You're absolutely right about the free pass on quality here in the USA. We've had the same superior brands like Honda and Kawasaki here in the USA too. But as HD owners we have become so blinded to the rhetoric of "Buy American" fueled by unreasonable loyalty that for decades we have accepted these kinds of issues. Look at our posts, every year we pine away hoping HD will have "fixed the known issues", and produce a better product. Well it hasn't happened.
I know,...we say it,...Honda has no "soul", Kawasaki doesn't "sound like" a motorcycle and all that. So we choose to endure. We make a conscious effort to keep buying poor quality stuff because it's shiny, has a nice paint job, and sounds "pretty decent". Well that won't get you to Glacier National Park when your bike is sumped on the side of road, or paralyzed with a fried stator or grenaded cam chest.
We do this to ourselves because we WANT to.
Let me first say that i will always love Harleys, they have a formula that moves me.
That said, after buying 12 new Harleys over 28 years i was attracted to the new BMW K1600 B or bagger. Styled by Rolland Sands in Los Angeles. The 6cyl engine developed in England for BMW along with the rest of the bike designed at the previous BMW F1 development center. One ride and I was sold. It's simply an amazing motorcycle. A bike Harley will never build. Perfect? No. But high quality engineering.
If Harley wants to continue being the sales leader, they must build a more competitive touring line. Honda, Yamaha, BMW all have new touring models released in 2018 with major improvement. Harley's only major improvement was the M8 with the lowest HP rating and quality issues.
Build a competitive bike with Harleys good looks, dealer network, aftermarket and owner base and they would sell extremely well.
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