So you're an upper middle class douche with pointy shoes and simulated creases in your diesel jeans. Last year at the local bike show you saw some really sweet custom bikes and said to your gucci, fake baked girlfriend, I wanna build one of those and be cool, but mine's gonna be a Harley. But grease, blood and fire isn't really your thing. You're really more of a golf shirt and mineral water kinda guy. The idea of sparks flying in your garage next to your body kit'd Chevy Cavalier makes you nervous that you might wreck the candy paint job on the oversized spoiler. Sooo no custom bike for you...but wait....Harley executives to the rescue!!!! Hurray. With the H-D1, now you can customize your own HD from your macbook air and never have to step foot in the garage. You can tell all your leather doo rag wearing boyfriends that YOUR harley is custom build by YOU. Build yours today!!! Then go buy some eagle clad leathers and wait for it to arrive.
Go to Harley Davidson has really lost it's cool .com to build your own douche-mobile.
It makes me sad. But then I thought...Maybe you could get one of these "customs" totally stripped down for cheap and have a good platform to cut/chop etc. WRONG! The cheapest is still $11,229! Fuck That! That's more than I paid for my 07 Wide Glide. So, emotions aside, it's still a shitty thing they're doing. But, there's enough people out there who can only be cool by buying it, so the shareholders will be happy. After all, is it HD's business to be cool or to make $$$? Have we really been betrayed? Did they really "sell out"? Has it ever not been about selling lots of bikes and making lots of $$$?
ReplyDeleteNo doubt. HD's in it for the money and that's not new. My issue is that HD is selling bikes today based on the bad ass reputation of yesterday's biker. Who then, will HD sell bikes to in the future and under what marketing strategy? At some point HD will have a longer history selling yuppie's bikes than bikers and that's when shareholders will be really pissed. Because HD is headed for a really gay image. As stoopid as the whole "dork custom" thing was, at least they were profiling guys with zip disks and greasy fingernails. This new venture is gonna lose them respect and that's something they're getting pretty low on. If they were really interested in custom kulture they'd have a whole section on their site devoted to selling components like engines, frames, forks etc. But the lawyers would never approve putting a sporty front end on a wide glide.
ReplyDeleteHararar! excellent rants boys! fuck'em lets just ride. 0 wait. Ballz.
ReplyDeleteNinja's right. If they want to be "custom", open up the whole parts catalog. And not with those stupid aftermarket prices. Break free of the mold. Get out of the "cage" as they like to say. Get rid of standard models altogether. Does there have to be a "sportster", "wide glide", "street bob", "v-rod", etc? (I wouldn't mind sticking that v-rod engine into a lighter, sporty type bike, maybe an FXD would be a little safer though) You're also right in that, who's image are they going to copy next? The people who will be buying the bikes in the next generation will never have known such a thing as a "Biker". They'll know HDs as the bikes their grandparents ride. Bikes for old people. They'll relate to technology and not be into getting greasy. HD is the last place to go if you want technology and don't want to get greasy. These kids will certainly go to Honda or Yamaha to fill their needs. Anyway, it will be what it will be. Lets ride.
ReplyDelete"O wait. Ballz."