Harley Davidson Megafactory

[gunrunner]

Did anyone watch this on discovery today , went on bout the history of them and the Vrod and its process of what goes into building them . Not to mention those Screaming Eagle ones , reminded me of the Vmax in a way faux cover with tank under the seat with similar hp . Was very interested in what went into making one::niceone:

[Swoop]

I'm sure the factory is an impressive piece of work!

[outlawtorn]

I'd love to be able to do a nice tour of the US one day and have a stop off at the HD factory for a tour......ho hum....one day....just wait until I win the damn lottery!!!

[Skyryder]

Saw it sometime ago. Very impressive.

[Toaster]

It's on SKY NG channel again on 31st Aug.

I like the V-rod but maybe I just like fatter tyres!

[Griffin]

I think I may have seen this some time ago also - from memory it focused almost entirely on the one model being built rather than the Factory as a whole... which was ok but I would have liked to have seen more of the factory and the different models etc. Still worth a watch tho

[alanzs]

Good show. What makes the whole HD story so interesting is that not long ago, HD's were considered mechanical pieces of shit; they leaked oil, old mechanical technology and most importantly sales were down. After numerous ownership/management changes, they have come back very strong and are now an "Icon" brand.

[gunrunner]

Good show. What makes the whole HD story so interesting is that not long ago, HD's were considered mechanical pieces of shit; they leaked oil, old mechanical technology and most importantly sales were down. After numerous ownership/management changes, they have come back very strong and are now an "Icon" brand.

Not to mention they almost went bust , now they cant keep up with demand

[HenryDorsetCase]

Not to mention they almost went bust , now they cant keep up with demand

not true. HD dealers in the us (where it sells 3/4's of its bikes) are sitting on unsold 07 and 08 models. V Rods dont sell well, and the US economy has been in the turlet (you might have heard of the sub prime mortgage meltdown) plus the domestic us deficit due to fighting quite an expensive war has depressed their economy.

HD is nothing if not an extremely well-managed company and they know all this stuff: they also know their customers.

So HD is trying to grow its offshore markets: Hence the XR1200 as one example.

I grant you that in the NZ market (4 million people in the arse end of nowhere on a world scale) demand often outstrips supply: I suspect that is a function of how many bikes the NZ distributor chooses to make available to the market. But I am cynical.

[paulmac]

Not to mention they almost went bust , now they cant keep up with demand

Helped when they got bill Clinton on side tho !!

[peasea]

Saw it sometime ago. Very impressive.

Yeah ditto but it was interesting not just coz it was a very different style of Harley but also because it went into the 'back shed' of motorcycle development. I'm sure the development of any other major shift in a manufacturers methodology would be just as interesting.

Ya gotta love that motor though; it's got so much potential for the 'hot rod' biker, the 'Destroyer' is just the beginning.

Watch this space...........

[98tls]

Saw that myself,interesting.Had a chuckle at it taking 2 guys to change a fuse.....just like my work.:laugh:

[alanzs]

HD is nothing if not an extremely well-managed company and they know all this stuff: they also know their customers.

So HD is trying to grow its offshore markets: Hence the XR1200 as one example.

I grant you that in the NZ market (4 million people in the arse end of nowhere on a world scale) demand often outstrips supply: I suspect that is a function of how many bikes the NZ distributor chooses to make available to the market. But I am cynical.

Exactly. After being in the toilet for years, they pulled it back from the edge. I had read that a huge percentage of their profits came from licensing their stuff; clothing, etc. Not surprised. Hey, people even get HD tattoo's. Not many folks get Hyosung tat's Id bet.
They had tried to patent the HD sound, but were unsuccessful. Any machine is capable of sounding like "potato, potato, potato" without infringing on HD's brand.... :doh:

[Headbanger]

demand often outstrips supply: I suspect that is a function of how many bikes the NZ distributor chooses to make available to the market. But I am cynical.

Its no secret that HD manage all markets by restricting numbers of new bikes to less then demand, It keeps the price up, makes the brand look good. They could easily saturate any market, But it would only drive down the value of the brand.

[doc]

Its no secret that HD manage all markets by restricting numbers of new bikes to less then demand, It keeps the price up, makes the brand look good. They could easily saturate any market, But it would only drive down the value of the brand.

Well why did they buy MV Agusta ?

[Headbanger]

I don't quite know how that question relates to my post, but...

I believe its based on expand or die.

Any company needs to grow profit in order to keep the share price up. When they stop growing the share price/value of the company stalls and then falls, as long as they keep growing (rather then just cruising at the level they have achieved) prospective investors can see future profits for the company and themselves and will be willing to pay more for shares then the last person.

Looks to me like HD are keen to expand into other markets without hurting their flagship product.

Having said all that, I don't know shit so could be way off.

Maybe it was just cheap.