No, it's not the "new NT" but I'm interested in one of the offshoots

[seagrass]

Its not a 90 degree motor but 270 degrees and in this style of motorcycle the 270 degree firing order is not done to make it sound like a V-twin. Triumph and af few others do have a 270 degree firing order on some of their cruiser type twins for the sound purpose however.

The quote below is from Honda's web page for the Africa Twin

"Most twins use a 180-degree crank. By phasing the Africa Twin's at 270 degrees, you get a unique power delivery that’s easy to modulate, especially in terrain where traction is challenging."

Interesting that the Africa Twin has a 270 degree firing order, the CX/GL (CXGL500/650) range of bikes from the late 1970s and early 1980s also used a 270 degree firing order and you are probably aware just how good an engine they were.

Seagrass

 

[NewTo700V]

"HOG going back to what they do best in the way of product"

I wouldn't read too much into that. They may have simply just placed a new bulk order for chaps and T-shirts from Malaysia.

 

[Warren]

I agree with you Phil since I'm a towering 5'6". :-(

If the manufacturers just produced a couple of "standards" they would be lower than the whole string of pseudo-adventure bikes now on the market.

MikeSim - I read an online report that the CEO of "The Motor Company" said they're going back to what they do best in the way of product. Does that mean the Pan American Adv bike and the Elec bike are history? I personally didn't think either of those had a chance because of H-Ds long history of building cruisers and Road Kings.

I just finished reading Harley's Q1 Earnings Call from Apr 28. The new CEO says that they remain committed to the Pan American Adv bike, The Bronx Street Fighter and the Electric bike. Due to the Covid crisis they have simply delayed their launch date. He also said in the future all new product launches would be in Q1 to correspond with the riding season rather than in August as they had been doing previously. Also they have canned the "More Roads Plan" and the new strategy is called "The Rewire Program". It was a pretty dismal call but on a positive note they are flush with cash and if they had zero sales they would still have enough money to get to the end of the year.

 

[NoNTnow]

H-D makes more money on the licensing the brand and selling clothing and accessories than selling bikes. It has been like that for a long time. I don't think any other motorcycle manufacture can make that claim.

I'm waiting for my local H-D dealers to get a bit more desperate, I'm getting daily emails with "deals", before I go discuss a Street Rod 750 ABS or a Street 750 ABS. Last time around that weren't hungry enough, I think that has changed a bit.

 

[Coyote Chris]

I'm still waiting for some major manufacturer to go after the huge market in bikes for people with short legs!

Phil is right. Some ladies have short legs too and BMW used to, at least, like Triumph, offer lowered bikes from the factory. I am tall and the African Twin is too tall unless you are I guess a serious off roader. And if it really has "instant flat" tires, it should never be used on the road over 50 mph, in my humble opinion. The day of the tube type tyre without some sort of insert is dead dead dead along with the shoe brake.

 

[Coyote Chris]

H-D makes more money on the licensing the brand and selling clothing and accessories than selling bikes. It has been like that for a long time. I don't think any other motorcycle manufacture can make that claim.

I'm waiting for my local H-D dealers to get a bit more desperate, I'm getting daily emails with "deals", before I go discuss a Street Rod 750 ABS or a Street 750 ABS. Last time around that weren't hungry enough, I think that has changed a bit.

You make a good point. At some time here, when bikes are not exactly flying out the door, and cars arent either, the manufactures will have to offer incentives to get rid of inventory....after that doesnt work, then the bikes go to auction...which is how I get many of my bikes....a place in coastal Oregon bought a truckful of Yamaha FJRs, 2014s, from Yamaha and blew them out the door..Dealers bought 2014-15 VFRs at auction and blew them out the door at 6-8 thousand....No sure what Harley will do.....

All the jobs are not coming back over night and those that have them are gonna think twice now about the reccommendations to have 3 months of cash in the bank. 50 percent of all Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Vehicle sales could be very low for quite awhile.
If you see a used bike you like at a dealer or a new one, I bet you can get a good deal now and a great deal later. I am sorry for the dealers but they had no problem in the 1980s increasing the costs of Honda Civic Wagons over retail for me....

 

[DirtFlier]

I agree about vehicles sale taking a long, long time to come back and that if/when the pandemic shutdown is over and a lot of dealers may not be around to see that day.

Cars, trucks, and bikes last a lot longer these days so very few people truly need a new vehicle other than to stoke their ego. Having 100k on a modern car is nothing and the same could be said of 50-75k on a motorcycle. The other day out of curiosity, I looked at the mileage log for my NT and the current spark plugs have been sparking away for almost 19k miles and it still runs well!

