They’ve always been good at shooting themselves in the dick, and this just shows that they are just as cowardly as the “men” they sell masculinity reinforcement devices to. Not every Harley rider is one of those types, but when you only cater to a shrinking, bitter in-group, you eventually stop bringing in people who aren’t part of that group.
Killing the Nova right before the import revolution, then crying to Reagan to get their tariff passed, canning Buell, CEO who didn’t ride, overpriced and underbuilt bikes, axing affordable modern models that appeal to new riders, failing to follow through with the Livewire, etc…
The only thing they’ve really done right lately is the Pan-America actually having real ADV touring chops, but it’s still too much money. It used to be that if you failed to innovate, you went out of business, but now they are letting themselves be bullied into a corner with no way out. Nevermind the fact that capitulating to the death cult that is the Conservative party just emboldens them to further attack other businesses, and eventually directly attack the groups that they are targeting.
The youngest bike I own is 40 years old (all of my bikes are Honda’s) and I’ve put nearly 30K miles on it in 5 years. The stereotypical Harley rider makes me embarrassed to call myself a rider sometimes.
I agree with every single point you’ve made. Full disclosure, I do own a 20 year old Sportster 1200. I’ve upgraded the absolute hell out of it because it’s fun and if I’m not hauling people or stuff it’s my primary mode of transportation. I rode that sumbitch more last week than a lot of the guys who use it as a masculinity reinforcement device rode last year. I’ve put more miles on it than I’ve put on my old ass Goldwing in the last year and I take the latter all around the country.
The stereotypical Harley rider, much like the parking lot princess pickup driver and the guns are my whole personality gun nut, are giving me a bad name. They’ve gotten most of the money they can out of the bitter old guys because their riding years are coming to a close. What they need to do is suck up a few years of shitty sales (which they could but it would make their stock prices tank) and start building towards those 27 year olds who would currently like to ride. But that won’t help them next quarter so we all know that’s not happening.
They’ve always been good at shooting themselves in the dick, and this just shows that they are just as cowardly as the “men” they sell masculinity reinforcement devices to. Not every Harley rider is one of those types, but when you only cater to a shrinking, bitter in-group, you eventually stop bringing in people who aren’t part of that group.
Killing the Nova right before the import revolution, then crying to Reagan to get their tariff passed, canning Buell, CEO who didn’t ride, overpriced and underbuilt bikes, axing affordable modern models that appeal to new riders, failing to follow through with the Livewire, etc…
The only thing they’ve really done right lately is the Pan-America actually having real ADV touring chops, but it’s still too much money. It used to be that if you failed to innovate, you went out of business, but now they are letting themselves be bullied into a corner with no way out. Nevermind the fact that capitulating to the death cult that is the Conservative party just emboldens them to further attack other businesses, and eventually directly attack the groups that they are targeting.
The youngest bike I own is 40 years old (all of my bikes are Honda’s) and I’ve put nearly 30K miles on it in 5 years. The stereotypical Harley rider makes me embarrassed to call myself a rider sometimes.
I agree with every single point you’ve made. Full disclosure, I do own a 20 year old Sportster 1200. I’ve upgraded the absolute hell out of it because it’s fun and if I’m not hauling people or stuff it’s my primary mode of transportation. I rode that sumbitch more last week than a lot of the guys who use it as a masculinity reinforcement device rode last year. I’ve put more miles on it than I’ve put on my old ass Goldwing in the last year and I take the latter all around the country.
The stereotypical Harley rider, much like the parking lot princess pickup driver and the guns are my whole personality gun nut, are giving me a bad name. They’ve gotten most of the money they can out of the bitter old guys because their riding years are coming to a close. What they need to do is suck up a few years of shitty sales (which they could but it would make their stock prices tank) and start building towards those 27 year olds who would currently like to ride. But that won’t help them next quarter so we all know that’s not happening.