HD Motorcycles

Hey, Motor Man here, and today we're going to talk about Harley-Davidson sales flops through the years. They've had some big ones, and we're going to start with a bike that might be some kind of cold following for it, but is the V-Rod. They came out in 2002, and they made it until 2017, or thereabouts. I know there's going to be people out there, correct me, but go ahead. They had so many different models of the V-Rod just trying to sell the freaking thing. Now initially, when it first came out, there was a lot of hype prior to the bike coming out, first water-cooled Harley-Davidson, blah, blah, blah. But back then in 2002, nobody wanted a water-cooled Harley-Davidson. They wanted the bikes that Harley's been making forever, 45-degree air-cooled V-Twin's, and initially they were getting $5,000 to $10,000 over-list for the V-Rod. That didn't last long, maybe six months. That had to be, and I've written them, one of the most uncomfortable riding positions of any motorcycle ever made. It had a way, the rake was way out there, long wheelbase, and to my eyes, ugliest sin. So sales, after the first six months, they start to go down, so they come out with a different model of the V-Rod and a different one, and they must have had a whole bunch of money in R&D tied up in this bike because usually when Harleys don't sell, a couple of years, that's it, it's over. But they kept this bike from 2002 to 2017. There was the last one, I think it was the V-Rod muscle, and it kind of looked But And then the Rocker. The Rocker came out, Softail Rocker 09-2011. It was Harley-Davis' version of the Chopper. Now, if you remember, at this time, Chopper was all the rage, although by the time they came out with the Rocker, the fads sort of, it drizzled out. I mean, there was all kinds of choppers, everybody was making choppers. Some of them looked really nice, good looking bikes, but basically they were a lawn ornament, a planter. They were almost unrideable. And this bike, the Rocker, was better than those in that, yeah, you could actually ride the bike and it wasn't going to kill you to ride it, but it wasn't a good long-distance motorcycle and it was, in my eyes, ugly as sin. You may disagree, but I believe that was one ugly, ugly motorcycle. If you think about this, all these choppers were based on Harley-Davis' and they, You would think that when Harley-Davis' comes out with a bike Then the FXDR in 2019, they made this bike from 2019 to 2020. This had to be not just the ugliest Harley-Davis' ever made, but I would say the ugliest motorcycle ever made, period. I don't know who this bike was for. It was a huge, long wheelbase, long rake. Supposedly it handled well. I remember riding one, but I don't remember if it was a good handling bike, but I know that with a long wheelbase and a long rake, forget about maneuverability, it just, to me, was dog ugly. In fact, I think that the same guy who styled the rocker probably styled that bike. R wanted to fire the guy, but then the guy reminded him about his bowtail supercline that he came out with, which was almost as ugly as the FXDR. Next they came out with the street rods. Now these bikes were supposed to be inexpensive motorcycles to bring people into Harley-Davis' showroom, and they were pretty much a failure because people didn't go to Harley-Davis' and deal with looking for a cheap motorcycle. I don'think they do today either, so when they come out with this new $6,000 motorcycle, yeah, I don'think that's going to help them at all. I could be wrong about this. I'm not an expert on it, but I don'think so. This bike was pretty decent. It was priced right in the same range as Japanese middle weights and some European middle weights. It wasn't a bad ride. In fact, the last year they made the street rod 50750, and I think they made it from up until about 2014, their abouts. The 500 was because they needed a 500cc or less motorcycle for the riders edge program, and the 750 was the one that they expected to be selling to the general public, hoping that sales would be good. It totally flopped. Nice riding bike, very competitive with other middle weight bikes, both price-wise and performance. In fact, I think they had And then they come out with the Nightster and the Sportster S. Now the Nightster, I've ridden them. I went on Harley's ride. They invited some people out there to California to ride the bike, or maybe it was Arizona. Either way, nice riding motorcycle. It has plenty of power. I think it's It has a good lean angle, handles very well. It's a fun bike to ride. It just doesn't remind anybody of the actual Sportster that they discontinued in 2022. So far, sales have been dismal. Now when they first came out, I think they were Dealers are still being stuck with these motorcycles. And then there's the Sportster S. Now the Sportster S to me is a good-looking motorcycle, but it doesn't remind anybody, once again, of Harley-Davidson'sportster, the classic American style. I think 2022 was the last year for the Sportster, the 48, and that was about the best Sportster they ever made. They didn't keep making that bike, maybe reduce the price on that one, instead of spending a fortune on the Nightster and the Sportster S, but they never asked me. So right now, dealers, they still can't sell the Nightster or the Sportster S. The Sportster S, I think, started at somewhere around $17,000. They've reduced the price to about $15,000 on that. And I guess that's a great riding motorcycle. It's got all kinds of power. It's very competitive in the naked bike genre. And it's a good bike, but it just doesn't have the classic American style. I So that has been a sales flop as well. What are they going to do? I don't know. I'm thinking if they don't have a ton of money invested in that revolution motor, that maybe they'll keep it around and try to put different models of it or reduce the price even further. Who knows? They don'tell me, but I'm thinking it shouldn't be another year before they stop making those bikes. Hopefully, they'll come out with something that actually looks There's a bike called the Yamaha Bolt. It's a 900cc bike, and it is just about a dead ringer for the original Harley-Davidson Sportsters. Now, if Yamaha can make a motorcycle that looks just I don't get it. I don't know what they think it is on it. So that's my list, and there's probably others, but that's my list of the Harley-Davidson failures style-wise, price-wise, and marketing-wise through the years. I hope you learned something. I hope you enjoyed this. Please comment below. Tell me how wrong I am. I love to read the comments. And also, don't forget to take a look at my new channel, Muscle Cars Old and New, the last videos I did, and I did four of them at the Meek So if you're into muscle cars and classic cars, you owe it to yourself to check it out. Comment on that as well. I'm trying to get a thousand subscribers. So please take a look at that channel. And once again,