Since when is throwing existing jugs and pistons on an engine to increase displacement by 7 cubic inches "new", "significant", or even "technology"
? That's old tech in my book.
The reason I didn't give the 95 inch rumors much credence in the past had to do with the huge amount of money H-D would have lost on the P&A side of the business. They sell large numbers of the 95 inch kits, and if they make it standard they just have to come up with a new way to bang us for additional cash to make up the shortfall in revenues.
I agree that labeling the 95 inch parts as new technology is a stretch but t wouldn't surprise me to see HD make that the standard displacement and then brag about it. It sure would be an easy thing to do across the line to distinguish them as new bikes.
About making up revenue, how much do dealers charge to swap out 88's for 95's (don't know--I'm asking)? How would they like to make that same amount or near it through new bike sales by just having that figure added to the MSRP? And HD could eliminate some part numbers from it's inventory over time (88 inch stuff) thereby saving manufacturing and inventory costs.
I bet dealers would rather sell bikes than perform any service. And if 95 was the new standard, dealers could then market 103 upgrades the way they do 95's now. More profit on parts due to (inevitably) higher prices for 103 stuff over 95.
And I wonder how many present HD owners would trade in their bikes for new ones if they came stock with 95 inches? I bet HD knows. This could be a reason for many HD owners to come back to the showroom--to get them over the attitude of "why buy new, the EPA won't let me touch them, anyway and I want more power". At the very least this upgrade would be a definite upgrade (reason to buy) to a whole lot of 88 owners, and even more incentive to us Evo dinosaurs.
Who knows what will happen but I can see some credence to the 95 inch base motor theory.
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Topic: It's 07' rumor time ya'll... (Read 14979 times)