Who the heck decided that MSRP is a good price. That's what I paid, but I paid tooooooo much! 
Somewhere along the line (IMO) Harley-Davidson issued an edict to their dealers that they were not to sell Harley-Davidson motorcycles below MSRP. Obviously when demand outstripped production this proved quite easy for the dealers to do and some started selling above MSRP for high demand models. THEN, with the advent of the CVO line, selling for above MSRP became accepted practice. I paid $1k above MSRP for my original 03 SERK because demand far outstripped supply. When I bought my 05 SE VROD, the demand was strong, but not so strong that I was able to get the dealer to sell me the bike at MSRP AND, give me 20% on the SERT, Pipes and breather set-up I put on the bike. My 07 Road Glide I paid MSRP, but the dealer ate the shipping costs plus the doc fees AND, again gave me 20% on P&A that I bought as part of the deal. Supply and demand are the biggest factors. Location has a huge effect on those. CVO H-D's don't sell as well in small towns in sparsely populated areas where income is below average. I could have bought an 07 SEUC for below MSRP in Maine when I was there in November of 06. Bottom line, you make the best deal you can at the time and place you buy. As a rule however, if you pay MSRP for any H-D, you're not going to open the paper the next day and see one for $1,000 less than what you just paid. At least not yet. With the economy as stagnant as it is, it should be interesting to see what happens when the 2009's come out. My thinking is most dealers will still have a lot of 2008's on the floor.
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