Holy Harley!!!!! Two brand new bikes, 500 and 750!

itsbob

itsbob

I bowl overhand
It's worked real well for BMW the last several years with almost the identical size bike.. 600/800.. in a v twin..
 
Shutout

Shutout

New Member
Nice looking bikes. Hopefully Harley will be able to expand their customer base with the additions. I would like to see it cutomized to resemble a street tracker version of the XR 750. I am sure someone will.
 
Larry Gude

Larry Gude

Strung Out
glhs837 said:
Harley-Davidson launches liquid-cooled Street 500 and 750 [w/videos] - Autoblog


Wow, can Harley really sell this? I think so, a lot of this younger generation attaches to traditional stuff, and I think, if the products actually work, if they can exude that Harley mojo, they can make some new customers, I think. :buddies:
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Harley Mojo is air cooled V twin cruisers that rumble along.
Agreed?

These bikes are water cooled and aimed at a whole new demographic. This is not HD's wheelhouse so, if they do take off, it will be because they are cheap and good quality. However, there are already a bunch of bikes in this market.

I guess we will see but, this sounds like...well...like Harley Davidson no longer being Harley Davidson.
 
glhs837

glhs837

Power with Control
Larry Gude said:
Harley Mojo is air cooled V twin cruisers that rumble along.
Agreed?

These bikes are water cooled and aimed at a whole new demographic. This is not HD's wheelhouse so, if they do take off, it will be because they are cheap and good quality. However, there are already a bunch of bikes in this market.

I guess we will see but, this sounds like...well...like Harley Davidson no longer being Harley Davidson.
Click to expand...


No, not to this younger generation, I dont think, to them, a companies mojo isn't a simple mechanical recipe, v twins and air cooling, it's a look and feel thing. Might not work, but it just might. The Hell Angels might bitch, but those guys will still buy the dino Harleys til they die.

As for where they are being made, found this....

2014 Harley-Davidson Street 750 & 500 - Motorcycle USA

Street 750 and 500 models sold in the US, Mexico and Canada will be assembled (engine and bike) at Harley-Davidson's Kansas City facility. Those sold internationally will be manufactured in India.
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Now, where do the parts come from? Well, evidently Harley says that "US suppliers are used wherever possible". How does that break down, numerically? No telling. I can say the engines in my last two cars, both Dodge, were built in Mexico and provided years of service, the Neon til I sold it and the Charger going strong at almost 160K. And it's certainly not because I baby it.
 
Larry Gude

Larry Gude

Strung Out
glhs837 said:
No, not to this younger generation, I dont think, to them, a companies mojo isn't a simple mechanical recipe, v twins and air cooling, it's a look and feel thing. Might not work, but it just might. The Hell Angels might bitch, but those guys will still buy the dino Harleys til they die.

.
Click to expand...

It seems clear that Harley, long ago, stopped caring what the FLX crowd thought. The FLHTCU crowd was the thing; dentists who wanted to wear a bandana once in awhile instead of neo green on a Gold Wing.

I mean, I get the attempt to go for the younger crowd. If you live and die by growth and what you used to do is meaningless compared to not growing, but, the step from real bikers to not so edgy folks on kinda edgy bikes was not a huge stretch. Being a biker appealed to anyone born before 1980 so, being a weekend bikers was a natural.

I just don't know how that image transitions to a generation that already passed on Buell and looks at HD as dad and granddads bike.

So, my fear is that this will take away from the quality of the FLH bread and butter. A name like HD is not supposed to be all things to all people. They could do themselves a LOT of good, in my mind, in trying to figure out how to sell me a $30,000 bike for under $20,000. There is sales potential right there; doing what you do but, do it a little better, a little cheaper.

And that becomes the Catch 22; make yourself leaner before you have to OR make yourself leaner after another bad idea, the 500 and the 750 and after losing focus on your core?
 
glhs837

glhs837

Power with Control
Lets face it, Harley isn't built on a quality reputation, it's built on a mystique reputation. And I don't think the generation they are selling this to is the same one that passed on the Buell, and of course, Buell never really meant Harley, it meant a Harley motor repackaged, for folks looking for that Harley mojo, Buell didn't deliver that, I don't think.


