Like the Topic says -
Buy a Harley-Davidson - help feed my kids!
I work at the York Harley Plant and they are trimming back something fierce! And they are threatening to move the plant to another state. Job security just ain't what it was 20 years ago!
After you buy your new shiney Harley (Ahhh! - the Chrome!) - go and tell your friends they NEED one.
I'm fixing up and old Buell. That should help right?
Just bought an 05 Sportster. I'm sure that doesn't help you any.
I know you're manufacturing side but what's the deal with there being no 883 Irons at the dealers? Is it a low production model? I've talked to several people recently that have said they bought a different bike (read different manufacturer) because they couldn't get an Iron.
My guess... the Iron is the lowest margin Harley, so the dealers shun them and simply try to upsell buyers onto a Custom, Nightster, or Twin Cam bike.
That, or the Iron is selling like hot cakes. But I haven't seen one on the road yet, so I doubt it.
Yes, please do buy a Harley. I'm an indirect supplier. Our company grinds the rocker arm shafts and one of the shifter shafts. The two machines sit idle most of the week, when they used to run every day and occasionally during second shift.
The Iron seems to be a hot one. Around here (Milwaukee), the dealers sell every one they get within a day or so of putting it on the showroom floor.
Build more 883 Iron's for the love of pete. They even seem to be getting more then MSRP out here. Then go back and make it a little bit softer in the rear and sell even more of them.
If I lived anywhere else but California I would have one.
Aww berkeley. I hope they don't close your plant. I went there for a field trip in high school for some reason one time. I loved it! I'm not really sure why we went there, but it was fun. It's good to see that we can still manufacture things in this country. I hope we can continue to do so for a long time to come.
I also visited the York plant in high school. It was part of the auto shop program. We also visited the GMC plant near Baltimore - where they used to build the Astro/Safari vans.
Those two trips were awesome. Oddly, the other trips I loved were to the Supreme Court and to the Capitol (not the normal tour, but we actually picked hearings to attend and rode the "secret" subway).
Lower the prices and I will help out!
pinchvalve wrote: Sell them at MSRP and I will help out!
Fixed, but that is a dealer issue
In reply to pinchvalve:
If it were under my power - we would. We asked them to - they stated it would anger riders that had recently purchased new bikes.
Seriously - the dealers set prices.
Candidly - when demand was high - the prices were justified by the constant increase in market-share. Now - not-so-much.
I had to sell my Electra-Glide - I couldn't afford it and child support and a mortgage and utilities, etc. I'd just settle for a Nightster or an Iron or a Buell CityX. Heck - if a Buell Blast didn't look like such a tricycle under me - I'd consider one!
The local dealer was running radio ads bragging about how they were now selling bikes at MSRP, unlike how they used to do it. They are only 3 years in business and a big corp. dealer, not a momma-poppa, which are about all gone.
How they used to do it is: Take a new bike, remove all the pieces, add on new chrome pieces with some type of theme (chevrons, lines this way, lines that way, flames, etc.), add on full MSRP of all the new pieces, add on $3-4K "labor" to put the new pieces on and that was the new price. Of course, they were not giving you the original pieces that left York, assembled by seeker589. If you wanted them, you could buy them at 1/2 MSRP. So, a $20K dresser was now listed at $30-40K, a $10K Sporty was $15K, and you weren't even getting all the original parts. They did that to every single bike on the floor. In 5 or 10 years, if you need a new left floorboard, good luck finding one with chevrons, flames, etc. that match the rest of your bike. You'll be screwed (again). Just walking across their showroom at their grand opening pissed me off. I wouldn't buy a so much as a spark plug from them for a year, but they are OK on parts and I do now when I need something that I don't want to wait for.
They were selling to new people that didn't know better. My friend bought two bikes that way without telling me he was even looking for a bike. He knows better now. They are hurting. People don't have that much money to thow around. The other day on Dave Ramsey's show, there were like 2-3 people calling in up to their eyeballs in debt and about to sink with Harleys bought on credit. One had two, his and her's, plus a boat, plus a truck to pull the boat, all bought on credit with zero down and upside down. Those are the ones that the dealer here used to target. That buyer isn't there anymore and the dealer is hurting, thus the "we'll sell at MSRP now, really, trust us" comercials.
On the flip side, it's a great time to buy a used bike. I see them in the paper really cheap. Harley's used to sell at MSRP basically from the time they left the floor on forever. Not anymore. I don't need another one. I have an Evo and my wife has an Evo Sportster that we bought new and they do everything I need them to.
Why do you EVO?
er...why do you call it an Evo Harley?
Evo is short for "Evolution." Thats what the motor in my bike is referred to as. The big twin Evo (Evolution) motor was introduced in 1984, replacing the horrible Shovelhead. That's my black '86 FLHT behind me. The Evo Sportster, 1987 model pictured above with my wife sitting on it, was introducted in 1985, replacing the horrible Ironhead. The Evo saved HD from bankruptcy and built the company into what it is today. Before the Evo, you had to be a real die hard to own and ride a HD. After the Evo, any dip-E36 M3 with credit could ride one because all they ever needed was routine maintenance. The Evo was replaced in Y2K with the Twincam ("Twinky") for what is believed to be EPA reasons, although I haven't seen anything official on it. The Twinky did address a quirk with the valve train angle between the cam and the rockers that sort of affected big twins since the first one. Sportsters, with 4 cams, didn't have that problem. I have an idea on how to modify the cam lobe profile to address that issue for single cam big twins. I'm not sure if it's been done or not, but I think it would have corrected the problem and could have been implemented today with CAD/CAM stuff. Maybe I should call Crane and they could do it. Doesn't matter anyway.
