HD unveils new engine

[snowmonkey]

CHICAGO, July 14 (Reuters) - Harley-Davidson Inc. (HDI.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the U.S. motorcycle maker, unveiled four new bikes for 2007 on Friday at a dealer meeting in San Diego.

The company also debuted a new engine, the Big Twin, which it said would power its Dyna, Softail and Touring bikes. Harley said the new engine delivers up to 17 percent more torque than the Twin Cam 88 engine it's replacing when paired with a new 6-speed cruise drive transmission.

The new motorcycles for 2007 include two liquid-cooled power-cruisers in the company's VRSC line, as well as a new Softail and Sportster.

 

[garauld]

Harley said the new engine delivers up to 17 percent more torque than the Twin Cam 88 engine it's replacing when paired with a new 6-speed cruise drive transmission.

Yup, and 99 and 44/100% more noise as well...

 

[PapaUtah]

Wow! A bored and stroked Harley-Davidson™. I never would have guessed that in a million years! I wonder how much prices are going up to cover the massive amounts of R&D Harley-Davidson™ had to do to develop this unbelieveable new motor! <_<

I guess the Strangled' Chicken kit is now standard. Just what that group :alcoholic: needed! Should be good for another 10 or 15......decibels...

:wacko: :crazy: :clown2: Harley-Davidson™ :boredom:

 

[evil_henchman]

Wow! A bored and stroked Harley-Davidson™. I never would have guess that in a million years! I wonder how much prices are going up to cover the massive amounts of R&D Harley-Davidson™ had to do to develop this unbelieveable new motor! <_<
I guess the Strangled' Chicken kit is now standard. Just what that group :alcoholic: needed! Should be good for another 10 or 15......decibels...

:wacko: :crazy: :clown2: Harley-Davidson™ :boredom:

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

 

[MikeYork5]

Well - it HAS BEEN almost a full week since the last Harley bashing session - poor Harley, only 330,000 sales last year - what ever will they do?

 

[exskibum]

Well - it HAS BEEN almost a full week since the last Harley bashing session - poor Harley, only 330,000 sales last year - what ever will they do?

Kinda like the success stories of penile implants and enhancement schemes, they lend themselves well to marketing to the target audience. If the customer can't have something with adequate performance, at least he can have BIG. Unlike a penile implant, though, he can show it off in public in the knowledge that everyone will understand that it's big, manly and well, . . . LOUD.

So, now we have a couple new bored and stroked penile implants??? Cool. :yahoo:

 

[MikeYork5]

Yeah - and don't forget the 330,000 sales! GAAFAWWWW!

 

[SouthernCruizer]

Yeah - and don't forget the 330,000 sales! GAAFAWWWW!

**************************

Looks like there really is a sucker born every minute

Jay

'04 FJR 130

 

[MikeYork5]

Yep - the whole worlds out of step (at least all the Harley owners)!

 

[rontoride]

that's all we need, just one more louder hd to give the public more ammunition to change the aftermarket muffler rules for the rest of us.

 

[PapaUtah]

From the street…

“2006 inventory remains, which is being discounted below MSRP. Further, we have heard anecdotal evidence of dealers rejecting shipments of 06 models from Harley-Davidson™.

Consumers are facing several macro headwinds and becoming more sensitive to pricing of discretionary items, and it is feasible that the discounted 06 bikes could cannibalize sales of new 07 motorcycles, despite the new and improved engine.”

"Harley-Davidson™ U.S. retail motorcycle sales for the quarter were up 8.1%, vs. a 9.9% increase for the market. Harley-Davidson™'s motorcycle revenue increased 2.2%." This is called lagging the market. It appears other brands are starting to take market share from the beer-bellied bar and shield brand from Beer Town.

They are still selling, just not with the price gouging as in the past. I have always said Harley-Davidson™ will do well until the mid teens. They will keep paying dividends like a cash machine. Then the balding, pony-tailed(I think they used to have mullets when they were younger! :tease: )Milwaukee-goiter afflicted white male baby-boomers who are occasional riders(H-D™’s key demographic) will be too old to buy and ride(hence the huge women and minority oriented marketing push they have going right now. They see the handwriting on the wall.)