 

[Warren]

During Harley Q1 earnings call it was mentioned that during the 2008 recession over 100 Harley dealers went out of business. Not sure if we are going to see a repeat of that but it's not going to be a quick recovery by any means.

 

[NoNTnow]

Long wait for all that to come to pass...

That also depends on what you want to buy. The 750cc Street series was never well received by dealers or the "faithful". So it has the potential to sell as a much better deal than any other Harley I've owned. But finding one with ABS is a bit of an issue as most dealers don't order the option. I'm watching Ebay as well as there are a lot of well priced, low mileage, Street 750's available if I can find one with ABS.

During Harley Q1 earnings call it was mentioned that during the 2008 recession over 100 Harley dealers went out of business. Not sure if we are going to see a repeat of that but it's not going to be a quick recovery by any means.

Around here the vast majority of the dealers are multi-store for both H-D and imports. It is going to be interesting to see how they keep the several dealers, owned by the same parent company, from competing with each other in one metro market.

 

[DirtFlier]

I thought that back in the 90s, H-D corporate pressured multi-line dealers to carry only the Milwaukee brand. Did it not work?

As regards the Street series, a friend had the 500 for a while and loved it. It was quiet and trouble-free but extremely rare here because H-D mainly had that bike so it could be used in their rider training classes. I could see some who made all their money on big, air-cooled cruisers and Road Kings rejecting the Street Series, much as they did the Buell.

When this pandemic is over, it will change a lot of what people want and not just related to motorcycles. Money will be tight for at least the remainder of 2020 and maybe beyond?

 

[NoNTnow]

I thought that back in the 90s, H-D corporate pressured multi-line dealers to carry only the Milwaukee brand. Did it not work?

As far as I can tell it worked. I was referring to most of the dealerships, of any type, are owned by chains. That applies to both H-D and my local "furrin" dealerships. There are three chains of H-D dealers and several big chains, 10 or more dealers, for imports. The day of the independent "Mom and Pop" family dealership are long gone here.

If the market really tanks we could see a dozen dealerships at a time go away.

 

[ARKNT]

I had forgotten about the way the stores used to be. My first bike was an Aermacchi Harley Rapido 125cc.
I used to get parts at an airport that had a sideline Harley Davidson dealer in the building.
We will see what the future holds. I sure can't predict it.

Brad

 

[Hondafan]

Here is a little more on the NC800/850.

Honda NC850 In The Works?

A new Japanese patent indicates Honda may be working on a next-generation NC range with a new, larger-displacement twin-cylinder engine.

www.cycleworld.com

 

[DirtFlier]

When I was a kid , I can remember Sears & Roebuck had small motorcycles on display in their basement. I discovered much later that they were Puchs and perhaps Zundapps rebadged as "Sears." Up near Cleveland, a friend owns a small collection of them.

I bought parts for my first Husqvarna off-road racer from a foreign car repair shop. Yaaa Surre!.

 

[mikesim]

A boyhood friend had an Allstate (made by Puch IIRC) that was similar to the Honda Cub with a step thru design. We spent many a happy hour kicking, pushing and otherwise tinkering with it to get the damned thing to run, all the while the Rehmeier twins were riding happily by on their Honda Cubs. I am grateful however that it was that bike that taught me my "colorful" language skills that served me well later on in the USMC.

Mike

 

[Phil Tarman]

When I was a kid , I can remember Sears & Roebuck had small motorcycles on display in their basement. I discovered much later that they were Puchs and perhaps Zundapps rebadged as "Sears." Up near Cleveland, a friend owns a small collection of them.

I bought parts for my first Husqvarna off-road racer from a foreign car repair shop. Yaaa Surre!.

In 1978, we bought my daughter a bicycle from Sears. She was in the 6th grade and wanted a 10-speed. When we bought it she couldn't quite reach the pedals when they were on the bottom, but the salesman said, "Oh, she'll grow into it in just a few months." She said she wanted it and she'd grow into it in a few months, so we bought it. She still hasn't grown into it and she's 52 years old now. When I started riding a bicycle in '87, I started on her old bicycle. It was an Allstate built by Puch in Austria. For a carbon-steel framed bike, it was pretty decent. I rode it for 2K miles. Then when we taking Kelly (our daughter) to Baldwin City, KS, to start Baker University, I stumbled into a bicycle shop in Lawrence. The owner, who was just about 25 years old, spent 45 minutes "practicing his spiel" on me and then insisted that I take a ride on a $300 Fuji. The Fuji had a cro-moly steel frame and was about 15 pounds lighter and incredibly more responsive. I started saving my nickels and dimes and upgraded from the Puch to a Fuji after Thanksgiving that year. I rode that bike about 15K miles before I bought a Bridgestone RB-T a few years later.