Harley Axes Factory Teams

dkurtd
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dkurtd
Edited Date/Time 11/17/2020 6:46am
https://advrider.com/harley-davidson-axes-two-factory-racing-programs/

Not motocross but moto related, 2020 just keeps getting better.
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kage173
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kage173 11/16/2020 7:49am
11/16/2020 7:49am
This is getting ugly
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EngIceDave
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EngIceDave 11/16/2020 8:46am
11/16/2020 8:46am
Don Kudalski will be very disappointed

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JPT
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JPT 11/16/2020 9:06am
11/16/2020 9:06am
They've been throwing the kitchen sink at the Indians, new riders evety year, but not even in the hunt. Hard to justify a factory team with those results.

But flat-track without a factory team. Bart Markel just turned over in his grave.
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dkurtd
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dkurtd 11/16/2020 9:46am
11/16/2020 9:46am
EngIceDave wrote:
Don Kudalski will be very disappointed

People forget Harley at one point had a MX team, besides Don they also had Rex Staten and Marty Tripes.
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yak651
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yak651 11/16/2020 9:57am
11/16/2020 9:57am
Thanks Alta!







(sarcasm, since everyone blames Harley for Alta's demise...)
OG725
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OG725 11/16/2020 10:37am
11/16/2020 10:37am
The XR-750 is Flat Track. Harley is about to go tits up again. Although, I did read that they were going to move their Race Support over to a Dealer Support Orientated program. Then again, they quit selling motorcycles in India, the World's biggest market. Crazy is as crazy does.
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G-man
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G-man 11/16/2020 10:41am
11/16/2020 10:41am
I'm surprised they didn't force the AMA to change the rules like they did when Bubba and Ricky were kicking their ass on Honda's! Evil
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KTMmarkus 11/16/2020 10:58am
11/16/2020 10:58am
OG725 wrote:
The XR-750 is Flat Track. Harley is about to go tits up again. Although, I did read that they were going to move their Race Support...
The XR-750 is Flat Track. Harley is about to go tits up again. Although, I did read that they were going to move their Race Support over to a Dealer Support Orientated program. Then again, they quit selling motorcycles in India, the World's biggest market. Crazy is as crazy does.
Indians can buy domestic low quality motorcycles.. so why would they pay alot more for low quality american products?
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rbspecial138
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rbspecial138 11/16/2020 11:17am
11/16/2020 11:17am
In all honesty, I wouldn't be surprised to see many more teams do something similar, MX/SX Included. I would imagine that the cost for Kawasaki to support someone like Axell Hodges is incredibly lower than what they spend on the factory race team. I would argue that Axell Hodges converts a similar amount of young adults to Kawasaki than The factory race team. (I could be way off, but that is my perception)
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endurox
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endurox 11/16/2020 12:17pm
11/16/2020 12:17pm
3 podiums in 3 years. Even with the rule changes, the top Harley racers almost got lapped in a few races. A prime example of how the AMA messed up this series going back to the early 1980's when Honda dominated. Honda got tired of the AMA dictating Honda add weight to their bikes and restrictors. The AMA should have told Harley to build a better race bike.
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500 Mike
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500 Mike 11/16/2020 12:23pm
11/16/2020 12:23pm
KTMmarkus wrote:
Indians can buy domestic low quality motorcycles.. so why would they pay alot more for low quality american products?
They want the Harley mystique and lifestyle ! Laughing Laughing
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Alex.434
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Alex.434 11/16/2020 1:56pm
11/16/2020 1:56pm Edited Date/Time 11/16/2020 2:41pm
Based on MIC data Harley is the only major manufacturer who hasn't had growth in 2020. The overall industry is up 10% (some OEMs are up 30%) and yet HD is down. Yikes.
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Brad460
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Brad460 11/16/2020 2:16pm
11/16/2020 2:16pm
More surprised they had a factory race team...
TeamGreen
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TeamGreen 11/16/2020 3:32pm
11/16/2020 3:32pm
Alex.434 wrote:
Based on MIC data Harley is the only major manufacturer who hasn't had growth in 2020. The overall industry is up 10% (some OEMs are up...
Based on MIC data Harley is the only major manufacturer who hasn't had growth in 2020. The overall industry is up 10% (some OEMs are up 30%) and yet HD is down. Yikes.
And there's the reason they're cutting back.
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Dirty Points 11/16/2020 3:50pm
11/16/2020 3:50pm Edited Date/Time 11/16/2020 4:14pm
G-man wrote:
I'm surprised they didn't force the AMA to change the rules like they did when Bubba and Ricky were kicking their ass on Honda's! Evil
Changing the rules on Harley's behalf to shut out imports dates well before that. Starting in the post-war era, rather than building competitive engines, Harley had pushed and succeeded to limit British (and other) OHV engines to 500cc in competition against Harley's antiquated cast iron flathead 750s. That lasted for 3 decades until Harley was finally made to come up with the XR, when the restriction was dropped, as no other manufacturer was still building side-valves.
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alanwrench110 11/16/2020 4:11pm
11/16/2020 4:11pm
The new CEO is trying his best to save the company.. in his eyes. I appreciate the effort but im not sure cutting back factory support in the only sport they have succeeded in makes sense. But it fits in with all the changes he is making, slim and low drag.
kkawboy14
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kkawboy14 11/16/2020 4:38pm
11/16/2020 4:38pm
I didn’t even know they had any kind of racing team!
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TeamGreen
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TeamGreen 11/16/2020 4:40pm
11/16/2020 4:40pm
alanwrench110 wrote:
The new CEO is trying his best to save the company.. in his eyes. I appreciate the effort but im not sure cutting back factory support...
The new CEO is trying his best to save the company.. in his eyes. I appreciate the effort but im not sure cutting back factory support in the only sport they have succeeded in makes sense. But it fits in with all the changes he is making, slim and low drag.
There seems to be a whole lot of focus on everything EXCEPT their core customer.

