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The ad is cute, the truth is different.
The only people Harley-Davidson cares less about than their customers is their dealers.
Old joke: if only the Harley race bikes were as fast as the Harley lawyers...
Ex-employee, Harley-Davidson of New York City.
Harley's got a point, though. Those rough-and-tumble guys (they're not choir boys) keep coming back to Harley shops for new bikes. That wouldn't happen if they were getting lemons. Since you were an employee, you might have sold (or prepared) some bikes to them yourself.
I live fairly close to Patriot Harley-Davidson of Fairfax (VA), in the D.C. suburbs, and they do a huge business at that shop. They also service all of the police bikes used by the Fairfax County and City Police departments....to the point where local officials often look the other way when the noise level at the shop, from all those un-muffled bikes, violates the noise ordinances.
People keep coming back, but not because the bikes are great. It's that "image" thing.
Yes, I have a 2006 96" Twin Cam Fat boy.
You talking about Harleys?
I just thought it was a great ad. True, Harleys have a (perception) of being unreliable. But this ad, IMO, makes a compelling case for the argument that only a fool would sell unreliable machinery to tough bikers like that. These are not choir-boys from your local church...screw them over, and one could find the dealership burnt down.
Harleys are built a lot better than back in the dark ages of the 70's/80's. You look at the fit/finish/paint/chrome plating on any of their stuff built in the last 15 years or so and its pretty impressive IMO.
I still think Honda's 1960's "You meet the nicest people on a Honda" ad as a stroke of genius. Even back in the 1960's motorcycle riders were viewed as ruffians, hooligans, criminals, wayward youth, just tough nasty men that you never wanted to meet/bring home to mom and dad. Perception was kind of the same if he rode a Harley, Norton, or a Triumph. This ad aimed for an entirely different audience and might have been the first motorcycle marketed to women. 20 years after this ad aired in 1963, the Japanese bikes and Harley Davidson were the players, the British bike industry had all but folded in the US.
09-14-17, 08:02 PM
