Sales have been lagging for H-D.
BMW motorcycle sales have been growing.
The Dual Sport/Adventure Touring category of motorcycles has been growing. That category is dominated by BMW, KTM and Honda. The Cruisers have been declining in sales. H-D has heavy cruisers.
H-D has announced they will be diversifying their product line.
They have officially announced they will be releasing the Pan America in a few years. 1250cc engine. It will compete with the 1200cc BMW along with several smaller BMW offerings. KTM has several ADV bikes in the 750 to 1200cc range. Honda's big entry, which took off like a bullet, is the 1000cc Africa Twin. They also offer the semi-ADV bike the NC700/750x series.
The Pan America has some serious design issues in its prototype form but there are a couple years for them to sort it out. The flat as plywood seat doesn't look comfortable. The turn signals on the hand guards are just silly given that hand guards are there to protect your hands from hitting tree branches and are the first things to hit the ground in a fall, either of which will break the turn signal upon impact! No clue on weight but one would hope it will weigh less than most H-D offerings if there is any chance of competing with other ADV Touring bikes.
Looks? Totally subjective.
No question that H-D has brilliant marketing. But they have declining sales and cater to a crowd that has little in common with the Dual Sport/ADV Touring crowd. Their merchandise and their dealerships feature mostly black leather, mostly "biker dude/biker chic" merchandise. Not sure they can re-make their culture to be welcoming to ADV crowd, but I suppose if anyone can manage it might be HD.
Before the Pan America arrives, H-D plans to introduce a fully ELECTRIC motorcycle. It will be interesting to watch them reinvent American motorcycles.
BMW motorcycle sales have been growing.
The Dual Sport/Adventure Touring category of motorcycles has been growing. That category is dominated by BMW, KTM and Honda. The Cruisers have been declining in sales. H-D has heavy cruisers.
H-D has announced they will be diversifying their product line.
They have officially announced they will be releasing the Pan America in a few years. 1250cc engine. It will compete with the 1200cc BMW along with several smaller BMW offerings. KTM has several ADV bikes in the 750 to 1200cc range. Honda's big entry, which took off like a bullet, is the 1000cc Africa Twin. They also offer the semi-ADV bike the NC700/750x series.
The Pan America has some serious design issues in its prototype form but there are a couple years for them to sort it out. The flat as plywood seat doesn't look comfortable. The turn signals on the hand guards are just silly given that hand guards are there to protect your hands from hitting tree branches and are the first things to hit the ground in a fall, either of which will break the turn signal upon impact! No clue on weight but one would hope it will weigh less than most H-D offerings if there is any chance of competing with other ADV Touring bikes.
Looks? Totally subjective.
No question that H-D has brilliant marketing. But they have declining sales and cater to a crowd that has little in common with the Dual Sport/ADV Touring crowd. Their merchandise and their dealerships feature mostly black leather, mostly "biker dude/biker chic" merchandise. Not sure they can re-make their culture to be welcoming to ADV crowd, but I suppose if anyone can manage it might be HD.
Before the Pan America arrives, H-D plans to introduce a fully ELECTRIC motorcycle. It will be interesting to watch them reinvent American motorcycles.