South Park made fun of this almost 20 years ago. It's not a new concept. This is coming from a guy who lives right across the route 30 bridge to York. Lot of HD around here, even from younger generation. Still just as obnoxious as it's always been.
Why Royal Enfield is Destroying Harley Davidson
- Thread starter K.Aoi
- Start date
4wd
$50 site donor 2026
Try living half your life overseas and hearing Ducati vs ——- Japanese bike every night at 3 am … hotel windows 40’ from the roadway …
If I had a harley I'd have a magnet. A magnet for wierdos to come up to me at gas stations to "help me understand" that I could have gotten one with more chrome, or a special cam, or better mufflers, or whatever.
No thanks, I don't want that sort of attention.
They do, at present, have gobs more brand equity than Royal Enfield. Brand Equity = the amount above the cost of production you profit because your name is attached. They did a great job curating this over the past few decades and for all the reasons mentioned in this thread are losing it and poised to lose much, much more.
If I were to buy a harley, I'd find a boomer with one in his garage that he polishes and never rides. Pretty easy. Or better, the estate of said boomer who'd let it go for a reasonable, pride-free price.
No thanks, I don't want that sort of attention.
They do, at present, have gobs more brand equity than Royal Enfield. Brand Equity = the amount above the cost of production you profit because your name is attached. They did a great job curating this over the past few decades and for all the reasons mentioned in this thread are losing it and poised to lose much, much more.
If I were to buy a harley, I'd find a boomer with one in his garage that he polishes and never rides. Pretty easy. Or better, the estate of said boomer who'd let it go for a reasonable, pride-free price.
AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
Hard to imagine guys cross shopping Harley and Royal Enfield.
4wd
$50 site donor 2026
Yeah, went to website - a bit more like a Triumph IMO
I’ll stick to my Vespa. 80 mph on 12” tires is enough excitement for me 
Same here. I rode from 1969 until 2017. Not any more. Too many dangerous and distracted drivers out there.
The core customer is dying off slowly but surely not adaptive to new potential customer wants.
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- May 16, 2022
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Just a thought about the title of this post and video Why Royal Enfield is Destroying Harley Davidson...
I live under a mile from a Royal Enfield and Indian dealer. I drop in that dealer about once a month to look around and I absolutely LOVE the look of the Royal Enfield bikes,
IMO the paint colors, chrome have a very cool vintage vibe and kinda look like a museum pice, I find the real pin stripping impressive, the R.E. bikes simply look fantastic and when I turn the price tag around i'm like WOW how is a bike that looks that good sold for so little money?
The thing is these are small displacement motorcycles made in India. I have never ridden a Royal Enfield but I can say without a test ride my BIG frame and extra large American everything is best supported with a much larger Motorcycle!
Less face it many older Americans are BIG, I get that Royal Enfield may be going after a smaller younger buyer than I but I I don't agree with that title of Why Royal Enfield is Destroying Harley Davidson...
One other thing I have noticed not only living less than 1/2 mile from the Royal Enfield and Indian dealer I live in a tourist area on one of the busiest popular streets in town with a constant flow of motorcycle traffic.
As I sit on my front porch I may see hundreds of Harleys pass my house in any given day and being close to that Indian dealer I see a good bit of Indians pass the house include that dealers Indian shop guys headed home after work but I can only think of a very small amount of Royal Enfield bikes pass my house as in like never. When I'm out riding I may see one in the wild but very very few,,,
I like Royal Enfield and wish them well and actually wish RE would make a larger motorcycle for the American market, the largest engine Royal Enfield makes is a 648 CC Twin... That won't replace Harley anytime soon in America and would not be a good match for my fat American A$$.... I do 100% like those R.E. bikes and if I was a little person I may would buy one... may not?
I live under a mile from a Royal Enfield and Indian dealer. I drop in that dealer about once a month to look around and I absolutely LOVE the look of the Royal Enfield bikes,
IMO the paint colors, chrome have a very cool vintage vibe and kinda look like a museum pice, I find the real pin stripping impressive, the R.E. bikes simply look fantastic and when I turn the price tag around i'm like WOW how is a bike that looks that good sold for so little money?
The thing is these are small displacement motorcycles made in India. I have never ridden a Royal Enfield but I can say without a test ride my BIG frame and extra large American everything is best supported with a much larger Motorcycle!
Less face it many older Americans are BIG, I get that Royal Enfield may be going after a smaller younger buyer than I but I I don't agree with that title of Why Royal Enfield is Destroying Harley Davidson...
One other thing I have noticed not only living less than 1/2 mile from the Royal Enfield and Indian dealer I live in a tourist area on one of the busiest popular streets in town with a constant flow of motorcycle traffic.
As I sit on my front porch I may see hundreds of Harleys pass my house in any given day and being close to that Indian dealer I see a good bit of Indians pass the house include that dealers Indian shop guys headed home after work but I can only think of a very small amount of Royal Enfield bikes pass my house as in like never. When I'm out riding I may see one in the wild but very very few,,,
I like Royal Enfield and wish them well and actually wish RE would make a larger motorcycle for the American market, the largest engine Royal Enfield makes is a 648 CC Twin... That won't replace Harley anytime soon in America and would not be a good match for my fat American A$$.... I do 100% like those R.E. bikes and if I was a little person I may would buy one... may not?
During the AMF era, a friend's business class included a QC lesson involving HD showroom floors needing covering with cardboard to absorb leaking oil.
I'd bet many people got long-lasting, bad HD impressions at that time.
