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and maybe you know the low down on this, that Triumph can produce a bike of very high quality, fit and finish for little more than half the price of an average Harley (well, excluding that unbelievable Rocket they've just released.. man 17/18K). Is it really that Harley had to set such a high baseline to stay alive, or did they see that they COULD set a high baseline and ran with it? And why, if sales are up (I've read over the past few years that they are), do the prices not come down a little? I'm not trying to be confrontational about HDs (I really do, in my heart of hearts, love old HDs.), I'm really just curious. Personally, I think HD goes wayyyyy overboard with the shiny objects. I wonder how much those mountains of chrome contribute to the price? Anyone that's ever restored an old bike knows that rechroming parts is one of the most EXPENSIVE tasks you'll undertake! Now, if I saw HD offering something that looked like an old shovelhead.. a stout-hearted, low on show, high on cool, black frame with big welds, reasonable block of internal combustion steel (doesn't need to be more than around 900cc, honestly) and a solo seat, old school cruiser, for a reasonable price (~10K), I'd be all over it. I don't like all the glitter and glam, personally.
I can tell you, and again, this is just my perspective and my experience, that it's because of the new reputation...the bike of bankers and stock brokers, that there's a lot of us old schoolers that aren't interested in Harley anymore *because* of that RUB reputation... even lucky bastards like me that might be able to afford something a little higher up the chain than the Sportster.
Anyway, I've totally digressed. Thank you for your perspective. I do think that there is a critical divide between bikers that is being overlooked here. I can see the sportbike/crotch rocket crowd being ridiculously right wing (I never liked them much anyway =) )... I can see the new harley crowd being more conservative (by virtue of the average salary of these guys), but for the rest of us, I can't see how there would be that many conservatives. The bikers (a limited few, I admit) that I hang out with are liberal/progressive/labor oriented guys.
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