Personally not sold on the styling but my stepson was interested in one so I test rode one to give him an opinion. Don't ride bad, handle reasonably well but even with the standard 6 speed in top I was looking for another gear, just felt a little buzzy
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Interesting motorcycles, not XS650
- Thread starter Kevin Werner
- Start date
Personally not sold on the styling but my stepson was interested in one so I test rode one to give him an opinion. Don't ride bad, handle reasonably well but even with the standard 6 speed in top I was looking for another gear, just felt a little buzzy
This speaks to me. Shouts, actually.
@gggGary shed?
When it grows up? LOL
Honestly hope it never gets NEAR that bad.
I now have less than 5% of all the motorcycles I've owned.
Harley Davidsons new Sportster S, a clean sheet redisign of the Sportster. It uses the same motor as the Pan Am, creates 121 HP. But gone are the days of inexpensive Sportsters, this bad boy will set you back $15,000.
I rather like the muscular look of a power cruiser, but I cant help wonder what they were thinking with that monstrous, plastic clad radiator hanging off the front of the frame.
Indian and the Japanese cruisers put radiators on their water cooled V Twins, but they fit them in close to the frame, so that they just sort of disappear, you don’t look at those bikes and think “Look at that big honkin radiator! “
I rather like the muscular look of a power cruiser, but I cant help wonder what they were thinking with that monstrous, plastic clad radiator hanging off the front of the frame.
Indian and the Japanese cruisers put radiators on their water cooled V Twins, but they fit them in close to the frame, so that they just sort of disappear, you don’t look at those bikes and think “Look at that big honkin radiator! “
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It may be a H-D Sportster by name . . .
Sportster was cool. At the new price point, it becomes….NO.
At $15K, there are too many competitors. I’d surely opt for a Speed Twin at $12K. I love Sportster, but not that one.
radxs650
XS650 Enthusiast
Makes my left eye twitch...
We had a m/c parting joint up here that actually resembled that scene although one could at least Walk through the clutter.
Hopefully for H-D, it won't be the sales flop, let's see...Street 750, Street 500, Live Wire....and although not as big a flop, the VRod wasn't all that successful either. I say this as a H-D owner, they are in deep doo doo, a lot of it of their own doing.
The Bumpus HD dealer in Memphis website shows them a Royal Enfield dealer. It’s my belief that they need some competitively priced motorcycles. Those motorcycles need to be able to compete with the other brands. The Street 750 and Street 500 could not compete with other brands at the entry level price point.
Correct on the 500-750's. Better bikes for less $$$ could be had elsewhere. I certainly don't know what the answer is for H-D, the market is changing so fast, I'm glad I don't rely on it to make a living.
Yes, the supposedly largest HD dealership in Norway also sell RE. But I really struggle to see how someone interested in a 350-500 single or a 650 parallel twin, later would want to fork out a fortune for a HD....If the idea is to get in customers at a budget level, and then hope they "trade up"
I think it’s just more to have something to sell and service at a given price point that Harley misses. It gives them a fighting chance at gaining loyal customers.
They spent much of 2018 pushing a product no one wanted, the LiveWire. I was a member of H.O.G. and their magazine was 75% advertising pushing those things. Notice I said "was" a member. I love my Harley, but I despise H-D corporate. According to a friend of mine who was svc. mgr, at one of the local dealers, when the M-8 came out they were puking engines left and right. I can tell you for a fact that when I was in Sturgis in '18, I had to have some work done on my '05, and while standing around waiting, I saw 2 M-8's with blown bottom ends there. One of the M-8 owners told me that he had just been told that there were 2, that's right, 2 spare engines in the country. Harley's habit of using their customers for R&D is biting them in the butt. On the other hand, I've yet to meet the unhappy Indian customer although I know they exist.They discontinued the Street 500/750 this year.
Here the HD buyers perhaps is different than in the US
Here in Sweden the 883 Sportster was actually priced ( talking 10 -- 20 years ago ) more or less the same as the Japanese competition.
But the HD enthusiasts did not have that much interest anyway unless it was for the lady in the house.
Shaking their heads ..it is a girls bike ..even if they themselves not everyone had the physics of a Night club bouncer. Tattooed upper arms and so.
Then there was the big step in price for the larger displacement bikes.
HD was a rare bike here 70 ies and to some degree 80 ies
But then they made efforts to get better service and better shops .. A more professional approach
An nowadays have more demanding customers . At a different Price level.
It is more like an image than a real motorcycle interest .. I know one bought a 73 Electra glide as
First and entry Motorcycle and keeps it Rides a lot
But many dont. ride much.
I think it is a little like the Auto Brands The higher priced segment
Like Mercedes Benz in Cars or Porsche.
There are more sold Nowadays even though the price is enormous..
From a dealers perspective it makes sense to have an option say RE or the Triumph
When the customer is in the Show room it is a better situation than just having one large machine that does not fit everyone.
A test ride and talk about it ---can make it happen ..Customer service.
If they HD can prevent blunders in quality i believe they can sell. Even if the price is high..
It is a dream and a image they are chasing. They also have nice meetings what I hear .
Here in Sweden the 883 Sportster was actually priced ( talking 10 -- 20 years ago ) more or less the same as the Japanese competition.
But the HD enthusiasts did not have that much interest anyway unless it was for the lady in the house.
Shaking their heads ..it is a girls bike ..even if they themselves not everyone had the physics of a Night club bouncer. Tattooed upper arms and so.
Then there was the big step in price for the larger displacement bikes.
HD was a rare bike here 70 ies and to some degree 80 ies
But then they made efforts to get better service and better shops .. A more professional approach
An nowadays have more demanding customers . At a different Price level.
It is more like an image than a real motorcycle interest .. I know one bought a 73 Electra glide as
First and entry Motorcycle and keeps it Rides a lot
But many dont. ride much.
I think it is a little like the Auto Brands The higher priced segment
Like Mercedes Benz in Cars or Porsche.
There are more sold Nowadays even though the price is enormous..
From a dealers perspective it makes sense to have an option say RE or the Triumph
When the customer is in the Show room it is a better situation than just having one large machine that does not fit everyone.
A test ride and talk about it ---can make it happen ..Customer service.
If they HD can prevent blunders in quality i believe they can sell. Even if the price is high..
It is a dream and a image they are chasing. They also have nice meetings what I hear .
I realize that we are all different, but I have ridden my Road King 50.000 miles in 6 years, and it has been very reliable. However, the early Twin-Cam design has a spring loaded cam chain tensioner with an inferior plastic wear block that almost always fails at around 30-35k miles, causing catastrophic engine failure. They changed the design in '06 or '07 to a better design and you can upgrade your early engines at around $1500. Do you think I would have bought my "old style tensioner" bike if I'd have known that? Once again, H-D letting their customers be their R&D department. Eventually they get things right, then they introduce a new model with all of Harley's "Legendary" problems
