Rumours that Harley-Davidson was dropping its Road Glide Custom and the Road Glide Ultra have been floating for a while. Now, company bigwigs have confirmed that gossip.
While the Road Glide models were popular with H-D enthusiasts who wanted a fully-kitted touring bike, Harley-Davidson management claimed they weren’t a huge part of their touring sales. Even still, why’d they drop the bikes? The MoCo execs made their comments in a conference call with investors, apparently, but did not explain the move.
Some gossip on Cyril Huze’s blog says the machine used to make the bikes’ fairings was damaged, and too expensive to replace. Another piece of gossip claims the V-Rod is also on the way out, and the V-Rod and Road Glides are both about to be replaced by a new model with water-cooled heads.
Who’s to say? We do know there’s a new Harley-Davidson model en route, to be unveiled roughly around the same time their 110th anniversary celebrations go down, but nobody’s telling us if it’s a tourer, a bagger, or what.
[…] also had shots of a new Harley-Davidson Road Glide. Last year, Harley-Davidson ruffled a few feathers by canceling Road Glide models. That move was tied up with […]
[…] Harley-Davidson confirms lineup shuffle – Canada Moto Guide […]
Bad-ass wannabees…. take everything that makes a motorcycle great… and throw it out the window (feet sticking out in front and hands above their shoulders…). 1940’s technology at cutting-edge prices.
Bash away. One thing HD does that no one else seems to is to actually talk to the people who buy their bikes. Willie G would go to rallies and talk to the riders as if they were human beings. I have been on some demo rides for the other brands. Trying to talk to one of the reps was a case of attitude: this hick thinks he knows something does he.’
HD is falling further and further behind these days. They should do what all the business schools are saying: “Focus on your CORE business!!!”
They should stop fooling around making slow, overweight bar-hopping cruisers and flabby “touring” whale-like motorcycles and focus on their CORE business: Selling HD-branded leather g-strings and do-rags to meth addicts.
Aren’t all Harleys the same bike? Don’t they just bolt on different accessories and call it a different model?
Amen.