Posted by Rob - Vancouver on May 16, 2000 at 19:16:29:
In Reply to: Harleys Breakdown posted by Lynn on April 20, 2000 at 21:46:03:
I don't know if it's true or not - and actually it doesn't matter. However the public perception that the Harley is not reliable does. I'm a Brit. We used to have some fine bikes - Triumph, Norton - BSA - Vellocette and Panther (Which is practically a Suzuki 650 beamed back to the forties) - to name a few. We lost all those great bikes as a result of mergers and eventually the presence in the market of simply a better product. The nail in the coffin was the Honda 750/4 and then the Honda 400 four (I don't know if that made it to North America). Along the way there were Suzuki 500 two strokes that just swallowed anything made in England kin a puff of blue smoke. Then three cylinder Kawasaki two strokes - wierd but so fast they scared the living crap out of everyone! These bikes were better, faster, more reliable and cheaper. Who could blame the buyers for buying such wonderful products.
Ultimately we are left with Triumph in Britain (I now live in Canada) producing a very average motorcycle. One frame for all it's products is their current thinking. So you get a frame that's ok for offroad but stinks for heavy road handling. For that money? I'll stink to my Suzi. Anyway - my point is the British bike industry failed because it stopped producing a quality product buyers could live with. Marketing can carry you through for a while, but eventually people just get tired of pushing their bikes by the side of the road, and then bad mouth the bikes.
If you were going to spend $6000 on your next bike would you buy one you could ride, or one your friends said you'd spend time pushing?
Rob