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| The Motorcycle Industry is Alive and Well, Thank You Very Much |
| Reg Kittrelle |
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American Rider
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If you’re an investor reading Harley’s last quarterly statement, or a service tech who’s been laid off, you might think I’ve been wallowing in a bag of long-lost wacky weed. Sorry, not in this case.
When I write “industry” I mean anyone and everyone involved with motorcycles, from the manufacturers, to the dealers, to the independents, to the aftermarket, to the single most important part of this group, us riders. The press—both enthusiast and mainstream—unwaveringly focuses on the plight of the motorcycle business and, yes, many parts of it have seen better days, much better. But the enthusiasm for our sport has not peaked, has not fallen off, nor has it been replaced by a fad du jour. Riders are still riding. In fact, by many credible accounts we are riding more than ever.
What we are not doing, or rather what we’re doing less of, is buying new motorcycles. This is a big problem for Harley-Davidson and most every other manufacturer of two-wheelers. And many dealers are suffering because of it, but not all of them. The well-managed dealerships, the ones that put the money in the bank before putting the Monet on the wall, will survive, and will thrive. Most of these will be dealers who have been in the business for many years, and who have a true passion for motorcycles. I’ve had discussions with several people over this “passion” thing, with most claiming that it’s overrated, that if sound business practices are followed there is no need for the dealer principal to bleed 20/50-weight. While I am fully in accord with the need for business acumen I know that is only part of the formula. I want my dealer to understand riding. I want my dealer to know its pleasures, its cost, and its place in our culture. And I also know that I’m not alone in this.
The past couple of decades have seen many Harley dealerships taken over by men and women who made big money elsewhere and saw a way to compound it with a Harley store. And this worked for them for many years. What I am now seeing, however, is that these are usually the first to get in trouble, and the first to offer up their dealership for sale. There are certainly exceptions to this, but these exceptions are those who worked at understanding the human—the rider—side of the business.
While the focus and the problems may center on bike sales, there is the other, less glamorous side that is doing quite well: products and services related to keeping your motorcycle on the road. Lee Chapin, vice-president of Mikuni USA, has an interesting take on this. He uses the term “black widow bikes,” to describe those long-forgotten motorcycles that are being pulled out of garages and resurrected. “First,” he says, “you pull all the black widow spiders out of the carburetors.” Joe Fratis of Motion Pro told me he couldn’t believe how many control-cable orders they’re getting for old Harley-Davidsons. Talk with tire companies, battery suppliers, makers of motor upgrade kits—anyone who supplies the items to keep the wheels turning and they’ll probably tell you things are looking OK, and getting better.
There’s no doubt that the big money is currently not being spent, and this will cause many companies to rethink their product lines. Not too long ago there were more than three dozen “manufacturers” building very expensive, highly impractical custom motorcycles. Many of these companies have disappeared as the current market for $40K-and-up—sometimes way up—motorcycles is very small.
Closer to our hearts are the 35 models offered by Harley-Davidson. Not every Harley offering has been a home run, bad economy or not, and I believe some models will, and should, go away. The MoCo has culled four models since the 2007 lineup, but I can see a few more leaving us in the near future. A bit baffling—at least to me—is their axing of the standard XL883 Sportster. At an MSRP of $6,695 it was Harley’s least expensive offering. I have an idea that was one of those momentum-driven actions. That is, the decision was made a year or so ago (probably to make assembly line room for the new Iron 883), but Harley, like most large corporations, cannot always react that quickly to changing market conditions. I’d bet that in light of recent developments, and had they been able to, they would have cut a higher-end model rather than the XL883.
So, yep, times are tough, and I don’t want it thought that I’m minimizing the situation, but allow me to mangle a cliché: when times are tough, the tough go riding. And the tough companies have our backs with quality products, proper customer service, and a genuine interest in keeping our sport the fun, exciting one that it is. My advice to the rest of the companies: don’t let the door slap ya on the butt on the way out.
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