
Harley-Davidson Needs a New Generation of Riders - ilamont
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-08-23/harley-davidson-needs-a-new-generation-of-riders
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jstarfish
Yeah, I'll bet they do. Good riddance.

Aside from the image problem of being toys for salarymen Boomers who strap on
some straight pipes and terrorize the neighborhood LARPing as a Hell's Angel
on the weekend, their engineering has always been subpar for the price-- the
one-size-fits-all solution of "just stick a V-Twin in it" for $30K only gets
you so far, and led to some anemic sportbikes under the now-defunct Buell
brand. You can buy a Lotus for that price.

Most of their business comes from the cachet of being part of a lifestyle or
image; kids who grew up in the 70s saw how badass motorcycle gangs were and
wanting to recapture a part of that during their adult midlife crises.
Millennials can't relate to that. With Harleys being among the most expensive
motorcycles on the market despite not being the most comfortable, the most
performant, the most versatile, or the most reliable, there's literally no
practical reason to buy one.

