Quality - When I looked closely at the shift linkage, trim, pegs, clutch cable and mechanisms and frame members, Harley was more robust and had a better finish and attention to detail. Not that anything didn't function or was dangerous, stamped metal just isn't as appealing to me.
Quality and shift linkage do not belong in the same sentence. Out west last summer, a friends 13 Road Glide with 19xxx miles on it had the shift linkage fails, all the splines stripped out on the arm side of the shaft. Another Friend has his fail on a 14 CVO Limited, with 18xxx miles on the bike. My 15 SERGU had the splines fail on the arm side also, with 22xxx on the bike. So they may look nice, but sure do not last.
This is not the first Harley I have had this fail on.
Lifters, well I have had them fail on two CVO's, a 09 and a 12. A friend had them fail with 20,5xx on his 14 CVO limited while we were out west, so that huge dealer network sure is needed.
It's not anything HD has done...or not done that caused their stock value to slip. They are producing a product that appealed to baby boomers, and HD's resurgence happened to coincide with the sweetspot of the boomers peak wealth. Those riders are now aging away, living on retirement incomes, facing health issues, etc. - all the things that cause us not to buy a new bike, accessories, or to quit riding altogether. Want anecdotal proof: go to a state HOG rally and notice how many trikes you see. How many attendees are younger than 50?
The boomers were the largest generation and Gen X and Gen Y simply are not big enough to replace us. What HD is experiencing now is the new normal. Changing the head of marketing will not overcome demographics.
I know many riding HD in their 40's and several in their 30's. They can't take time off to go to a HOG rally. Many would rather use their vacation for Daytona, Sturgis or such.
Me I am 52. I have been buying CVO's since 09, 4 to be exact, along with 4 Harleys for my wife since 09. I will be on a two wheel bike for many more years. Yet I am the customer they are pushing away with the quality issues.
Harley is my favorite. That said the price keeps going up, since 09 and the quality going down, and the product cheapened. Use to be CVO got a new paint design and color each year. I think its five years for the same design on the CVO limited, I know it's 3 years on the SERGU. Heck even the colors are a repeat.
Lets see, Lifter fail on two of the above bikes, shift linkages on 2 of the above bikes. Regulator on one of the bikes, a stator on one of the bikes. All these were on less than two year old bikes.
BMW or Goldwing keeps looking better and better for reliability and quality even though the style sure is not there.