My pal who learned of the aftermarket when he left automotive school was mind-blown over HD parts markups.
And every farm boy called Harley "A name and a noise".
These lads didn't just grow up with transistor radios, they grew up with electronic everything (think small + quiet).
Also, the lads of yesteryear grew up hearing about Ninjas and other ways to 'go extreme'.
HD was grandma's toaster on wheels.
Heck, had the internet been around then, Harley might've shriveled sooner.
Anybody have any sales figures?
Yeah, they're a fashion statement, like every bike. If I were selling them I'd hope their retro look was timeless, and not a fad like the PT Cruiser. OTOH, PT Cruisers sold until they didn't and were useful for Chrysler's bottom line.
RE can only hope to one day get the brand equity harley has, or had at their peak. Businesses sell stuff for less because they can't sell it for more.
Because the Royal Enfield is so $@%# good lookin…? At least we still have Indian….Wait….
My HD riding friends all tell me the same thing. "I'll never buy another new one. There's a ton of 'em out there with very low miles bike for half the price sitting in garages."
Potential HD buyers are aging out of the motorcycle hobby.
Older folks entering retirement age realize buying a HD might not be the best financial decision.
Electric motorcycle will not spark interest in younger men that don’t want to ride a motorcycle.
HD might not be around in 10 years, sad but true.
Older folks entering retirement age realize buying a HD might not be the best financial decision.
Electric motorcycle will not spark interest in younger men that don’t want to ride a motorcycle.
HD might not be around in 10 years, sad but true.
Harley is suffering from Oldsmobile syndrome, except that Oldsmobile didn’t seek to actively ostracize younger buyers. Harley is an old man’s bike. They were cool to people who grew up in the 50s, 60s, 70s and maybe even the 80s.
They’ve stayed loyal to that generation, but they’ve failed to attract a younger audience and in fact, they’ve ostracized them. Now that those people who grew up in the 50s-80s are getting older, many are either physically unable to ride a bike or have passed away. That audience is dwindling. I said it in a previous post but the Harley/dingy-bar-bike-night culture is not appealing to the overwhelming majority of younger people and yet Harley has made it a major part of their brand identity. And even if younger buyers were interested in buying a Harley, they can’t afford them. A motorcycle is a luxury item. Buying a $30k luxury item isn’t something most people, especially most young people with no money, can pull off.
I think they’ve probably missed out on the millennial generation, but they might still be able to appeal to Gen Z’s/Gen Alphas if they can pull a 180* on their marketing and dramatically lower prices. That’s the only way I can see them being around for much longer.
They’ve stayed loyal to that generation, but they’ve failed to attract a younger audience and in fact, they’ve ostracized them. Now that those people who grew up in the 50s-80s are getting older, many are either physically unable to ride a bike or have passed away. That audience is dwindling. I said it in a previous post but the Harley/dingy-bar-bike-night culture is not appealing to the overwhelming majority of younger people and yet Harley has made it a major part of their brand identity. And even if younger buyers were interested in buying a Harley, they can’t afford them. A motorcycle is a luxury item. Buying a $30k luxury item isn’t something most people, especially most young people with no money, can pull off.
I think they’ve probably missed out on the millennial generation, but they might still be able to appeal to Gen Z’s/Gen Alphas if they can pull a 180* on their marketing and dramatically lower prices. That’s the only way I can see them being around for much longer.
They cost too dang much, like a lotta things nowadays...
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
Apparently Harley is using the same business model that has sunk and destroyed so very many North American industries since the end of the 1980s.
Large , powerful, rich, long time successful companies decided around the late 1980s to stop a very effective and proven system that had made them massive successes in their fields for many years.
They once would use their very own employees for CEOs and Heads of the Board of Directors when needed. People who mostly started at the bottom rung and worked their ways up thru most every job within the company. Those folks knew the ins and outs and just about every thing to do with the company and its products to make it successful.
At some point in the 1980s these companies decided it best to stop that practice and start to employ and place some economic specialist to those top essential positions. This was the very start to the END.
So many once great (now dead and gone) companies went down the same way.
Sears and Remington Arms, DuPont , Gulf Oil, U.S. Steel and on and on come to mind. We could make a page long list. Yep, what a heck of a business model to certain doom.
Let's promote someone from outside who knows and cares nothing about our company (so he can fire anyone with no remorse) and place him in the very top position. Then, once he has destroyed things about as bad as possible, he can call in his golden parachute part of his contract with us and retire with more money than the Roman Crassus had. Too bad those CEOs do not end up like he did since all his money did nothing to save his own skin.
Truly very sad times for so many customers and even more for those who earn their livings and give so much loyalty to companies run by people who care absolutely nothing at all about the people, the products or even the companies they take so many millions from to end up destroying.
I rented a Street Glide from Eagle Riders for a couple days, a few years ago in Sedona Az. Always wanted try out a Harley, kind of a bucket list thing. I’ve ridden Japanese bikes since high school.
I was age 58 at the time, and was told that if the Street Glide came back with any new scratches or damage “that you and me are gonna have some words”. Whatever that meant. This was after dropping $100’s of dollars for the rental and full insurance.
Maybe not fair, but that attitude turned me right off of Harley’s all together.
I was age 58 at the time, and was told that if the Street Glide came back with any new scratches or damage “that you and me are gonna have some words”. Whatever that meant. This was after dropping $100’s of dollars for the rental and full insurance.
Maybe not fair, but that attitude turned me right off of Harley’s all together.
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