Why does HD drag their feet

Heard that about the Shovelhead from the Panhead riders
Heard that about the EVO from the Shovel and Pan head riders
Heard that about the Twinkie from the EVO, Shovel and Pan head riders...
Yet, the MoCo is still cranking them out, day after day and nothing is gonna change anytime soon.

BTW, a Flattie does not sound like a Knuckle or a Pan for that matter yet it is the Grandpa of all of the V twins....
The method of cooling is not what makes and engine sound a certain way. It is the 45 degree, single crankpin large bore and stroke that makes it sound like it does. Ever hear a 4 valve 100" EVO? My former partner built a Rivera headed 4 valved 100" EVO based naked rigid V-Max spanker that had a sweet, wicked sound...

Hope HD goes out of business before they come out with that bike.

Harley Davidson had a water cooled bike years ago but it never made it to the market. Mabe when all the old school people kick the bucket they can come out with it.

Nova The V-4 Harley you never saw!

Just think of all of the aftermarket companies that would not be around if Harley's came with comfortable seats, 100hp engines , different pipes ,and all of the other things we take off and replace because we don't like stock. I think alot of us would take off and replace stock parts just to make it unique.

HD's are made to take parts off and out other parts on. Thats why HD and the after market has made so much money off them.

Spoke to a guy who's had three Harleys and switched to a Honda and couldn't be happier. He has no overheating issues on long trips and gets 103 hp from a bike that looks like a Sportster. I do wish Harley would make some changes to get their prices down a bit and push their engineering forward. I'd buy a Rocker if it was around about 14G's.

I'm Happy with my Dyna....Im glad my wife & I needed cash when I sold My Susucki cause otherwise it would have never paved the way for me to get my Harley. The seat on my Suzuki was hard, & most of the "chrome" was plastic. You'll never get me to go back to ridin rice again! It's kinda like my devotion to Fords....I'd rather push my Ford than drive anything else.

Harley either gits in yer blood or it don't.
Buy a rice burner and keep if for a 2-3 yrs, go and try to sell it or trade it in. They don't bring much money on the resale value. I don't care what kind of HP a Honda puts out.
I will ride my Harley
I grew up as a Die Hard Chevy dude, but after having a Business for 19yrs and runnin different kinds of trucks and vans I tooo have turned to being a FORD lover.

I'm definitely not into the rice burners, but I don't want to see Harley fall behind technologically. They need younger riders to stay healthy as a business.

had the yammerhamer when i was younger, good bike to learn on but had to pretty much give it away, and the parts they were avalible but not as readily avalible as hd and harder to improvise on , and thats one of the reasons my sons riding an 883, and expecially these days with the umteen thousand "custom parts builders/suppliers" (term used loosely) that every one buys from and puts the take off parts out on e-bay to buy a harley at a descent price and get a descent return on sale, is better in my opinion than buying a rice and dang near paying some one to take it. as for the heat off of it I like it as most of my riding is at 50+ mph usually 75+ (thats kinda what the officer said) and i don't feel it but when your running at night and the temp is around 50 to 60, i enjoy that little radiant heat. and when it is 20-30 it man is it nice:roflmao:

Well the way there are HD dealerships all across the country sure makes in nice if you go on a ride and wind up needin some parts or yer bike repaired while yer out on the road.

the metric bikes don't have the history to remember that harley has. i don't think that harley is technicaly behind the other bikes. with the big twins and sportster's they are trying to keep the heritage of where they came from, making improvements where they can and still keep the repeat customer. when some one grew up with a knuck, pan or shovel , they won't go buy a vrod, to big a change all at once. the evo and now the twinkie people are the same. h-d bought out buell to try to get the sport bike crowd. the v-rod for the power cruiser folks. they will try to keep the h-d line as close to the bloodline as they can , but the epa has to be satisfied or they can't sell there bikes. if they can't sell bikes...

I rode for many years and worked in this industry for a *few* years. One thing that you can bet your money on is that HD will do what it takes to comply with the EPA and sell product. HD has to watch out for the stockholders who for the most part think with their wallets and do not have the same emotional investments that riders do. The point of my prior post is that change is inevitable and nothing is going to stop it. Those that don't want to buy the "new" models will be fewer than those that will. Since 1984, HD has been on what seems to be a never ending upside of a bell curve. Their marketing and R&D have made few if any mistakes. The only thing that will affect their bottom line is the economy.

I just saw some new ads for Harley they are targeting the younger generation with some of the new models they came out with like the Cross Bones. The commercial I saw targeted the kids that skate board and sno-board.

Don't want to be the fly in the ointment, but I think the economy is catchin up with them. The stock is down about $20 from 3or4 years ago and for the first time they are cutting jobs. They are eliminating 730 employees and cutting production by 15%. or 25,000 bikes this year. Market is saturated and resale value is down. I agree with CD, their marketing aand R&D has done a great job over the last ten years or so, but they might have gone from everybody wants one to everybody has one.

Im guessing with the price of gas these days, alot of bike dealerships, including Harley are going to see an upswing in sales. Im gonna be screwed when winter returns cause then I'll have to go back in my gas guzzlin truck.