Are Harley Davidsons becoming cliche?

Question

No reactive answers here, I'm serious: when growing up, I remember there was this tough, cool image to Harley bike riders. But this day and age, it seems like not only are there Harley Davidson stores everywhere, but Harley riders all over the place when you're on the road.

I'm not knocking it: some of my good neighbors have been Harley enthusiasts. I'm just asking if the whole Harley Davidson phenomenom has become somewhat oversaturated and, I dunno, cliche, for lack of a better word. When I was growing up, the bikes and the riders were kindof rare, and there was a cool mystique to it all. And now? It's just an overly common sight.

Thoughts? I'm not looking for angry replies here, just some thoughtful comments.

Answer 1

I've been ridin' H-D longer than most of you have been breathin'. The sum total of my Harley gear(other than my bikes) is one 17yr old hat. Back in the day, we waved to other riders cause we were just about the only bikes on the road, except for some Brit. bikes. We knew every nut & bolt on our bikes, & most of us didn't know what a new bike was. The prices were within reach of us loyal riders & we stood behind HD without question . Most of us were crazy independents or patch holders of 1% clubs. We were a very small, close knit group that could tell by sound whose bike was comin'. You wouldn't dream of passin' by another rider down by the roadside or even cage drivers, for that matter. Around 1990, the Yuppies started to dig Harleys & the sh*t hit the fan. It was time to relive the childhood dreams of bein' Marlon Brando in "The Wild One". All these RUB's wanted H-D's & money talks. The "Motor Company" hiked production to meet the demand, shortages were born, prices skyrocketed & us original riders were pretty much ignored. Most of these overnight "Easyriders" don't know squat about their bikes except where the gas goes. They go freakin' nuts over anything with the H-D logo on it & usually end up wearin' it. There's millions of people ridin' bikes, but there's very few bikers left. I personally blame it all on Honda back in the '60's when they came out with the sales pitch:"You meet the nicest people on a honda". Before that, bikin' was almost like a cult. Now, any fool with a checkbook can be Peter Fonda for a day(weather permitting) Oh well, that's progress.(?) Too much money & not enough heart.

Answer 2

The truth is: yes!
Look, Harley had a heritage and then it was taken over by some New York business school grads and went public. That demands profits for shareholders. That means they need sales and broader channels of products (that's why you see clothing stores, casinos, pick-ups, etc... with the Harley Brand).
Harley is beholden to the shareholders and not the born-bikers that kept them afloat during the rough times.
You can also blame A&E and reality television shows that have added fuel to the flames of the chopper bike trend. "West Coast Chopper" tees are so ubiquitous now, it's nauseating to witness how many followers there are, and how easily people seek and jump into a perceived "lifestyle". Now we see fat white haired middle aged men with Tommy Bahama shirts and golf shorts toolin' around the latest box-house subdivision with their new toy. Then you see the aggro thirty-year-old looking for his vanishing youth, or maybe he's trapped in a cubicle somewhere and needs to shout out that he's a non-conformist (he's conforming to the masses percetion of non-conformity... how ironic!) It's not only Harley, look at Apple, they switched to Intel, they have a new OS every 18 months, they are beholden to shareholders and big sales. The popularity simultaneously degrades the product and the mystique.
All thes RUBs and newby Harley riders get quite defensive because no one wants to feel that they're following the herd especially when they truly believed that they were being unique, and yes, rebellious! Ha!!

Answer 3

The truth is: yes! Look, Harley had a heritage and then it was taken over by some New York business school grads and went public. That demands profits for shareholders. That means they need sales and broader channels of products (that's why you see clothing stores, casinos, pick-ups, etc... with the Harley Brand). Harley is beholden to the shareholders and not the born-bikers that kept them afloat during the rough times. You can also blame A&E and reality television shows that have added fuel to the flames of the chopper bike trend. "West Coast Chopper" tees are so ubiquitous now, it's nauseating to witness how many followers there are, and how easily people seek and jump into a perceived "lifestyle". Now we see fat white haired middle aged men with Tommy Bahama shirts and golf shorts toolin' around the latest box-house subdivision with their new toy. Then you see the aggro thirty-year-old looking for his vanishing youth, or maybe he's trapped in a cubicle somewhere and needs to shout out that he's a non-conformist (he's conforming to the masses percetion of non-conformity... how ironic!) It's not only Harley, look at Apple, they switched to Intel, they have a new OS every 18 months, they are beholden to shareholders and big sales. The popularity simultaneously degrades the product and the mystique. All thes RUBs and newby Harley riders get quite defensive because no one wants to feel that they're following the herd especially when they truly believed that they were being unique, and yes, rebellious! Ha!!

