brickl

The two-wheeled Farmall that could...

captainwhoopass

Interesting- almost 25% of their revenue is parts/accessories/clothing. The Japanese companies (with the possible exception of Yamaha) still don't seem to grasp that customers want this stuff and will pay significant amounts of money for it.

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<blockquote>
\"I knew it. I\'m surrounded by a$$holes.\" [b][i]Lord Helmet, Spaceballs

captainwhoopass

"Harley always begins press releases talking about money issues. It avoids engineering specifics."



Yes, especially when those press releases are about money, and say so in the title. This is a press release on the financial condition of the company, not on a new bike.

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<blockquote>
\"I knew it. I\'m surrounded by a$$holes.\" [b][i]Lord Helmet, Spaceballs

captainwhoopass

What's a Farmall?

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<blockquote>
\"I knew it. I\'m surrounded by a$$holes.\" [b][i]Lord Helmet, Spaceballs

captainwhoopass

Air cooled engines are unreliable and will soon go the way of the dodo from EPA regulations.



Anything with pushrods is automatically junk.



Anything with pushrods can't make big horsepower (except NASCAR and NHRA cars, of course- they're magically exempt from this otherwise hard law of physics).



Air-cooled, pushrod V-Twins are inferior streetbike engines because they make less horsepower per cc/dollar than inline fours.

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<blockquote>
\"I knew it. I\'m surrounded by a$$holes.\" [b][i]Lord Helmet, Spaceballs

Buzglyd

Although Yamaha must sell a ton of pins!



Ever roll up on a Road Star Club gathering? People wearing hundreds of pins on their vests. You'd think they'd been riding Roadstars for 20 years!

Buzglyd

It's interesting that H-D continues to increase its supply of bikes yet the nimrods continue to accuse them of artificially keeping the supply low.



When I bought my Low Rider in 96 H-D made 110,000 motorcycles.

seruzawa

Yup. The customers are sure lining up to buy that woodpecker Honda apparel. I can see it now. Trendy yuppies deserting the HD apparel stores to flock to Honda's!! (sarcasm off)

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"Make no mistake, Communism lost a big argument - one we know today as the 20th century."

captainwhoopass

I think that if the Japanese could figure out how to make apparel that didn't look like it was designed by a colorblind neo-cubist that rode on an indoor track lined with nerf that people might actually buy it. Right now, they don't seem to want to put any effort into it because their current stuff doesn't sell. They don't realize that their current stuff doesn't sell because they don't put any effort into it. The Harley stuff sells because it's better.

__________________
<blockquote>
\"I knew it. I\'m surrounded by a$$holes.\" [b][i]Lord Helmet, Spaceballs

Buzglyd

Consider this though. Often times, the first thing a Japanese Cruiser rider does is strip all the identifying lables off of his machine. How many Shadows still have decals on them? And how dorky do you look walking around with a jacket that says "Shadow" on the back?



Notice how the Roadstar is in bold and Yamaha is tiny on the motor?