Harley sales are down........

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jltrent

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Harley Davidson is Closing many of its Plants Due to Declining Sales. Apparently, the Baby-Boomers all have motorcycles, and Generation X is only buying a very few, and the next generation, the Millennials, aren't buying any at all.

A recent study was conducted to find out why?

Here are the reasons why Millennials don't ride motorcycles, and why sales are down:

1. Pants won't pull up far enough for them to straddle the seat.

2. Can't get their phone to their ear with a helmet on.

3. Can't use 2 hands to eat while driving.

4. They don't get a trophy and a recognition plaque just for buying one.

5. Don't have enough muscle to hold the bike up when stopped.

6 Might have a bug hit them in the face and then they would need emergency care.

7. Motorcycles don't have air conditioning.

8. They can't afford one because they spent 12 years in college trying to get a degree in Humanities, Social Studies or Gender Studies for which no jobs are available.

9. They are allergic to fresh air.

10. Their pajamas get caught on the exhaust pipes.

11. They might get their hands dirty checking the oil.

12. The handle bars have buttons and levers and cannot be controlled by touch-screen.

13. You have to shift manually and use something called a clutch.

14. It's too hard to take selfies while riding.

15. They don't come with training wheels like their bicycles did.

16. Motorcycles don't have power steering or power brakes.

17. Their nose ring interferes with the face shield.

18. They would have to use leg muscle to back up.

19. When they stop, a light breeze might blow exhaust in their face.

20 It could rain on them and expose them to non-soft water.

21. It might scare their therapy dog, and then the dog would need therapy.
 
main thing is that its so busy out everywhere they are pretty dangerous to ride.
 
And here I thought it was because they didn't grow up with Easy Rider and thus thing it was cool to cruise around on a Harley.
 
The helmet and/or severe wind caused by riding is not worth risking the structural integrity of their man bun
 
ga.prime":1245m2um said:
May have to do with the fact that cars and trucks cost less than Harleys.
If I was a kid with $50k worth of student loans I'd probably skip the $20,000 motorcycle too. Sounds like Harley Davidson needs to adapt to the new market or go extinct.
 
backhoeboogie":21xcd6fh said:
Wouldn't a helmet cover up their muppet hairdo ?
kids born in the 50's through the 60's have nothing to say about style.. disco, bell bottoms, fluorescent colors, mustard yellow and avocado green were in, and the hair styles? yeah.

What is harley these days? it's a status symbol.. 95% of the baby boomers who bought them were posers anyhow, After being hippies in the 60's, they went into corporate america and made money, they wanted to experience the 'freedom' again and be something they are not.

They should go back to mowing their manicured lawns in suburbia
2e2j9e.jpg
 
harley changed their whole business plan that had been working for decades. there was always a waiting list to get one and because of that they held their value almost to the point where they were worth as much as a new one. once they increased manufacturing and flooded the market they sold a bunch for a few years and the resale value went way down. now people are holding on to their old ones a lot longer. for a long time around here there was a year or two wait list that you had to put money down on just to buy a fatboy at retail price.
 
Supply and demand.. they increased their supply a lot but still charge stupid money for a bike, no wonder sales are down.. Also, Yamaha has some nice cruiser bikes that cut into that market.
Typically speaking, the American way of designing something is "Is it good enough to have sales".. anything above and beyond (in the consumer goods) gets ixnayed by the bean counters.

Then in Japan, the motto is more along the lines of "what can we improve"

A perfect example of this is wiring.. Toyota had weathertight electrical connectors throughout the vehicle in the 70's, our old 83 tercels never had a wiring hiccup, 300,000 miles on each of about 6 toyota's we've owned and they all have original U joints and CV joints.
 
tja477t":1mdk0u1m said:
harley changed their whole business plan that had been working for decades. there was always a waiting list to get one and because of that they held their value almost to the point where they were worth as much as a new one. once they increased manufacturing and flooded the market they sold a bunch for a few years and the resale value went way down. now people are holding on to their old ones a lot longer. for a long time around here there was a year or two wait list that you had to put money down on just to buy a fatboy at retail price.

If you bought stock in '88, Harley was really good. You could have picked up several bikes with your profits by '95 or so.
 
Could have something to do with motorcycles being fairly useless too. I see the joy riders out all the time when I'm hauling hay. Must be nice to have that kind of free time.
 
Just had a conversation with a guy the other day , he was telling me about he and his friends ride. It wasn't" we rode to see a concert and eat bbq", it was, "we rode our harleys to see a concert and eat bbq", RUB.
 
In response to the OP, you can now get attachments for your headgear that allow you to place calls and even film as you go. (No need to hold a cell phone in hand; young folk would find that laughable). I know many milennials and Gen-Xers that ride. Many prefer those dang pocket-rockets. Harleys are considered an OPB (old person's bike).
My father and son have both been seriously injured riding (hit by teen drivers). My son was hit 2yrs ago by a 17yo that ran a stop sign. Flew over the car, totalled bike. Trauma dr said his full-Kevlar-riding gear saved his life. He just had surgery for a lingering issue. He was very lucky and you better believe I have told him I'll kill him myself if he ever gets another one. Even if the motorcyclist is careful, car drivers just don't see them or are overtly reckless.
 
i know of a couple who were sitting at a stop sign on a rural road with no one around. a car came up behind them and rammed them.. they went flying off the bike.. had to have cosmetic surgery on faces as they weren't wearing any gear/helmets..
 
I'm 25 and have had 5 bikes, none were Harley's, I have ridden one and I would not want one. Loud, lousy fuel economy, heavy as a small car, the vibration is awful, and they're expensive. Harley is nothing more than a brand and an image that screams "look at me."

I'm not big into cycling anymore, I guess I finally hit the age where you start to realize your own mortality, I'd still like to have a dual sport for screwing around on the local back roads, but I have no desire to ride in the city again.
 
"heavy as a small car"....

My brother had a big cruiser bike the last few years (Japanese, not HD) and finally just parked it a few months, then took it down to a dealer to sell on consignment. Why?
He loved riding it, but came to realize if he ever dropped it, laid it down, or it fell, he wouldn't be able to get it back up again by himself. He lost balance one day at his driveway while getting the mail and had to let it fall, then had to go get a neighbor to help him get it back up. I think that was the final straw.
 
greybeard":1lychf9o said:
"heavy as a small car"....

My brother had a big cruiser bike the last few years (Japanese, not HD) and finally just parked it a few months, then took it down to a dealer to sell on consignment. Why?
He loved riding it, but came to realize if he ever dropped it, laid it down, or it fell, he wouldn't be able to get it back up again by himself. He lost balance one day at his driveway while getting the mail and had to let it fall, then had to go get a neighbor to help him get it back up. I think that was the final straw.

In most situations, using the right technique, anyone should be able to lift a cruiser.

Skip to 2:00. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvlUMiiuKag
 

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