For a short time (that seemed way too damn long) I had a 1969 Sportster, talk about a piece of E36 M3. 
That bike steered me right back to riceburners. The later Harley motors are much better from what I understand, but still the only V twin I really lust for is a Ducati.
The evo sportster motors are very reliable if you're a car guy. If you get on one and expect to beat it to death like a jap bike, with minimal maintenance, they won't last. Buell uses a modified evo motor even now and I hear guys complain about them breaking when they ride them on the redline all day. You have to have some mechanical empathy to live with them.
What J-man said... Maybe if everything wasn't an option and H-D didn't nickel and dime you to death for every piece of chrome or polished aluminum, and didn't have to overcome the reputation of building sh#t for years(kinda like G.M.) or unscrupulous dealer network, they'd have a chance. From where I'm sitting, look for them to move and become what they've always been- a niche manufacturer and mass marketer of branded clothing. I'll admit that a nice full dresser,running a deserted two lane @about 80 is sweet. It's just that it doesn't happen enough, and there's too many posers who think that you need straight pipes blasting through a residential neighborhood at 2am to be cool.
Xceler8x wrote: ...minimal maintenance...
Que? The Sportster appears to be one of the lowest maintenance bikes out there - hydraulic lifters, belt drive. Oil and filter are the only things that needs replaced regularly (5k mile intervals in the service manual).
CrackMonkey wrote:Xceler8x wrote: ...minimal maintenance...Que? The Sportster appears to be one of the lowest maintenance bikes out there - hydraulic lifters, belt drive. Oil and filter are the only things that needs replaced regularly (5k mile intervals in the service manual).
That's the maintenance I refer to as "minimal". There is still some but it's not "A lot." Therefore, minimal. 
You still have to do it to have a trouble free cycle. Also, there are rocker box leaks to contemplate. Primary chain drive to adjust. You also have to keep in mind the motor is air-cooled. I overheated one once in standing still traffic, 90+ degree day, for over 15 minutes. A jap bike wouldn't normally overheat in those conditions as most are water cooled now. A person who's ridden jap bikes all his/her life may not even consider that their bike could overheat while sitting in traffic. Mechanical empathy like I said.
Still, you are right. For day to day stuff they're remarkably easy to maintain. Minimal maintenance required and easy to accomplish.
What year was the bike you overheated? Factory jetting? Idle speed?
I know earlier XLs would overheat, but I haven't heard of it being a problem on newer Evos.
Xceler8x wrote:CrackMonkey wrote:That's the maintenance I refer to as "minimal". There is still some but it's not "A lot." Therefore, minimal.Xceler8x wrote: ...minimal maintenance...Que? The Sportster appears to be one of the lowest maintenance bikes out there - hydraulic lifters, belt drive. Oil and filter are the only things that needs replaced regularly (5k mile intervals in the service manual).
I used to ride with some guys that had the air cooled BMWs and they would shut them off in traffic so they wouldn't overheat. My Yamaha was watercooled and had an electric fan...it wouldn't overheat, but your legs would melt when the fan kicked on.
Air cooled motors and idling for long times don't mix that well. While setting the idle area fuel maps on Dr.L's Sportster, I datalogged the cylinder heat temp. It creeped up to like 230+ just sitting there at idle. I put a box fan blowing on it and it dropped right down to the 180's. Oh yeah, I believe in oil coolers too. On Dr.L's bike, I routed the return oil line through the crash bar to use as a cooler, with a thermostat in the circuit.
Overheating isn't a particular problem with the Evos, including the Sportsters, any more than any other air cooled motor. The new Twinkies, though, have a problem with overheating with the factory fuel maps. They are really lean.
Air cooled anythings (including liquid cooled) without fans are prone to overheating when sitting still long enough. The designers use the vehicle's motion to carry cool air past the fins. No motion = poor cooling. Duh. 
My WR400 used to HATE slow woods sections for that reason. It was always so nice to find a nice straight section to cool the motor off.
CrackMonkey wrote: What year was the bike you overheated? Factory jetting? Idle speed? I know earlier XLs would overheat, but I haven't heard of it being a problem on newer Evos.
I wouldn't say it's a problem. It just is ya know? Like other posters have said when you're air cooled, and air ain't moving, you're not cooling.
To answer your question I was on a '98 Buell S3. GREAT bike. I bought a '99 a few months ago because I missed it. Also, the 99 was cheap.
The '98 had 45 and 185 sized jets. Otherwise stock. \
Dr. Hess wrote: Oh yeah, I believe in oil coolers too. On Dr.L's bike, I routed the return oil line through the crash bar to use as a cooler, with a thermostat in the circuit.
The tube frame Buell's didn't come with oil coolers stock. Now, all the XB series Buell's have them. I'd say that means Erik Buell agrees with you in that sporty's need oil coolers. I plan to install one on my '99 in the near future.
I'm contemplating using a generic cooler, oil filter sandwich plate with in/out lines, and some stainless steel lines. Then again I could go to American Sportbike and just buy their kit. I haven't researched if the XB series coolers can be retrofitted to the tubers.
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