Display MoreMany contributing factors on this. First off, most of the die hard fans of the HD's are getting older, to the point that they may not be riding as much or even have moved on to something else. Secondly, the younger generation in general isn't as interested in motorcycles, and the ones that are have varied interests in them. Many ride crotch rockets, and there's the adventure bikes and dual purpose, not to mention the small type bikes that are more in town commuters. There are also many of the younger generation that aren't even interested in buying a car, let alone a motorcycle. They seem content with living in their parent's basement and playing online games. Throw in some young couples that are struggling just to have a place to live and dependable vehicles to get to work.... that leave a large gap in the buyers market.
And lastly, I suggest this is the largest factor. Harley couldn't build them fast enough in the early to mid 90's. They upped production, built new plants, increased the bikes they could build. Many people jumped on to the wave, and sales went through the roof. The MoCo finally caught up by the early 2000's, where you could walk into a showroom and basically buy what you wanted, although you might not find the color you were looking for. By 2010, you could easily find the color too. Harley kept building them, like they would always have wanting customers. But in 2008, we hit a recession, and sales slumped. For expensive bikes, it really has never fully recovered. This last decade has left us with two factors that play heavily into this. First, Harley has backed off on building the bikes, but not enough to match sales. I was just at my local HD shop early this week. They still have "New" 2017's on the floor. Most of the bikes on the floor are 2018's, also new, never sold bikes. They have had 2019's in the back since late August. To say that sales have slumped is a vast understatement. And they never seem busy, at best there are a few bikes out front on a nice day. Also, with all the sales they had in the past couple decades, there are MANY bikes out there that haven't been used much, and are just sitting in the garage.
Now people are starting to try to move them, and it's a buyer's market. My wife's bike is a perfect example of why the new ones aren't selling. She has a 2005 Super Glide Custom, looks like it has 3000 miles on it and well kept. I've maintained it very well, it has new tires, a new clutch, new brakes, and the front forks were rebuilt last spring. Couple of years ago, I put in new cams and a tune. The bike looks nearly new, and rides even better than it looks. But it has 56,000 miles on it..... oh there's at least 100,000 left in it, but that doesn't matter. A new one similar to hers would cost $16,500, give or take. Her bike is worth about $3,500 on a good day. It's all about supply and demand. There are just too many bikes for sale used out there, some with very low miles and half or less what a new one would cost.
Kudos to anyone that read this whole post.
I do believe Harley is in trouble, the only thing that has kept them alive is the bikes they have sold abroad.
This is so true. You wouldn't believe how many used Harleys with low miles are for sale on Craigslist in my area. They could have their own category outside of motorcycles.
