Will the day come again??

I was on the phone with a gentleman that is from Minnesota and moved down to Florida last week. We were talking about the Pan Head that I am sure that I am going to buy. During our conversation, which covered many topics, we both made the observation how Harley flooded the market with their bikes and how difficult it is for them to move them quickly. (OF course a bad economy does not help). Both him and I were in agreement that Harley should go back to the days of having to order the bike and wait for a while to get it. Our conclusion was based on the premise that Harley's are not worth what they used to be, the no longer retain their value as they once did. I believe that there are 2 huge factors that contribute to this. They are:

1. Harley over flooded the market in 2003 with the anniversary edition and continue to do so.
2. With the boom of the aftermarket industry, "custom" parts are really no longer custom because anyone can buy them.

What is you take on this? Do you think that there will be a day that Harley goes back to that kind of marketing?? What are the reasons for your answer?

Why do you think that it would going backwards? The thing that has always bothered me is that HD is so tight lipped about their production numbers that it is hard to gauge exactly what they are doing. Their sales numbers that they present to the public are also misleading because those figures are indicators as a company as a whole, not just bike sales. I have learned from a little bit of research, and it is like this for most companies, that Harley does not record its sale when a bike is actually sold out of the dealership, they record their sale once the bike is shipped to the dealer. The numbers that the public see are misleading. So this begs the question, is MoCo as healthy as they would like us to believe?

Your forgetting one thing, Harley sales in the dealership reflect what Harley ships to its dealers. I have not seen any dealers with an over abundance of new bikes, especially lately. Harley, Company has to reflect their sales by the number they ship to the dealers because the dealers are their customers such as we are to the dealership.

ordering bikes and waiting again?.....no thanks

I kind of like things the way they are. If a fella wants to go out and buy a new bike he can do just that. I've been through the take the deposit and wait 18 months for the bike routine...that's 18 lost months. Lots of chirping about high resale value and for a while it did..the demand was far greater than the supply and Harley upped production to meet the demand..then the crash came and there was an over capacity for the market..you know what happens next. did they flood the market in '03? I don't think so, they just met the demand. We all saw that increasing the production over time would result in a balanced market, unfortunately the depression made the problem a little worse and the market isn't so balanced at present. Harley got some concessions from the unions so it will be able to be more responsive to market demand fluctuations. they'll survive. Harley motorcycle "values" peaked up here in Canada in 2003. This was due to the exchange rate between the American dollar and the Canuck Buck. Harleys were bought in American dollars by the dealers and we bought the bike with Canadian dollars so to make a long story short in 2003 one Canadian dollar bought 62 US cents..ouch!! An Electra Glide ultra was in the high 30's in our currency back then..it's 12000 dollars cheaper now..our dollar is close to par. some of the dealers are hurting but I like the fact that the average joe can go out and get a Harley at a fair price now

This is the largest factor in my opinion. As you may or may not know, I am a student receiving an education in business, and I could never understand why, especially since 2003 HD would want to carry an inventory. I am glad to hear that they are adopting the Just In Time philosophy.

Years back, HD engaged in a practice called channel stuffing. This is when they would force an x amount of bike into dealers regardless of what sales volumes were. This is where HD would be able to record its sale (profit, if any), At the time of shipment. They really did not care how the dealership did to a certain degree. yes a lot of this has changed, but HD still has a minimum amount of bikes that each dealership must order.

Another thing that bothers me a little bit is, and this is because of the weather in Minnesota, is that they do not launch the new models until late July early August. I think that they would be best served if they were to allow more time for the bike to be in the market in order to increase their sales. That is if they want to keep the rate of production constant. they could introduce the bike lets say in April. That is 3-4 extra months that the new model is available. Here in Minnesota, in a lot of cases, our season is ending in late October. I for one have passed on buying, as an example an 08 in June, because I know that the new bike are about to be released. to me they are getting in their own way.

As a supplier to H-D and a rider of the product I have seen alot of changes in the last 5 years. as a supplier we must ship to harley on a JIT basis we must hold 1 week of finished goods and ship at a moments notice. They want complete flexability to run whatever they can sell on the line that week.The dealers now can only get bikes they can sell .If a dealer isn't selling bikes he can't get more so the inventory will not get inflated again. On the plus side if you want to order a bike you can spec it out and get it much quicker than before. When I ordered my Ultra it came in about 1 month. How I think you can order and get a bike in 3 weeks.

You can order a bike anyway that you want it?? And still get it in 3 weeks??

With what they offer for options. Color ,ABS brakes and different wheels are some of the options you can order and get in 3 weeks.

What about the 120?

I know there are performance options available I never looked into that when I ordered my Ultra. Happy with the 96 CI with a stage 1.

I was just asking about you. :worthless: Good to see you. Welcome back.

The Union might make HD move...............:cussing:

don't see that happening in this economic climate

Don't HD President make 6 mil a year.
Ya think they are broke.
They was offered a big tax break and didn't take it of the state they are in.

The Union agreed to the deal H-D laid on the table. They're not moving.

For now............

HD is gittin upset at the union in my beliefs.......