This Revolution is just Getting Started

Here’s a hard, cold fact for Harley-Davidson management: You deserve every bit of skepticism that greets this, your latest reorganization. When you look back at the last 10 years – even longer, in fact – you’ll find you’ve worked pretty darned hard to earn the disrespect of pretty much every biker who doesn’t self-identify as a “one-percenter.” Indeed, Harley history is littered with the “next great things” that the Motor Company seems to trot out every couple of years, only to be quickly cast aside whenever the new MBA gets bored or the winds off Lake Michigan change direction.

The V-Rod died for such a lack of commitment. So did the XRs. Did anyone ever think that Harley was really going to produce electric bicycles? Seriously? Hell, the LiveWire had barely turned a wheel before Harley’s latest management team was pulling the plug on the whole More Roads to Harley-Davidson debacle. And I’m pretty sure the Motor Company set some kind of new record when it managed to buy and sell an entire motorcycle manufacturer – MV Agusta, in case you blinked and missed it – in less than 15 months.

Nor is this anything new. Can you say Buell? Aermacchi? How about the Street 500 and 750? The