Buell already. The way ahead is hard unless it diversifies into other forms of biking.

Wow!! A very nice find Sunny!! I very nicely written article.

Although some of the marketing stuff was a bit hard for me to understand but the essence of the article was very evident.

What I feel for HD is:

It is true that probably it is the largest cult in motorcycling.
And as a third person if I think it can be a very strong thing for a business.

I think HD has brands or products that our not typical tourers but their approach for this products is not as agressive as it should have been.
For example the Buell, MV Augusta and their own XR1200 sportster.

Harley has recently decided to close MV Augusta also. I read it somewhere I am not 100% sure though. I was dissappointed. MV is I would say even as exotic as a Ducati.

Harley's image also has typically become synonym with the 'Bad Boy' image. It is good but it will not be sufficient for them to survive in future.

They should start concentrating more on the middle class average young professionals, who might not be very big tourers but would love to own a HD because of the cult.

As someone who owns a Jap Cruiser (M1800R) and has ridden another Jap Tourer par excellence (the Goldwing) and being someone who has also been on a Softtail (In the USA), Night Rod (In India), Sportster 1200 (In India) and an Electra Glide (In USA) for sufficient number of miles to qualify as having an opinion, strictly personal though and here it is:

"I would never buy a Harley"

Why: They are crude, way over the top in terms of the price (In India), way too inelegant in terms of handling and inconvenient at times (ask someone who tries to do a simple task of lowering the stand of the bike, he will tell you that it is poorly designed).

The bikes do have some good things like the only thing I liked in the NightRod was the gear shift!

There are guys in India waiting to buy this bike.. Most of them are in the targetted bracket of 40++ but the only thing I do not know is how much of a rider they are in terms of the experience of riding such bikes - most in my opinion will buy only based on the marketing and the strong brand identity (hopefully not just to be counted as hip!!)..

@^^^^ yup true ! im sure even non -bike enthusiasts will not hesitate to buy the harleys for their brand value and identity .

At least one good thing which Harley might end up achieving is lowering the Indian import tariffs for motorbikes. They do have a very strong lobby, more than all the Japs combined.

When they realize that sales are not going anywhere after the initial hoopla, they will engage their government to get things moving to lower duties, and hence reduce the retail prices. When that happens, the high end motorcycle market in India will be a very, very different place.

But duty talk aside, I agree with the essence of the article. HD aren't getting any new young consumers, just their old faithfuls. None of their products 'look' young. The XR1200 and the V-Rod to some extent, but only relatively speaking.

HD for me does nothing. Sure they make some sweet bikes like the VROD, the Fatboy etc, but their whole brand image is so focused. Americans 40+.
I think killing the BUELL brand was a huge mistake. They could probably have targeted youth with that brand and have them jump on to the HD bandwagon later on in their riding years. BUELL sure made some good looking street bikes, they had a racing team going on. Very good foundation to make a name for themselves.

Some interesting words there, actually I have interacted with these people since I signed up on their website and expressed interest in buying one since I am out of a bike right now. Its not typically me but I guess I am growing old?!?! Or think I wont end up killing myself on a Harley.

Their Indian marketing is by far the best that I've encountered whilst interacting with any Indian manufacturer so far (who have premium offerings) Infact I want to stress that it was really really amazing comparing to the vague and illiterate responses I've encountered in my time. Actually honestly the only thing holding me off plonking on a CB since quite a while is the interaction I had with the people of HD and am waiting for their bootcamp event they are having here in Bombay, I will report unbiased about what actually went down there, if its anything even close to the emails/phone calls I shall continue to be thoroughly impressed.

This is apart from the fact about their products, brand positioning etc.. I am sad that Buell died, because I would have loved to own one of those. Am looking at a Roadster or a XR1200.

@manav: As far as I know you, no HD can suit your style. But whatever happens, let us know for sure!

He don't wan't to get a "slapper" anymore...LOL....

HD needs to understand where Indian market stands. People here going crazy after knowing the official pricing of Jap bikes.. For HD, if the pricing is above Jap bikes, they wont be able to stand in market. They will be compared with RR's cars.. Thought RR's are classy, status symbol, how many do actually exist in India??
Though Merc, Audi and other similar brands are on HOTLIST.. similar is with bikes.

Agreed that HD is not actually meant for youth as youth is always demanding speed and looks, but do 40+ man really would like to take out HD for touring????

Lets ask Indian Govt. to slash down Import Duties and have change in tax structure, OR Request HD to launch low powered Cruiser's for Indian Market.

As they say, " When in Rome, do as the Romans do."