Quote:
Originally Posted by rlmesq
Harley-Davidson, as a company, is actually very similar to people who have phony M badges. Both are taking an inferior vehicle and trying to turn it into a status symbol with a nameplate.
Many of the metric cruisers are much better bikes than a Harley. HD is trying to modernize its lineup, but most buyers still want an air-cooled 45 degree V-twin that's been around for a hundred years. The design places many limits on performance, and most of Harley's innovations have been work-around for the inherent inferiority of a 45 degree v-twin. They would be better off starting from the ground up... but people still want the traditional HD sound.
Look at the V-Rod. It had a water-cooled 60 degree twin that was jointly developed with Porsche and based on a superbike development project. It is a much better motor than the old Harley standard, but nobody bought it, so they stopped making it.
Same with the XR1200, which was a flat track style bike. They built a whole US Superbike racing class around it, with only a few parts required to make it race legal. Again, it died from lack of interest.
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Man, do you have this completely wrong. Harley Davidson is a culture, a cultural icon, and a brand that has stayed true to its roots. While the shared-pin, 45 deg. V-twin has some design limitations, Harley does extract a lot of power from it, or a better way to say it, adequate power to satisfy its customers needs.
Meanwhile, BMW has turned the M Brand, arguably a culture and cultural icon too, into some whored-up caricature of itself that is so far from it's roots it might as well just be a tee-shirt. X6M? Really? What in common is there between an E30 M3 and a fucking 5,800-pound SUV?
I am an owner of such a metric cruiser of which you speak. I have a 20-year old Honda Valkryie Interstate. Back in the day it rode circles around the Electra Glide of the era. Its Goldwing-based flat-six made about twice the horsepower as the Evolution V-Twin in the late 1990's. I bought the Valk because in 1999 there were wait lists for Harleys and a flat-6 is a superior engine design, yet Honda only still makes its Icon 'Wing, while the full-dress Valkyrie Interstate was a lovely inverted-fork, large sport bike, bagged anomaly.
If I were to replace the Valk, I'd probably get an Electra Glide. The Indian Chief is a bit too retro styled for me. The modern Harley is what BMW should have done with the M version of the 3-series IMO.