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Old 06-21-2022, 12:35 PM   #60 (permalink)
JSH
AKA - Jason
 
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: PDX
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Adventure Seeker - '04 Chevy Astro - Campervan
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Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5 View Post
The Harley is explained in that video.

I think the Beetle sounds tuned when it is in fact in tune.
Yes, it is. Harley decided to do something to save money and then it became a trademark of the brand that the faithful cling to despite the disadvantage.

Part of that is simply that Harley completely gave up trying to complete on performance with the Europeans and Japanese in the 1980's. So if the bike you own isn't objectively better than the competition how do you say it is still the best? Soul and nationalism. That doesn't really work for people outside of the USA which explains how bikes that were failures in the USA (V-Rod) were quite popular in international markets.

It is nice to see Harley finally getting back to competing on performance with the Revolution engine which is a proper 60 degree, DOHC, water cooled, balanced performance engine. It has been a hit - too good actually as they are selling so well that Harley hasn't decided to add them to the EagleRider rental fleet yet. I have almost a month of rental days just sitting waiting for the day I can rent a proper motorcycle from EagleRider again. (When Harley bought control interest they mostly eliminated other brands from the fleet)
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