The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: MikeBjerum on August 04, 2010, 10:33:38 PM
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How many of you live on a major route to Sturgis, SD?
Today is day one of Rally!!!
The big time vendors rolled in last weekend and set up. Today is the first day they can buy their permits and have them good through the end - Sunday the 15th.
I was heading east on I-90 this morning, and I lost count at nearly 200 bikes in a forty mile stretch. That does not include the campers or enclosed trailers that I suspect had bikes inside.
Some day I have got to get there!
Followed some of these web cams last year, and it gets pretty good by the weekend.
http://www.sturgismotorcyclerally.com/webcams/ (http://www.sturgismotorcyclerally.com/webcams/)
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Always wanted to go to Sturgis.
*Read an article on Yahoo news today that said H-D is considering moving operations out of Milwaukee. :o :o
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Most of the accesories are already made in China. Maybe they'll build the whole bike overseas.
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My mom and Step-dad couldn't wait to get out of town for those that week
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Most of the accesories are already made in China. Maybe they'll build the whole bike overseas.
In which case there will be zero reason not to buy a good Jap imitation for 2/3rds the price. Damn shame if they do it.
FQ13 Who wonders what happened when Levis leaves, now Harley and Toyota comes for the cheap labor. WTF?
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We still got Victory Motorcycles.
http://www.polarisindustries.com/en-us/victory-motorcycles/Pages/Home.aspx
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Most of the accesories are already made in China. Maybe they'll build the whole bike overseas.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/04/business/main6742079.shtml
Their mainstay the last 25 years have been the baby boomers. They have the bucks to buy these things, but are now getting too old and losing interest. Most are thinking about how they'll retire in a recession that is pretty much lined with turds every step of the way. The younger generation, ("Generation X"), who have been pretty much raised as technology junkies, has no interest in overpriced, 70+ year old technology motorcycles. Harley Davidson has got to get their selling price down if they want to stand a chance in the future. Even that might not save them as the young, upcoming motorcycle set would rather invest their money in 190 MPH crotch rockets, than rolling couches. Bill T.
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We still got Victory Motorcycles.
http://www.polarisindustries.com/en-us/victory-motorcycles/Pages/Home.aspx
Nope :'(
Storm Lake, Iowa and Roseau, MN are reeling from the announcement of Polaris pulling out much of their production. I can't remember where it is going, but Mexico comes to mind.
Storm Lake will weather the storm because of its location, but Roseau is on the edge of the world and doesn't have much else to fall back on.
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In which case there will be zero reason not to buy a good Jap imitation for 2/3rds the price. Damn shame if they do it.
FQ13 Who wonders what happened when Levis leaves, now Harley and Toyota comes for the cheap labor. WTF?
FQ - I debate this cost thing with people all the time. People look at the $23k tag on an Ultra Classic decked out and compare it to a smaller Jap cruiser. If you compare apples to apples you find pretty quick that HD is no more expensive than the imports (however, you need to find Jap bikes that use the technology like port injection, fly by wire, etc.).
My complaints on HD have been the high priced 1k and 10k servicing they require. But, if you include it in the purchase price it is easier and doesn't raise the price that much.
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FQ - I debate this cost thing with people all the time. People look at the $23k tag on an Ultra Classic decked out and compare it to a smaller Jap cruiser. If you compare apples to apples you find pretty quick that HD is no more expensive than the imports (however, you need to find Jap bikes that use the technology like port injection, fly by wire, etc.).
My complaints on HD have been the high priced 1k and 10k servicing they require. But, if you include it in the purchase price it is easier and doesn't raise the price that much.
You make a valid point, Mike. A loaded Ultra Classic and a loaded GoldWing like your's are in the very same price range.
btw, Polaris (Victory) is SPIRIT Lake, not Storm Lake. Unless they've moved since I toured the plant. ;D
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I doubt it's just Harley Davidson that is suffering. Recreational items are the first things people cut out in a bad, sluggish economy. Most people who desire a Harley, or any other motorcycle for that matter, are more concerned how they'll make their mortgage payment after it balloons. They expect anywhere from 1.5 to over 3 MILLION mortgages to "adjust" in 2011. These people won't be able to sell for what they owe, so refinancing is out of the question. No one will write the note. They won't be able to afford the inflated payment, so it only leaves them one option left, foreclosure. That isn't the kind of financial atmosphere people go new motorcycle shopping in.
I've looked at these "Motorcycle Trader" magazines the young guys at work bring in. So much for Harley's "holding their value". That's another financial myth that has been busted by our piss poor economy. They are heavily discounted for much the same reason. No cash, and no desire for banks to write notes on used motorcycles. R.V.'s, watercraft, motorcycles, and camping gear are not going to be hot selling items until this nation digs itself out of this mess. The way Hussein is running things, that isn't going to be for a good long while. Bill T.
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Last time I looked at the annual report (a while ago), I thought H-D lost money on their bikes already--all their money was made on licensed products (clothes).
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Last time I looked at the annual report (a while ago), I thought H-D lost money on their bikes already--all their money was made on licensed products (clothes).
True. Most of the licensed Harley Davidson apparel and trinkets are made overseas quite cheaply. They are heavily licensed much like anything with Elvis on it, and are extremely profitable because of it. People can afford beer mugs, leather jackets, clocks, and cigarette lighters far more easily than they can afford their $23,000.00 motorcycles. It's too bad to see yet another American icon fall. With that said, Harley Davidson had a longer run at it than most, and rose from the ashes a couple of times in between. Bill T.
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You make a valid point, Mike. A loaded Ultra Classic and a loaded GoldWing like your's are in the very same price range.
btw, Polaris (Victory) is SPIRIT Lake, not Storm Lake. Unless they've moved since I toured the plant. ;D
Pthpthpthpthpthpth ...
Sorry oh great one :-[
I was drawing my map of the day and was going from Estherville, to Storm Lake, to Spirit Lake, and guess which fh I had just called when I typoed :-[
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Pthpthpthpthpthpth ...
Sorry oh great one :-[
I was drawing my map of the day and was going from Estherville, to Storm Lake, to Spirit Lake, and guess which fh I had just called when I typoed :-[
I'll let it slide, just this once. ;D
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Transition days have begun. The ones that headed out for the first weekend are heading home, and the ones going for the end are heading out. Driving home from the Twin Cities today it was a continual flow heading both east and west.
6:30 this morning I went past a Harley shop that doesn't open till ten, and there were a dozen bikes parked in front with riders dodging four lanes of highway traffic to get to Perkins ... Why did the bikers cross the road? To show the coons, and deer, and skunks, and possums, and squirrels ... that it can be done ;D
Have a friend out there right now, and he promised me pictures if he saw anything good. He sent be pictures last year, and I had to remind him that that babe we liked in a bikini in high school no longer qualifies as a "good photo" in the wet t-shirt contest ... I'm not expecting any photos :-\