And I apologize, Harley-Davidson™ is not introducing a bored and stroked motor, just a stroked motor. That must have really pushed the development costs through the roof. To cover those costs The Motor Company™ is raising prices an average of 4.4%(about $700/bike to pay for that new crank.)

2,859rpm at 75mph with the “new” motor does sound nice though.

With 1584cc of displacement available, Harley-Davidson™ only trails Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki and Victory in available displacement.

 

[exskibum]

Yeah - and don't forget the 330,000 sales! GAAFAWWWW!

Wow! Guess I better join the masses flocking (as in wool production?) to join the fold. :lol:

Yep - the whole worlds out of step (at least all the Harley owners)!

Oh -- I get it, you don't mean that literally. The bad boy, large phallused, rugged individualist image is really only a creature of marketing, and the reality is the lock step thing with all the identifying clothing and decals for the car? :huh:

 

[MikeYork5]

Blah, Blah, friggin Blah - Whats the problem with 330.000 unit sales? Harley is ONLY up 8.1%, lagging the market (based on one - the first - quarter?) and unable to 'gouge' as they have in the past? Funny, again I say poor, poor Harley and all the beer swilling, doctors and lawyers (isn't that one of your professions ski?)buying them. Its all about marketing huh? Thats almost 'too funny'. And - I can't believe Harley is targeting new, otherwise untapped segments of the market for their products. Why would they do that? Is their marketing and advertising departments insane? By the way - I believe thats 330,000 in unit sales - never mind all the 'identifying clothing and decals' (and accesssories). And they keep on a buying ------ VVRROOOOMMMMM - VVVRRROOOOMMMMM

 

[exskibum]

Blah, Blah, friggin Blah - Whats the problem with 330.000 unit sales? Harley is ONLY up 8.1%, lagging the market (based on one - the first - quarter?) and unable to 'gouge' as they have in the past? Funny, again I say poor, poor Harley and all the beer swilling, doctors and lawyers (isn't that one of your professions ski?)buying them. Its all about marketing huh? Thats almost 'too funny'. And - I can't believe Harley is targeting new, otherwise untapped segments of the market for their products. Why would they do that? Is their marketing and advertising departments insane? By the way - I believe thats 330,000 in unit sales - never mind all the 'identifying clothing and decals' (and accesssories). And they keep on a buying ------ VVRROOOOMMMMM - VVVRRROOOOMMMMM

I hadn't been involved in any Harley bashing in a long time, so when you made your regular condemnatory comment about everybody doing it, I couldn't resist. Guess I hit a nerve. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Are they making lots of money??? IF you read anything I said as suggesting they are not, I'd love to know where. I'll readily concede that a lot of people will pay excessive amounts of money for something that offers inferior performance to that of less expensive products if it's properly marketed. Branding is a classic marketing tool to take advantage of that. HD has been one of the true leaders in that regard -- more power to them for that, but do you honestly believe that they're a leader in technological innovation or performance (power, braking, handling, reliability)? Noise, low end grunt and vibration? Ok -- they're a leader there, and I agree that there's a place for that.

But you think it's NOT about HD marketing?!? "Thats almost too funny", you said. Huh??? Maybe you could point to some real innovation or performance leadership from the Motor Company? Even when they finally did introduce something that kinda went that direction with the V-Rod, they went outside -- wasn't that Porsche design?

Not at all sure what lawyers and doctors buying HDs has to do with anything, other than to make my point that the marketing is effective to some people. Yeah, I know it was meant to be a slight, that you have previously explained that you were too good to continue in law school and have great disdain for lawyers, but again: what does that have to do with anything? "Blah, Blah, friggin Blah"?

