Hard times coming for Harley?

[Betamax]

"Injustice" may be too strong a term, but I was trying to explain to the other poster that criticism is not necessarily predicated on "spite", as he seems to believe.



I've ridden two Harleys, and they were fine for riding low and slow, but I honestly felt they were really overpriced for what they offered.



I'm not suggesting a return to Communism, but even our free-market capitalist society has consumer protection laws to prevent people from being ripped off. And those laws are in place because all too often, the consumer does not 'figure it out' for themselves.



Perhaps it could be argued that Harley buyers are not buying a bike, they're buying a lifestyle, and they consider the lifestyle to be worth the money spent. Seems kind of ludicrous, but the prices certainly don't make sense in terms of the physical product received.



I try to keep an open mind, but whenever I tell others to look at the man behind the curtain, they tell me shut up and bow down before The Great and Mighty Oz. Such is life.

[SezaGeoff]

DOS was OK. and you got a marvellous thing called color - not many colors, maybe, but better than the monochrome Mac..



I rode the seventies bikes, and I would rather ride the wife's XL1200S than any of the old things - at least it handles and (sort of) stops.

She likes it coz it is the only sporty bike that isn't too tall for her (5ft2) that is not a 250. After 25 years riding, she wants grunt, not wailing revs with some power.

The main Harley market is mainly people that admired bikes, rather than rode them along time ago, so it will probably continue for some time. Especially when the BikerBoyz clones write themselves off by riding bikes MUCH faster than they are.

It is much less threatening to buy a cruiser than a full on sports bike, and people don't expect speed and wild antics on one. Though the dress of some of these "dudes" (on both cruiser and sport) does inspire some humor!! As for the guys that crunch themselves on to a sport bike to commute to work and then never take the thing past 15 deg. lean, they are the real masochists.

[pplassm]

Resale value? I rarely lose money on any bike I ride and then sell, Japanese, American, or Euro. It's not that hard.

[nokneedragin]

I am not addicted to motorcycles, I can give them up any time I want to. I just don't want to.

[Buzglyd]

I believe consumer protection laws are designed to protect people from false advertising and such.



People who purchase Harleys know exactly what they're getting and what they're getting into. Considering the higher entry price of most H-Ds you'd have to agree if those buyers are smart enough to earn that kind of money they have every right to blow it as they see fit.



I'm not into SUVs, designer water, or fancy jewelry but if someone else wants to blow their hard-earned dough on that stuff it's ok with me.