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new HD Sportster

Discussion in 'Hangout Lounge' started by Simmy, Jul 14, 2021.

  1. Simmy

    Simmy Well-Known Member

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  2. Brent NZ

    Brent NZ Active Member

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    Harley Davidson are in quite a pickle - their customers are generally ultra-conservative & won't appreciate this design at all. Not only that, but their customer base is getting smaller as the years tick on.
    Personally I think that exhaust is awful & the front wheel looks almost cartoonish. It can't be too nimble with that massive front tyre either, which is ironic considering it's called a sportster.
    Got to give them credit for trying something new though, at least they're trying!
     
  3. Mechanic1978

    Mechanic1978 Active Member

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    Im not a fan at all.... looks like (my opinion) a twice regertated Buell. thanks for the share tho..
     
  4. Timbox

    Timbox Well-Known Member

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    Once a week I have a garage night with some die hard HD guys. The owner of the garage has 20+ different HD's most of them old Iron Head sporters. They have been trying to convert me to a HD and so far no way. I have been doing some repair work on a few and they just have lots of moving parts that don't need to be. LOL. Replacing a starter for example...remove the primary case as the starter bolts in from inside the primary. Oh ya, the exhaust has to come off too for remove it from the bike.

    All that being said, I am really looking forward to test riding the Pan American and any of the newer bikes with this liquid cooled engine. With both nasty horse power and torque sounds like my kind of bike. From the pic they are also changing the power drive to the left side of the bike on this sporter. All the other sporters have right hand drive from factory....I think.

    I am looking forward to the Bronx version.
    https://www.harley-davidson.cn/us/en/motorcycles/future-vehicles/bronx.html
     
  5. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    I do like the Pan Am bike. HD has finally relized that their customer base is shrinking with age.
    if HD wants to survive they have to start looking for more younger consumers. that means nontraditional Bikes
     
  6. Simmy

    Simmy Well-Known Member

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    Big road bike sales were up 18% in 2020 and off-road bikes a whopping 46% but HD are sliding. I’m not a fan of their stuff but have learned to hold my comments to myself. Obviously many like them, as long as you’re on a motorcycle we have much in common right?
    It would be a very sad day if they do fold.
    I agree they need to branch into other segments of the market, the Pan Am is getting good reviews.
    Those 500 and 750 cruisers made in India were a miss.
     
  7. Simmy

    Simmy Well-Known Member

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  8. Mechanic1978

    Mechanic1978 Active Member

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    Majority or HD owners are Old school gents, and or thier kids that grew up on them., That sound, the thing that made HD what it was since the early 1900's has been a staple ever since. Your out side and hear that rumble v-Twin sound, and chances are its an HD, but they all look fairly close in appearance to the non HD person. everything, from the look of the cylinders, primarys, frame rake etc... I understand thier efforts in attracting the younger youth to there brand, but with such a hard core fan base, people will either love the new designs or hate them, I dont see there being an inbetween. Prime example is the introduction of the Buell.... what a flop that was in terms of sales and look. this was HD's attempt to enter the sport bike market that has tken over the world sorta speak.

    @Timbox im personally not a fan of the one you posted a link on, it looks too much like an attempt to copy the Ducati Diavel.

    While I can't complain about HD. Thier engineering, as we all know its stellar and unbeatable. I'm just not personally a fan of any new design they have come up with ever since the veared into newer drasticly different designs. Buell was the beginning of the end for me, and I wont own any HD, for the simple cost factor and popularity.
    HD stands for everytime they need work or a part, its a minimum of "a Hundred Dollar" and the gents I speak to will agree the purchase/parts cost has gotten out of hand if you ask them. The popularity alone has driven the costs so high most people cant/wont get one.

    Yes @Simmy I watch the market close here and there as well, and HD has been falling behind in sales mostly because of the cost to purchase new/ or repair for years now.
    HD has even contracted companies out of the US to manufacture parts, and assemble the Hd Bikes themself for the ones sold in thier respective country.
    Where as it used to be all manufactured, and assembled in the US then exported. This move did not change the cost for the end user, but made the export/import cost dissapear, for HD, while still sporting high sale prices per unit. HD has been fughting sales issues for decades atleast, From 1903 to 1983 every harley had a similarity in overall appearance... then came the changes, and R&D is not cheap weather its sucessful designs or not.

