[Ashley]

Care to comment on this?

Can Harley-Davidson survive the downturn? - Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

[amf4399]

Wow thats not good. Hate to see something happen to Harley.

[TM103]

H-D will be back. They have problems like every other business right now. They brought it out of the pits before, and the can do it again.

[chucktx]

i was thinkin the same....they have been buried and dug them selves out....and as no other company has done, paid their debt back to the govt in record time!!!!!!!!!!

[Tomflhrci98]

They should just jet on down to DC and grab a fist full of cash like everyone else.

[cowboy]

Yep I seen where the Dem's are thinking about pulling the plug on that deal for the big 3 so HD might just want to ride over & get the cash it's cheeper then A CO jet

[Panthera]

A subscription investment service that I currently subscribe to has Harley stock as a buy, go figure. Even the article above mentions that Harley is going to have a year with no income growth after 20 strait years. It does not mean they will lose money, just not make as much. I would not worry just yet. I think new bike sales will be way down, and quite a few repo-sales from the financial side of things, but after market and accessories will keep them afloat.

Long term may be a different story as the article points out, with the older riders getting even older, and Harley not getting the younger riders. Then again, the younger riders will someday be older riders, and may 'age' up to a Harley.

[HarleysLR]

OMG, there sure are a lot of Harley hating folks out there, did any of you read the comments below the atricle?

[Panthera]

It is a lot of the same crap you hear from the jap-car crowd as well, about the lack of quality. When my son was first driving, we picked him up an 84 Chev with 150,000 miles. Road cancer was getting to the car, but it was cheap and it ran. I do not see any 20+ year old jap vehicles on the roads, yet I keep hearing about how great the quality is. Hell, seeing a 10 year old Jap car up here is rare.

As far as the Jap bikes, my son's first bike is an 84 Yamaha Virago. It was cheap. I can assure anyone asking that the quality of that bike is not superior in any way to a Harley. It vibrates more (they did not use rubber mounts then either), handles poorly as compared to my sporty, and makes me glad to have a Harley. I have had a few Jap bikes in my younger years, and was never terribly impressed.

I see from the comments that a lot of the complaints are because of dealer actions, not Harley itself. Some are talking about stealers selling for more than MSRP? Perhaps Harley does have to do a better job of policing the stealers.