 

[PapaUtah]

“doctors, lawyers…buying them.” That appears to be a waning fad for that group. More than 3 in 4 Harley-Davidson™ motorcycles are financed to the tune of about $15K per bike. Sportsters™ make up about a third of Harley-Davidson™’s sales so the high end bikes are really presenting the risk to The Motor Company™ as they are more highly leveraged in the HDFS portfolio, and most likely to default. Doctors and lawyers pay cash and they don't drive Sportsters™. Harley-Davidson™ Financial Services is also experiencing increasing lapse and default rates and expect more defaults as interest rates rise. Paired with declining used bike prices, yes Harley-Davidson ™’s always have and continue to go down in value, it is a risk The Motor Company™ must monitor. IMHO this group is probably responsible for the glut of used Harley-Davidson ™’s for sale with less than 1K miles on them after 3, 4 or 5 years of “ownership”.

All this aside, I like H-D™ from a value/income proposition (stable stock price and steady dividends.) They are just not going to be a high growth name (15% yoy price appreciation) again anytime soon IMHO.

I think I would like Harley-Davidson ™’s better if the owners would keep the mufflers on them. They can play dress up all they want and I really don’t care. It’s the constant drone on the freeway, the idiot at 1:00am turning the volume control to full blast trying to make it out of town, the constant revving at the stop light(or anytime they are stopped for that matter), revving them under bridges and tunnels, etc. that I think make them all look like fools and reflects poorly on the “flock”.

Oh, and by the way it's, "POTATO, POTATO" according to the legal division at Harley-Davidson ™.

 

[SkooterG]

Sorry exskibum, I think you are the one not getting it..........

but do you honestly believe that they're a leader in technological innovation or performance (power, braking, handling, reliability)? Blah"?

Where has anyone ever claimed that?

The fact of the matter is, we are a very small minority. If 70% of the population is buying a certain product, then the what, the approximately 1% of total sales of FJRs and XXs being bought out there make us the whackos, weirdos, and idiots. Criticize, condemn, and insult all you want, but an objective view from outside has us looking like the aberration.

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

The fact of the matter is, we are a very small minority. If 70% of the population is buying a certain product, then the what, the approximately 1% of total sales of FJRs and XXs being bought out there make us the whackos, weirdos, and idiots.

I feel special B)

 

[Groo]

I feel special B)

You are... keep paddling... maybe the backstroke...

 

[exskibum]

Sorry exskibum, I think you are the one not getting it..........

but do you honestly believe that they're a leader in technological innovation or performance (power, braking, handling, reliability)? Blah"?

Where has anyone ever claimed that?

The fact of the matter is, we are a very small minority. If 70% of the population is buying a certain product, then the what, the approximately 1% of total sales of FJRs and XXs being bought out there make us the whackos, weirdos, and idiots. Criticize, condemn, and insult all you want, but an objective view from outside has us looking like the aberration.

I agree that we're the aberration. Once upon a time, even to me, the HD was THE motorcycle. In the 60s and early 70s, it had the best performance, was the best long distance machine, etc.

If you're talking numbers who own them, it's not even a close question in my mind. Where I am, I probably see between 5 and 10 HDs to every other type of street bike. The comparison is even less favorable if you look at the number of new entrants (been riding less than 5 years) into the street motorcycle riding community.

I've previously argued that the HD is what it is -- it does what it does well enough -- that is, cruise, attract attention and go slow and straight. One other thing that I'm convinced of, but since I don't pretend to understand women, I'll just note and not even try to explain: you are probably a lot more likely to get laid riding a HD than what we're on. They are magnets for some women.

If HD was the only big street bike available, I'd have one. But it isn't. So, if it isn't about performance or marketing, what is it about? Art? OK -- I buy that, even though I'm not particularly attracted to them. Attracting women -- ok. Going slow and straight or from one bar to another -- yep, no disagreement there. But this thread started about their new motors -- my mistake in assuming that had something to do with performance.

Maybe I am mistaken, there is NO marketing component in all the HD apparrel and decals everywhere or in the TV advertising that shows the HD guy getting the girl with her undergarments on the handlebars.