Bill Davidson Interview – Video
Great-Grandson of H-D's co-founder talks updates to 2014
It must be a strange feeling to have your surname on the sides of the most famous motorcycles in the world. Bill Davidson, the great-grandson of Harley-Davidson’s co-founder, William A. Davidson, carries that weight.
Davidson’s current role with The Motor Company is Vice President of Core Customer Marketing, but on Monday he was in Colorado helping introduce H-D’s 2014 model lineup. The most notable news are the revisions to the Touring family and the availability of the new “Twin-Cooled” engine that uses liquid flowing around the cylinder heads to shed heat, a strategy similar to what BMW uses in the precision-cooled R1200GS.
We got a chance to sit down with Davidson for a brief interview about the 2014 updates – but with a twist. He was riding on a 2014 CVO Ultra Limited in Colorado while I sat on my office chair 1000 miles away. See and hear the interview in the video below. And check back with us on Friday to see our review on the new Harleys.
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Bill Davidson Interview – Video, should be captioned Bill Davidson Sales Pitch – Video.
Harley Davidson should be used as a great example of what can happen when you have talented people who care about what their doing, attention to detail and quality, a desire to please, ingenuity, and hard work. I remember going to motorcycle dealers in the early eighties who told me they didn't think Harley - Davidson would still be in business within the next few years. Back then, I was definitely in the minority because I disagreed with them. I always believed that this was a company with too much to offer for them to go out of business and that over time, they would regain their stature in the motorcycle industry. The other day, I was on the internet and came across a program that spotlighted Harley Davidson's long and successful racing history. There were those who felt Harley Davidson did not have the engineering capability to build a top notch superbike. To these people I say, this is complete nonsense. This is a company who has been around for one hundred and twelve years. They have seen it all and done it all and produced some of the finest motorcycles in the world. Recently, Harley Davidson came out with an electric bike called livewire. All you have to do is look at that bike and you will understand just how capable Harley Davidson is at producing sophisticated, high technology, and desirable products. Keep up the good work.