The Winds of Change Blowing at Harley Davidson

It was the spring of 1998 when I was walking through the East Town Mall in Madison. I was in town for a National Guard drill weekend and was looking for a St. Patrick's Day gift for my wife. One of the shop windows had a new Suzuki Marauder in the window. I do not remember what the store was selling or what the motorcycle had to do with it, but it re-ignited my interest in getting a motorcycle.

My life had been motorcycle free for 25 years and I had not been in a bike shop for nearly as long. Several people I knew had recently bought bikes and they were Harley Davidsons. They seemed to be the brand of choice for middle aged men like me.

This was the heyday of Harley Davidson sales, and new bikes were not in showrooms. If you wanted a new one you had to order it and then wait months for it to come in. I was not in a waiting mood and bought a used one that turned out to be a great bike.

2004 Lowrider ordered in October 2003

Those days are long gone for The Motor Company. The middle aged crowd that fueled those sales in the late nineties and early aughts are aging out of the riding life. The prices of the bikes have increased steadily while the motorcycle buying demographic has less disposable income. Competition for big American-made v-twin motorcycles arrived in the form of Harley's oldest rival, Indian. For all of these reasons Harley is developing and marketing the types of motorcycles they used to leave to other manufacturers.

A couple of months ago Harley Davidson released pictures of an adventure bike, a streetfighter, and an electric bike that they will bring to market as 2020 models. The details on the bikes are still murky, but they are a departure from anything they have built in their first 115 years.

Air cleaner  on my 110 CI 2016 FXDL S

Last month the new FXDR was introduced as a 2019 model. The Harley website shows the bike being ridden on a racetrack as a way of proclaiming that this is not your father's (or grandfather's) Harley. It has the big 114 cubic inch motor and an improved suspension over the other bikes built on the Softail platform. The clip-on bars and solo seat are indications that this bike is aimed at the track day rider rather than the bar hopping, fingerless glove rider.

The new FXDR features clip on handlebars

What surprised me about the bike was the amount of plastic on it compared to my 2016 Lowrider S. The new bike's radical air cleaner is all plastic instead of powder coated steel like the one on mine. Other pieces are made of cheaper looking materials than I am used to seeing. The styling does not seem to flow like the now discontinued Dynas did and it does not look much like the Softails that were so popular for decades. The new bike is priced north of $21,000, so it will take a committed rider to buy one of these.

In the past Harley did not seem concerned about how their products stacked up against other manufacturers. Indian was not the competition that they are today. The metric bike builders tried to imitate Harley with their cruiser offerings, but could make no inroads on the Motor Company's share of this market. But Indian has continuously improved their bikes and built out their dealership network. As the biker demographic has aged, big rangy adventure bikes like the BMW R 1200 GS and Ducati Multistrada have become hot commodities.

Plastic air cleaner on the big 114 CI engine

The younger riders are not attracted to the big, heavy bikes that Harley built its brand upon and prefer sport bikes or cafe racers. So now the trend seems to have shifted. It's Harley that is trying to build bikes like the German, Italian, and to an extent, like the Japanese are producing.

It is apparent that Harley is concerned that it is losing market share with its legacy model lineup. These new bikes, while still having a big v-twin as the center of attraction, are a distinct departure from the old way. It remains to be seen whether or not this will attract the coveted millennial demographic and allow Harley to maintain or increase its market share.