Video review : Harley Wide Glide v Victory Vegas v Triumph Thunderbird

RocketDaryl said:

That vid will have the natives restless in no time. lol

Non HD riders will NEVER understand the HD vibe and HD riders will NEVER understand the non HD riders mindset. It's a futile discussion, yet everyone loves to waste time on it.

Michael Neeves put it best in the Kawa 1600, Victory Vegas and Triumph T-Bird shootout (T-Bird and Vegas were a draw in that one) when he said:

"We call this test the "Best of the rest" because we're not including Harley because for those that want a Harley nothing else will do so there's no point in testing others against it."

That pretty much sums up the loyal HD crowd and your comments pretty much sum up the non HD crowd. Bottom line, it eats the non HD crowd's crawl that HD has such a following though they have the least performing bike. It eats the HD crowd's crawl that someone would dare to question the "lifestyle".

Click to expand...

That covers it.... However, while it covers the HD mystique, one has to come to the realization that the 'Only a Harley for me will do' crowd is becoming less and less and HD knows that full well.

I was surprised the squid made the statements about HD in as much as British heritage is all about British bikes, of which the Triumph is the lone survivior.

I've never been comfortable with Bloor's decision to build bikes in Taiwan, however, I understand the sconomics of scale....and I don't own a Taiwan manufactured (entirely) motorcycle (other than my Kawasaki KLR which happens to be built in a factory adjacent to the Triumph factory. None of my Brit bikes bear the Taiwan heritage.

I expect nothing less from Kawasaki or the other Oriental manufacturers for that matter. Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha all have Taiwan plants. Cheap labor and physical overhead conducive to excellent profit margins.

wait wait wait...

Why buy a bike that's more comfortable?
Why buy a bike that's faster?
Why buy a bike that stops better?

... when you can buy a Harley that sucks for more money?



makes sense to me... morons...



cheers
geo

Sidecar Flip said:

That covers it.... However, while it covers the HD mystique, one has to come to the realization that the 'Only a Harley for me will do' crowd is becoming less and less and HD knows that full well.

I was surprised the squid made the statements about HD in as much as British heritage is all about British bikes, of which the Triumph is the lone survivior.

I've never been comfortable with Bloor's decision to build bikes in Taiwan, however, I understand the sconomics of scale....and I don't own a Taiwan manufactured (entirely) motorcycle (other than my Kawasaki KLR which happens to be built in a factory adjacent to the Triumph factory. None of my Brit bikes bear the Taiwan heritage.

I expect nothing less from Kawasaki or the other Oriental manufacturers for that matter. Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha all have Taiwan plants. Cheap labor and physical overhead conducive to excellent profit margins.

Click to expand...

Yes, I'm certain Harley is well aware that their primary demographic is rapidly approaching the "too old to ride motorycles" age. All one needs to do is look at their current marketing strategy (going after skateboarders in one ad). That said, I think they'll be fine once they get things re-aligned and recover from reducing production back down to realistic numbers. They are in a pickle, however, with labor rates.

I'm with you with regards to Triumph manufacturing some of their bikes in Taiwan. However, it seemed to be a calculated risk that's worked out well for them. I do not, however, seeing that sort of move working out well for Harley. The Harley crowd, while rabid about Harley bikes, is not a fan of the company or their dealer network. In fact, they'll stand in total agreement with any of us with regards to Harley dealers being evil. I think if HD tries opening a factory outside the US, and they will because their corporate ranks are no different from any other, they will lose what's left of the old demographic. Now, they may very well capture a new following, especially if they actually hire engineers to work in R&D instead of marketing majors. But, that's a HUGE risk.

well i can talk about both sides of that debate as i grew up i the hd life all of my family and there freinds and there parents where all about harly and to them and me for half of my life i to thought theres nothing better than hd and rode them up to 4.5 years ago when i saw a victory kingpin yet it took me a nether year to take one out for a test ride and i did it just to prove that hd was supioror to anything out there wow was i wrong it was (the victory ) the best ride more power handling comfort and balanced better than any hd that i have ever owned nedless to say i traded the hd on the spot for the victory in fact i just sold it this past xmas after 4.5 years and 50.000 trouble free miles later now i have the r3c 08 . thats why hd people are called bikers and the rest of use are motorcycle enthusiest !!

The fundamental difference between a biker and an enthusiast is the enthusiast rides their motorycle(s). The biker orders a beer and stands around talking about riding, although they actually have little to no mileage on their bike.

now thats a very true statement! funny too! I see it all the time!

Well THAT was a waste of video tape (drive space), 1940's technology at 2010 prices just because. "Well, the bike sucks .... but hell, It's a Harley! STUPID.

Did I actually just see a Senior Motorcycle Reviewer say that the other bikes were more comfortable, more powerful and had better brakes (three reasons to choose a bike), THEN in the same breath choose the Harley because some celebrities (known to make good decisions) like the image? WTF? Maybe I should just check to see what Paris Hilton is riding next time I buy a bike.

HellFire said:

Did I actually just see a Senior Motorcycle Reviewer say that the other bikes were more comfortable, more powerful and had better brakes (three reasons to choose a bike), THEN in the same breath choose the Harley because some celebrities (known to make good decisions) like the image? WTF? Maybe I should just check to see what Paris Hilton is riding next time I buy a bike.

Click to expand...

I hate to say, but some sportbikers aren't very good at doing anything else