How's that electric scooter of their working out? Blink
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Broseph
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Broseph 11/16/2020 5:03pm
11/16/2020 5:03pm
TeamGreen wrote:
There seems to be a whole lot of focus on everything EXCEPT their core customer.

How's that electric scooter of their working out? Blink
That core customer is their problem. They’ve been marketing towards one group of people for over 60 years. That group is now dying out and Harley doesn’t know what to do.
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TeamGreen
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TeamGreen 11/16/2020 5:09pm
11/16/2020 5:09pm
TeamGreen wrote:
There seems to be a whole lot of focus on everything EXCEPT their core customer.

How's that electric scooter of their working out? Blink
Broseph wrote:
That core customer is their problem. They’ve been marketing towards one group of people for over 60 years. That group is now dying out and Harley...
That core customer is their problem. They’ve been marketing towards one group of people for over 60 years. That group is now dying out and Harley doesn’t know what to do.
I have -PLENTY- of friends in the 40-something & 50-something range that're riding those things...you know...porky twins and what-not.
Yamaha's "Star", Indian and even Triumph are better "marketed" towards those demo's than Harley is. Harley has shit the bed. You've got keep selling to the customer's that you've got ...all the while...develope...or foster a new customer base.

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Bigfoot
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Bigfoot 11/16/2020 5:23pm
11/16/2020 5:23pm
EngIceDave wrote:
Don Kudalski will be very disappointed

dkurtd wrote:
People forget Harley at one point had a MX team, besides Don they also had Rex Staten and Marty Tripes.

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crowe660
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crowe660 11/16/2020 5:33pm
11/16/2020 5:33pm
Is it weird that I want a softail slim so I can put a renthal barpad on it?
Zaugg
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Zaugg 11/16/2020 7:02pm
11/16/2020 7:02pm
To add to the FortNine link about why Indian makes more power than Harley. Here's a pretty solid explanation of Harley's downward slide.

Love 'em or hate 'em...I hope we can all agree that we don't want to see a manufacturer fail.

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EngIceDave
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EngIceDave 11/16/2020 8:16pm
11/16/2020 8:16pm Edited Date/Time 11/16/2020 8:16pm
I remember doing some shows a while back, and some of you may not realize, Harley makes not just the liquid cooled V-Rod, but some other models where the heads are liquid cooled.

Well, mention those evil liquid cool versions of Harley's to some and it's as if you're being blasphemous.

Learn real fast, core Harley people do not like or want technology or anything different and new....air cooled and carbureted works just fine.

That's not good for Harley or HD racing
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Broseph
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Broseph 11/16/2020 8:22pm
11/16/2020 8:22pm
Zaugg wrote:
To add to the FortNine link about why Indian makes more power than Harley. Here's a pretty solid explanation of Harley's downward slide. Love 'em or...
To add to the FortNine link about why Indian makes more power than Harley. Here's a pretty solid explanation of Harley's downward slide.

Love 'em or hate 'em...I hope we can all agree that we don't want to see a manufacturer fail.

This guy nails it. Definitely worth watching.
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G-man
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G-man 11/16/2020 9:01pm
11/16/2020 9:01pm
Laughing
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bvm111
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bvm111 11/16/2020 10:32pm
11/16/2020 10:32pm
who is this harley character you are referring too??
EngIceDave
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EngIceDave 11/17/2020 5:11am
11/17/2020 5:11am
bvm111 wrote:
who is this harley character you are referring too??


There's only one Harley


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