it’s been hilarious to watch them fumble over and over again. They keep teasing new bikes that might appeal to people under 65 and look fun to ride, then cancelling them because all the retirees who trailer their bikes to Sturgis got mad about them. Once their base dies out (or stops being able to ride) they’ve got nowhere to turn.
I don’t really keep up with this stuff, but from what I’ve heard, that’s why they had to spin off the LiveWire bikes into their own brand, the boomers flipped out over an ELECTRIC Harley.
“My bike has to be loud enough to make everybody within a mile of me look at me… for safety” - guy who took of his helmet as soon as he crossed the border into a state that doesn’t require you to wear one
This cycle has been going since the 1980s! Every time Harley tries to break out with something that’s actually decent they have to cancel it because their own “fan base” won’t accept anything that doesn’t look like it’s still operating on 1940s technology. Most recently Harley released an electric motorcycle (the Live Wire) but they actually managed to sell more of them after they took the HD branding off.
it’s been hilarious to watch them fumble over and over again. They keep teasing new bikes that might appeal to people under 65 and look fun to ride, then cancelling them because all the retirees who trailer their bikes to Sturgis got mad about them. Once their base dies out (or stops being able to ride) they’ve got nowhere to turn.
I don’t really keep up with this stuff, but from what I’ve heard, that’s why they had to spin off the LiveWire bikes into their own brand, the boomers flipped out over an
ELECTRIC Harley.
Yeah that’s absolutely it. Bike no make potato sound, WOKE!!
edit: it’s sad since the Livewire seems like a very good electric motorcycle, if exorbitantly expensive.
Favorite example of how fucking stupid bikers are
“My bike has to be loud enough to make everybody within a mile of me look at me… for safety” - guy who took of his helmet as soon as he crossed the border into a state that doesn’t require you to wear one
Good thing their product kills them off at an above average rate.
Their target market mostly just trailers their bikes to events anyway, they’re not doing much actual riding.
This cycle has been going since the 1980s! Every time Harley tries to break out with something that’s actually decent they have to cancel it because their own “fan base” won’t accept anything that doesn’t look like it’s still operating on 1940s technology. Most recently Harley released an electric motorcycle (the Live Wire) but they actually managed to sell more of them after they took the HD branding off.