    "most" Asian manufactures can produce a competetively priced low maintnance, realitevly low parts cost competitor (V-Star), and in some cases faster (sport Bikes) offering.
    Suzuki for example has the "Busa", and parts are abnormally high when the popularity peaked, same rising parts cost for Kawasaki, when they introduced the zx14. parts were cheap and readily available, the sales and popularity take hold and now there is a sertain amount of people who want them, but simply cant afford them.

    ok now im just rambling on... my bad everyone.
     
  9. Timbox

    Timbox Well-Known Member

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    @Mechanic1978 It is all good. I would just like to ride one of the bikes that has the new engine in it. I am so happy they are going water cooled after all these yrs. Yes I know the V rod had a water cooled engine, but I am talking for more then just one model.
     
  10. Polock

    Polock Well-Known Member

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    any place that has officially branded underwear is not the place to buy a motorcycle https://bit.ly/3iu7byX
    but now if they threw in a few of those garden gnomes, we might talk :)
     
  11. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    At least they'll have something to fall back on when they go under:)
     
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  12. Mechanic1978

    Mechanic1978 Active Member

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    @Polock now you know the real reason "mom N pop" shops were the real deal, they cared more for the customer, than the proffit. unlike 90% of all companies today, they care more for the dollar than the people spending it.

    I went to my mothers last thursday, and arrived just in time to help her unload her groceries. she made a comment
    "I got to sit dow for a minute, loading all this in the sun wore me out" I thought ??

    I asked her if they loaded it for her, and she said no. Now, my first job was a bag/cart boy at a local Kroger while I was in automotive school and we were required to bag them, and afterwards "atleast ask" if they wanted help out with them.

    Now u be lucky if someone even bags them for you.... yes that was decades ago, but it just goes to show how sorry the hospitality has gotten with companies. and the lack of concern for people over the dollar...
     
  13. Timbox

    Timbox Well-Known Member

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    Yes I agree that just the HD franchise is too much for me. I like motorcycles, I don't need to have all the special labeled brand name clothing. Any folks on here work on the HD's? I have done a few top ends, and swapped out some cams. it is not like the metric bikes. Theory is there and the same but not how the HD engineers put it together. imho
     
  14. Mechanic1978

    Mechanic1978 Active Member

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    @Timbox , I work on anything with a gasoline tank... including HD..
     
  15. Timbox

    Timbox Well-Known Member

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    @Mechanic1978 , I guess what I was getting at is how do you feel about the HD engineering compared to other brands and metric. I should have made that more clear. I am guessing there are a lot of us on here that have working on a HD at one time or another.
     
  16. Mechanic1978

    Mechanic1978 Active Member

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    I've mentioned this before, but I believe HD"s engineering is flawless, just as yamaha's, and honda's.... but they all do make models that should never have been put into production, and same can be said for auto manufactures as well.

    An engineers view is from design to functionality,reliability, power etc... the mechanic has a totally different view that an engineer just dosen't get to see.

    the common mechanic's question..

    "what the #$%% were they thinking" or "How the H$#! am I going to get my hand in there"
     
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  17. Mechanic1978

    Mechanic1978 Active Member

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    @Timbox, example:

    the cadillac CTS with the 3.6l engine has a high pressure secondary pump mounted on the back of the cylinder head. (engine sits frt to back as normal, not transverse)
    In order to replace it you have to do one of two things.
    Remove the engine, or remove the cylinder head. (its a v6 so you going to do both) now im no genius, but a fuel pump weather high or low psi will fail, and to have to spend the amount of money it takes to do it should not have to include either of those jobs...
     
  18. k-moe

    k-moe Pie, Bacon, Bourbon. Moderator Premium Member

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    In all honesty, if any US motorcycle manufacturer wants to survive long-term they have to focus on smaller, commuter-friendly machines for oversea sales. Unfortunately the easy path to a share of that market got gobbled up 30 years ago.

    The future of US built motorcycles is going to be the semi-botique market. Volume sales aren't going to cut it anymore.
     
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  19. Franz

    Franz Well-Known Member

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    The BMW car with the N47 engine had the timing chain in the same position and they got a bad reputation for guides breaking and the engine had to come out to repair it. Expensive.
     
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  20. Polock

    Polock Well-Known Member

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