#Harley-Davidsion

Ever heard of “brand intimacy”? Most people haven’t. It’s a marketing term used to describe the emotional attachment between individuals and brands. When it comes to brand intimacy, one industry, the automotive industry, takes up many of the top positions. Ironically, the leader in the automotive category is not an automobile brand at all.

In a year that sees Harley-Davidson list a total of 38 motorcycle models, the Motor Company has decided to add two more muscular choices to the list. The 2016 Low Rider S enters the fray as the the most powerful non-CVO Dyna cruiser ever offered by Harley-Davidson. Similarly, the exclusive CVO line gets a new stylishly aggressive (or is that aggressively stylish) member in the form of the 2016 CVO Pro Street Breakout, delivering drag-bike performance to discriminating Harley customers.

Here at MO, we like to think of ourselves as early adopters of electric propulsion for motorcycles. We’ve published several road tests of e-bikes, even as far back as 1998 with the EMB Lectra Electric Motorcycle. Admittedly, that bike was more a toy than motorcycle, but even then, we understood it was a glimpse into the future. Fast forward 16 years to our most recent e-bike test, where we pit a Zero FX against a Suzuki DR-Z400SM and the e-bike actually beats its gasoline-powered counterpart. Talk about progress.

News flash: Women are physically different from men. Women also constitute one of the fastest growing segments in motorcycling. Consequently, motorcycle manufacturers want to find a way for their products to appeal to more members of the matched chromosome set. Since the average height for an American woman over the age of 20 is 5’4” (a good 5.5 in. less than the average American man), designing a bike that acquits itself to a woman’s shorter stature would certainly make it more appealing – and probably sell more to that up-and-coming market.

Faithful readers of Motorcycle.com may recall reading how much I enjoyed completing the Lake Superior Circle Tour last summer aboard the BMW K1600GTL. After deciding to take a much needed vacation and ride rather than fly to Harley-Davidson’s recent 110th birthday celebrations in Milwaukee, I figured there would be no better way to decompress than to revisit the greatest of the Great Lakes – this time on a 2013 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Limited.