Answer 4

To get where we are today, we need to understand the history first. The American Biker was born after WW11. The guys coming back from europe were toughened, bored and not ready to settle down into normal society so they bought bikes, partied hard and raised hell. The image was born. Back then harleys and indians were the bikes of choice, jap bikes had not yet hit the market. The hollister incident (which was staged) further seperated the 'biker' from the rider and the outlaw culture was born. The outlaw biker did his best to seperate himself from the citizen biker. By the 60s, the japanese entered the marked. The difference though is that the origional jap bikes were small engined bikes. The american bikes were 1000-1200 cc at the time and the 'bikers' wanted nothing to do with the little jap bikes. Also, the japanese marketed to the middle class. Remember, you meet the nicest people on a honda. For a while all was pretty well but over time the japanese gained a larger market share by making bigger bikes for alot less money and soon harley was about to go under like all the other american mc makers. By this time, the only people riding harleys were the outlaw bikers but they really could not keep the company running. Harley sold out to amf and for 10 years sold horrible bikes while the japanese bikes kept getting better. After a bit, some of the Harley execs bought the company from amf and harley was reborn. They also got a bunch of help from the american gov't for example, the tarriffs on the jap bikes went way up and harley got tax breaks etc. Anyhow, Harley knew that there were not enough outlaw bikers with enough money to support the company so they had to find a new market. If you look at todays market, you will see 3 things. 1 is the amount of baby boomers who are now in their 50s and 40s. Also, those of us in our 40-50s are at peak earning power which means we can afford the 20k for a new bike. Also, we live in a youth obsessed culture. 2 generations ago, a 21 year old kid was working full time, married with 2 kids and was a grand parent nearing the end of his lifespan at 45. Today, most of us are not really grown up till we are in our 30s and during our 40s, we still consider ourselves young. So you got a bunch of 40-50 year olds who don't want to get old with a bunch of money. The HD marketing people went wild and pulled out the outlaw biker image. They even made their own mc (hog) with a set of colors , hired peter fonda to tell us how cool we are to have harleys. Basically they are selling a pretend lifestyle to a bunch of middle aged powerless accountants. That is my take on the whole deal. Now what is the net effect of all this? Some good, some bad. The good is now you don't constantly get pulled over by cops just for being on a harley and having tattoos. The cops now don't know if you are a criminal or their kid's dentist. I remember 20ys ago that if you were in a small town for more than an hour or 2, you would meet the local sherriff! Also, enhanced penalties for cagers who hit bikes are becoming more common. They used to not care too much if someone in an suv took out a biker, now that lawyers and ceos are getting hit, they are starting to look at this. Also, since being a biker is trendy, we now have alternatives to hd or jap bikes. You now have a bunch of other new american bike makers so you are not stuck having to deal with HD bull. Now some of the downsides. HD is more concerned with selling bolt on chome and doing 2500 mile services that actually diagnosing and fixing real problems. The dealerships are now arrogent because these rubs are buying every thing they are selling so they don't give a crap about the real bikers any more. Also, the culture is changing. In the past, if you saw a bike broken down on the side of the road, you stopped to help, no exceptions. You did this because there were so few of us and you knew that your turn to be broken down was coming up. The people who are just starting out today don't learn the old ways and are too snobby to listen to old timers. So the biggest downside is that while there are more bikes on the road, there are less bikers. Also, you get too many inexperienced riders who are older with poor eyesight and poor reflexes buying bikes that they cannot handle. This means more accidents which means more restrictive laws / regulations. Me personally, I would like to thank all the rubs for making biking more acceptable so I don't constantly get pulled over and harrassed and not let into places based on what I am wearning, however your time has passed and I am ready for you to move on to the next trendy thing so I can have my lifestyle back.

Answer 5

Depends, I ride a Buell its a Harley but I get looked down upon from some of the rubbies(rich urban bikers ) and the sport bike crowd tend to view me as another middle aged fat man poser
.
I have been riding for 35 years so others approval is not required
Funny thing is my father wouldnt let me on a street bike untill I could start his Aerial .
Now no one remember what a Aerial is



Preacher55 is correct

Answer 6

Not cliche' in the sense that SUVs are. Yes , the market seems to have been saturated. I think the export of many units to South America and the planned Lehman-Harley Trike may point that up.
Some of these goobers ought to come down to where I live and see if HD is a "fat old man's bike", or if some of the fat old outlaws can't still hurt them, bad.

Answer 7

hahaha... I always find it hilarious when people are judged by the bike they ride. Why do people always have to label and categorize others? I personally have loved Harley's since I was a little girl and with a lot of hard work, I saved and bought one. It's got nothing to do with image or money <----I don't have a lot! I bought the bike because I LIKE IT. Plain a simple

It's comfortable, practical, reliable and beautiful!

Duque de Alba ---- Should I judge you on wanting to purchase a Honda Element

Answer 8

HD still makes cool bikes. Over the past few years, the HD company has been milking all they can off the logo. The brand has come to represents all things American. I agree that when you can buy HD dinner plates at the mall, it's become oversaturated.

I'm not sure how long the trend will last. I learned my lesson, when you're at the top get the most out of it.

Answer 9

I don't care for Harley Davidson (except the V-Rod). Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki make excellent cruisers that are more reliable. Harleys usually end up in the shop.

Answer 10

Sure it has. Harley fell into a marketing stratagy that was handed to them a a silver platter by media industries. Compared to competators bikes, Harleys, for the most part, are air cooled rattle traps that have about as much (stock) get-up and go as the old 71 Beetle I used to own. But hey like they say..... hundreds of thousands of rugged indevidualists that all dress exaclty the same, ride the same bikes and fall for the same marketing cant be wrong... right?