HD Demo day yesterday

[evile]

I dropped in on the demo day at the HD dealer in Billerica yesterday...if for no other reason, just to find out what a $15k motorcycle feels like. That and a free burger. We were the only 2 sport bikes there. I got a few positive comments on the Duc, which surprised me.

I rode the Rocker and Street Bob. they had a V-Rod but it was pretty much booked all day by the time I got there.

Rocker: looks totally cool. Seating postition was almost unbearable. It feels like leaning over backwards in a chair, and the seat dug into my tailbone. I guess I have a little less padding back there than HD's typical target consumer. Cornering ability was almost non-existent but torque was addicting in a straight line. My buddy rode the Rocker C (more chrome?) and we basically looked at each other after the ride and said "I don't get it".

Streetbob: I rode this after the Rocker so was a little more used to things. So leaving the lot I leaned her over a little bit as I turned onto the street and quickly felt peg on pavement Ergos were much nicer, I could actually ride this thing for a whole day if I had to. I started to get the idea while we were just rolling through some nice roads at a leisurely pace. You really don't want to go very fast on this thing, it can't react quickly to rider input, but just cruising along at 2000 RPMs it was a very smooth ride.

So I wasn't completely blown away by either ride, but I did walk away scratching my head about the sticker prices on these things. If they do another demo day I'm definitely going to go back for a shot at the v-rod. I'll skip the burger next time though.

[NeverlosT]

My father and uncles have harleys, and they are fun to ride at lower speeds and just cruising along, I will certainly give them that.

As an engineer though, I cannot FATHOM what about that machine costs 15K to produce, when you can buy a Ducati 848 with about 102834745 times as much technology for the same money. That is the main reason I wont buy a harley, not the look, not the style, just the fact that you are getting ripped off in a big way.

Kudos for trying them out! I would like to try a V-rod someday. But I am too hooked on cornering to get one these days.

[davemon]

Harleys and Ducs seem to go together. When I took the Freddie Spencer School this spring they went around the room and did introductions which included "what do you ride?" and "what kind of riding do you do?" answers. More than half to room had "a Duc and a Harley" or "a BMW and a Duc". Then again there were less that 30 people in that classroom and 3 of them owned a 1098R (one of them was Shane Turpin who is an instructor for the school)...

Almost all the folks in that group of answers had a sport touring mount and then the Harley cruiser. I was still pretty surprised by how many folks from very different walks of life had either of these combos.

Dave

[evile]

As an engineer though, I cannot FATHOM what about that machine costs 15K to produce

A huge chunk of that pricetag has to be dealer profit. The dealership that opened recently in N Hampton NH is a giant 2-level affair that was built from the ground up to be a harly dealership. They must have taken a multi million dollar mortgage to build that place, and the amount of money they have in inventory must be staggering. These places are not mom-and-pop operations, they are big big business.

[mikeb]

A huge chunk of that pricetag has to be dealer profit. The dealership that opened recently in N Hampton NH is a giant 2-level affair that was built from the ground up to be a harly dealership. They must have taken a multi million dollar mortgage to build that place, and the amount of money they have in inventory must be staggering. These places are not mom-and-pop operations, they are big big business.

i remember when that dealership was down the street and much smaller. they built that one at the height of the harly craze. actually i remember when it was where the duc/triumph place is, seacoast? then it moved to the bigger place next to philbricks then to the huge friggen building its in now. they were charging up to 5g's over msrp on all but sportsters for awhile. still the msrp is waaay to much for what they are.

[loridin64]

My father and uncles have harleys, and they are fun to ride at lower speeds and just cruising along, I will certainly give them that.

As an engineer though, I cannot FATHOM what about that machine costs 15K to produce, when you can buy a Ducati 848 with about 102834745 times as much technology for the same money. That is the main reason I wont buy a harley, not the look, not the style, just the fact that you are getting ripped off in a big way.

Kudos for trying them out! I would like to try a V-rod someday. But I am too hooked on cornering to get one these days.

my father and his friends all have harleys. Not dinky sporters, but the big 800lb cruisers. Ultra Classics, Road Glides, etc. Ive ridden a few of them and once you get over 5mph they are actually quite nimble and can corner relatively well, you kinda forget youre on a 800lb refrigerator. Not to mention that its kinda of like riding a laz-e-boy!