This brought to you courtesy of the company that just spent $125 MILLION  (i.e. $1.25*10^8) shutting down Buell. The Buell that made the Blast, the one lung, fun motorcycle that was already tooled up & being made in Wisconson.

http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2011/03/are-re-badged-hyosungs-a-realistic-new-rider-alternative-for-harley-dealers/ />

Not to worry tho, they are convinced that after seeing this you will want to run out & buy a bagger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5a0LIspQuk />

Cool Video was that a sporty on the back wheel. Like to try that but way too old for that trick.

LOL good post..which brings to mind..wtf are those folks over at Harley thinking??? they close a perfectly good production line making the buell,which could have been retooled to produce a line of bikes,made in America by workers here instead of selling a rebadged Korean import.
My VTX was built in Ohio, and that facility is now closed,the jobs moved to Japan.As a result I wont be buying anymore Honda bikes,one of my reasons for picking the X was the made in America aspect of it,and the the jobs it created for American workers. My next bike will be a Victory,they stand out from Harley as a true option,with excellent motorcycles & better pricing points for comparative models.From what I understand I am not alone in this view,Victory is enjoying excellent sales,even in this down economy..

When the Ohio plant closed, all the workers were offered jobs in Honda's auto plants.  Honda still employees more Americans than H-D.

Makes me wonder how much longer they will be able to declare their bikes made in America and not just assembled here. I have heard although uncomfirmed that to get an official made in the USA label, the product only needs to have 60 percent of it made here. I'm for doing away with that rule and making it 100 percent or none. I collected dealership shirts for years and now not so much because I know all of Harleys clothing is from China. Sad that you can't even buy American made products anymore in several categories.

Mike,
I find this info pretty incredible yet I imagine that Honda would employ more folks,as they have the auto assembly line still going.Still I am more inclined to buying an american made bike next time around,all my cars have been domestic since I could drive,yet now I am learning that a lot of domestics are not even being built here anymore,so that line of reasoning isnt even relevant anymore.
I agree with Wheels,its sad you cant even find american products anymore in a lot of items out there.

Wheels, when I worked for Harley it was 40% of the total parts had to be made in America to recieve the label. And that was more than 15 years ago, so it may be different now. But even today if you go through the parts bins in any shop, you will be hard pressed to find a bag NOT labeled Made in China. Sad state that all US industry has been in for far too long....

WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS GOIN ON THERE? SHIT MATE THAT SONG FRIGGIN THING IS SHITHOUSE! If thats the new generation of harley riders y'all got over there bloody goodluck with that..Thats embarrassin ....CHEERS BOOF

I don't think they will do this. It would be impossible to live down if the little rebadged Korean import outsold their own bikes.
I have nothing against Harley at all and I would seriously consider one for my next bike, but they made their bed and now have to lie in it until they recover. (yes, they will, but it will take time)

I still think they are messing up by not putting the V-rod motor into the cruisers as an option.

Article wasn't real clear to me, or I'm just dense I guess. Are they saying those Hyosungs (re-badged to whatever the acronym was) will be re-badged as HD's? I dont think they were but then, what is HD spending the 60 mil on? To market the re-badged Hyosung ? O,r are they getting a cut from the Hyosung sales since they are in the HD dealers ??? or what?

jb

The $60 MILLION is set-aside to develop a motorcycle for their Riders-Edge course, which is this old man's opinion is a great idea. - Will get people into the dealerships & a new generation of riders on the road. - It is not related to the Hyosung rebadging.

BUT what gets me all torked up is that they shut down the Buell facility & the Blast line previous to closing the facility. - THEY ALRADY HAD A CYCLE FOR THE RIDERS-EDGE COURSE - They are probably still using them.

The Blast was/is a ton of fun; rides like that got me into riding. - Too small for me but a lot of fun.
It had a great one lung engine (well, a good one anyway) - If the Blast was too radical for HD they could have dropped the running gear into a conventional tube frame. - Think Sportster on Jenny Craig.

I really like the looks of the Sportster but it is 100# (45KG for BOOF)) too heavy & the 883 engine in a ride that heavy is an insult to the flag.

Rev John is absolutely right! The last three trips down to SD Harley Davidson for the saturday bbq and band, they were trying to promote their new line of bikes and what they should have been promoting was retirement advice. There was nobody in the crowd of 200 that was under the age of 45. I'm not sure what Harley's thinking, but it sure appears to me that the other major bike manufactures are doing alot more to get younger riders on their bikes and into their shops. My son rides a Honda and I can see why absolutely. The entry level bikes are too heavy and cost to much money. The xr1200 bike to me looks like a retro from the 70s, cool for me but not going to interest anyone under 25. Maybe it's time for someone else to take over the reins in the styling department. Willie G. has done some great work but he is close to 70 years of age I believe and maybe his time has come to ride on down the road.

Yep, it is sad to admit it but this is almost my generation, and I'm ashamed of this even got on the web.

And yes I don't have a bike yet but I have said it before and I'll say it again. I have always wanted a H-D, but lately I have been looking at the prices and I can get a 1200+cc Japanese or Chinese for what I can get a H-D Sporty 883cc and it pisses me off to no end. Yes some day I WILL get an H-D even if it is made in China or where ever! But some of the prices are crazy for a bike and I can get a new car for the same price as a 1200cc Custom Sporty. I already have a crappy car I need a bike now!

Wheels, I think your right it is time for Willie G. to step aside and let progress and the current " youngsters" to start "advising" him better, before it gets worse.

And yes I like the look of sport bikes no dought.
But I love the crusers and choppers my self.

Thanks for the clarification, Savage.

jb

Down her Harleys new are bloody expensive..The 45 and nightster sporty's still run about 17 grand..Young blokes dont wants a small harley when they can buy a brand new zx10 kwaka that goes like shit of a shanghai for the same bucks..I have young blokes come up to me at the shop all the time asking about the ironhead but they sure as shit aint gonna ride one coz the couldnt maintain the cranky old bugger..So the thing is we're getting a whole new generation of road racers on Jappers..Harley has stood on its dick trying to pull the yuppies in on big buck bikes and forgot about who they'll sell bikes to when the yuppies go broke after the stock market crashes...As for rebadging korean bikes, shit we wont work on their mini bikes coz their shit ,how are their big bikes gonna be? CHEERS BOOF

the guy in the background doing the stunts on the sporty is Jason Pullen. if you google jason pullen stunts, com or just his name on youtube, you will see a lot of wild stunts and all on harleys. he is kind of a west coast icon... secondly HD is between a rock and a hard place. California still has those people pushing for emissions testing on motorcycles. Eventually it WILL pass. harley engines really are not that clean. That was the whole reason for the VROD. water cooled engine do a lot better at the tail pipe. They either have to step up and spend money they don't have or fall behind.

The thing is that Harley Davidson is not doing bad at all. Profits soared for them last year even on reduced sales (what does that tell you, higher profit on reduced sales...) Even when they were having problems they were having a loss of profits, not a loss. Big difference!

They were not making as much money as they were used to. So they lay off 1/5th of their work force. That worked so well that they were talking of letting go another 1400-1600 workers. As a business owner, I can tell you that will only work for so long. You need a happy productive work force to keep in business.

They need to start thinking 10-20 years from now, not tomorrow.

Yup I bought my last Factory Built bike in 2007... I have spent a lot of time and money replacing shabby parts not made in this country and that includes some very interesting wiring designs that all needed to be simplified. Went through their factory clutch in no time and just about nothing on the bike came with it originally. All rebuilt, replaced down to those nickel plated piece of shit spokes!