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1958
Joined
7/21/2011
Location
Galesburg, IL
US
Edited Date/Time
2/6/2019 1:34pm
Saw this on LinkedIn this AM
How does HD bring all that cash to the table for the joint venture and then Alta still has to cease operations? Are they that bad financially?
Now HD claims to be the leader in the "electrification of motorcycles" using Alta products and technology.
How does HD bring all that cash to the table for the joint venture and then Alta still has to cease operations? Are they that bad financially?
Now HD claims to be the leader in the "electrification of motorcycles" using Alta products and technology.
This entire ordeal whether my speculation is correct or conspiracy is just another reason harley needs to go away. Everytime i look at that brand theres something toxic going on towards the rest of the motorcycle culture. /end rant
I get Harley is trying to create a new market for themselves to grow their shrinking business, but I just don’t see folks flocking to them for electric bikes- they are still low tech, poor quality Harley.
What choice do they have..I give them credit for going after this market and I hope it works out.
With the world ending in 12 years..who really cares..
The Shop
Pure speculation on one mans part, is, Orange & Black heard Alta was doing good with the bike itself, but was on the ropes money wise. They then threw a few nickels and dimes to Alta to get a look at what and how they were doing things.
After they got the info, they went back to doing what they do, building motorcycles.
As far as being the best electric wise, that's a toss up.
Look up Lightning Motorcycles. They have a sport bike with almost twice the range, for almost a third of the price.
But, that's all they have. You gotta admit, HD seems to be looking to offer electric in almost every type of 2 wheel thing out there. Given time, I would not be surprised to see something like the Alta at the local Harley dealer in a few years.
It's just business.
No, I never said they were bad.
On the contrary. I think it's about time they started doing what others have been doing to them for decades.
I mean, virtually everyone copied their V Twin, and style, still do.
Like I said, it's just business.
As far as the wall, I'll keep that out of here.
Assembly at an established HD plant would dramatically lower the cost to produce an Alta.
They ARE bad - for the price. Look at KTMs superduke 1290 vtwin and then look at harleys v twins. Harley makes half the HP of a superduke. Not to mention they weigh 700+lbs. theyre cars on 2 wheels.
A lot of people want motorcycles because of sharp handling and powerful motors. harley doesnt deliver on either. Thats probably why their sales are tanking and theyre trying to develop sportier models.
I got to ride an ultra limited and it felt like a 1000lb bike with the power of a klx110. Ill never be convinced to spend $26,000+ tax and interest on one of those. Thats for sure.
For those saying there was no groundbreaking tech, you're both right and wrong. We'll see in the coming years that most successful inventions will come from the recombination of current technologies (ie combinatorial progression) rather than never before seen ideas. The individual elements of the Alta may not have been groundbreaking alone, but until this point nobody had ever put them together in a successful package that performed like the Alta did. In other words, the complete package was the revolution, not necessarily the individual parts.
The battery life is the biggest deal breaker along with cost.
As a matter of fact, I don't think they were even in top 5.
Not sure what the 'uptake' will be on them at that price.
Pit Row
Unfortunately, asking 30k for a bike that gets 100miles of range for a new entry into the market is ludicrous. They may sell a few, but I highly doubt they will make a decent profit when looked at from an R&D cost of development, tooling, and scale of manufacturing. I was hoping for the bike to come in the 15-20k range and then the other offerings they are working on to be scaled on that for consumer pricing.
At that rate and if that is their focus, I wouldn't touch their stock with a 10ft pole. I won't even bother looking at them again as a possible buy until they're in the $25-30 range unless they make a hard left turn on their strategy.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kearns
Realistically people pay Harley for their name. People line up in droves to pay $100 for a $20 sweatshirt with the H-D logo on it. People pays $15,000 to ride a vibrator down the road too. Old technology. Good luck gettin us moto-tight wads to pay the HD premium.
I remember being a kid and going to Disney Land in LA in the 60’s. The only time we saw the sun was if it was windy there was so much pollution back then. Think if people back then denied that humans were responsible for the air pollution, where would we be today? Remember acid rain because of pollution? Bird eggs not being strong enough to support the weight of the mother bird because DDT made them so fragile that they broke?
Flame on boys, flame on.
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