I think they can break out, and make Harley more than just 1,000lb cruisers. And maybe that will lead to finding a way to sell a 30K bike for 20K, but why, when you have dentists lined up out the door. Young people dont have 20K for a bike anyway, and if you want to sell into the future, you need to have younger customers, they are running out of Boomers who grew up watching the Wild Ones to sell to. Everyone realizes now the best to way to have older customers is to gain younger ones and keep them. And my daughter, at 19, wouldnt be buying a 20-30K bike for decades. She could buy that 500 in the next couple of years.
 
Larry Gude

Larry Gude

Strung Out
glhs837 said:
Lets face it, Harley isn't built on a quality reputation, it's built on a mystique reputation. And I don't think the generation they are selling this to is the same one that passed on the Buell, and of course, Buell never really meant Harley, it meant a Harley motor repackaged, for folks looking for that Harley mojo, Buell didn't deliver that, I don't think.


I think they can break out, and make Harley more than just 1,000lb cruisers. And maybe that will lead to finding a way to sell a 30K bike for 20K, but why, when you have dentists lined up out the door. Young people dont have 20K for a bike anyway, and if you want to sell into the future, you need to have younger customers, they are running out of Boomers who grew up watching the Wild Ones to sell to. Everyone realizes now the best to way to have older customers is to gain younger ones and keep them. And my daughter, at 19, wouldnt be buying a 20-30K bike for decades. She could buy that 500 in the next couple of years.
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Yeah, but, older folks have $20,000 to spend on a bike where they no longer have $30,000 to spend on a bike. Do what you do but, do it better. Those potential buyers are going Japanese. Or thinking about a Triumph.

If the new HD's are solid, they have a chance, I suppose. It just, in my view, will be in spite of any HD mojo. Not because of it.

And they BETTER be solid. My girlfriend just bought a Bolt, kinda in that class HD seems to be shooting at, the urban cruiser/young guy or gal in flannel thing, and, at $8,300, it is one hell of a bike.
 
glhs837

glhs837

Power with Control
Larry Gude said:
Yeah, but, older folks have $20,000 to spend on a bike where they no longer have $30,000 to spend on a bike. Do what you do but, do it better. Those potential buyers are going Japanese. Or thinking about a Triumph.

If the new HD's are solid, they have a chance, I suppose. It just, in my view, will be in spite of any HD mojo. Not because of it.

And they BETTER be solid. My girlfriend just bought a Bolt, kinda in that class HD seems to be shooting at, the urban cruiser/young guy or gal in flannel thing, and, at $8,300, it is one hell of a bike.
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I think the Triumph sort of thing is where they are going with this. Triumph isnt really selling, on the lower end anyway, bike that will change the world, but what they do have is that that Triumph thing, you see one and you say, "That is NOT a Japanese utility bike. That thing has design choices made to show it's a Triumph. " It has to be competitive, but the raw numbers wont sway the buyers, not the ones Harley is after, it has to have the style, and in Harleys case, the idea, even if not the reality, of being able to customize the crap out of it.

I just read a comparo where ti was the Bolt vs the Sportster, with a Triumph tossed in, actually. And the Sporty came in last. But give the Harley a modern chassis and engine, and I think it might have won.

'13 Sportster 883 Iron vs Star Bolt vs Bonneville - Motorcycle USA
 
Larry Gude

Larry Gude

Strung Out
glhs837 said:
" It has to be competitive, but the raw numbers wont sway the buyers, not the ones Harley is after, it has to have the style, and in Harleys case, the idea, even if not the reality, of being able to customize the crap out of it.
Click to expand...

But, that's part of the problem; if you're going after an economy buyer, the LAST thing they are going to do is spend $5,000 on pipes and chrome and farckle. Hell, people will buy more scooters with top cases before buying a stripped down bike that may or may not be well built that is nothing to brag about in performance and is, certainly, not practical.

And that is something they maybe should have considered; if we, HD, are gonna go the 'not your dads Harley' route, then go NOT YOUR DADS HARLEY.

There is market out there for sporty, cheap and PRACTICAL. Build those little 500's with some innovative storage so you can actually carry some stuff, besides a damn back pack, and USE the things. Make it so you can run to the store with it. Go to the bank. Grab a few items here and there, carry a laptop case, stash your helmet.

These things look like mini Sportsters. Where the hell is there market for that???
 
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