A surprising announcement from Erik Buell:
I liked Buell's innovations and his motorcycles, with their extra tall seats fascinated me, rugged, tough and low maintenance, they were smart and far beyond the chrome covered toys many Americans seem to prefer. I thought of them as rider's bikes. Oh well. No government bail outs for this deserving company apparently. Socialism for the banks and free markets for everyone else as we roll, Buell-less, into the Brave New World.
I liked Buell's innovations and his motorcycles, with their extra tall seats fascinated me, rugged, tough and low maintenance, they were smart and far beyond the chrome covered toys many Americans seem to prefer. I thought of them as rider's bikes. Oh well. No government bail outs for this deserving company apparently. Socialism for the banks and free markets for everyone else as we roll, Buell-less, into the Brave New World.
3 comments:
Dear Conch:
You might want to check out this link for more information on this subject. To get maximum enjoyment from the piece, however, imagine the Harley corporate speaker giving somebody a hand-job every time they use the word “leverage” or “leveraged.”
http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2009/10/harley-didnt-calculate-savings.html
I have no cudos nor bias against the Harley Davidson brand. They makesome of the most beautiful -- and sexy -- motorcycles in the world.
Many of them remind me of stiletto heels for women... Great for walking into the bedroom, but I wouldn't wear them for hunting. (I cannot bend my knees into a comfortable cruiser position.) Harleys have placed highly in the Iron Butt rallys and routinely cross the US (and other countries) without fail.
However, this article is not about the mechanical nature of the machine... It's an indictment of US corporate thinking. And the great business strategy of Harley is shared with many American firms,
including the airlines, to simply remain the last man standing until Americans start carrying debt equal to 10 year's salary again.
This was one of my favorite paragraphs:
"Cutting through the bullshit, it seems you can boil Harley's plan down to this: cut costs by streamlining production and lowering output, thereby alleviating dealers of stock they can't sell, then hope that the loans carry the company through to a projected return of middle-class solvency and credit availability."
Right now, the "experts" (and I could throw up every time I see another talking head) are claiming we could experience a "weak" recovery. Not one shaped like the letter "V," but one shaped like the word "shit." Japan is famous for these. It's what happens when people start putting money in savings accounts and only buy what they can afford (with cash in hand), or what they can pay for in a year, or what they can afford once they have paid off what they owe.
Of course, this could also lead to unemployment figures of 92 percent, with remaining salaried Americans working in the fast food line or as
government job counselors. When that happens, standard Christmas gifts will be dish towels from Walmart, made in Pakistan.
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Harley is trapped in it's image. It can't change it's image and start selling other bikes because all its fanatical follower swill get mad, but as long as harley riders are fanatic image makers the rest of us who just like to ride ar egoing to steer clear. It's an impossible situation for a decent well motivated company. I like harleys but not the awkward Sportsters and not enough to spend two times the cost of a Bonneville to buy a Road King.
The XR1200 is a nice bike with no traveling accessories so I would be har dpressed to use it as a daily rider...( which was the same issue I had with the derided Buell Blast)
Now harley is selling MV Agusta so I guess the situation is serious. Tata owns Jaguar and Land Rover. Pretty soon we'll have a Stella Allstate HD....
Mr Conchscooter:
the only bike I like is the V-rod, but I really prefer "standards", upright seating position and an engine that makes no noise, and like Jack "r" NO chrome
bob
bobskoot: wet coast scootin
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