Non-Gun, but fun to watch!

[billt]

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.

[r_w]

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).

[billt]

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.

[MikeBjerum]

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.  

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 

[tt11758]

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.   

[Sponsor]

[MikeBjerum]

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 

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