• Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to register so that you can join the community and use the numerous features on the site. After registering, don't forget to post up an introduction!

Harley Davidson Bronx! Harley made a Super Duke!

Forums New posts
Last I heard the Bronx was on indefinite hold. Has that changed?
 
jhansen said:
Is it just me or does the voice over sound like it's a computer talking? Irritating if you ask me. :brainsnap
Click to expand...
That's what I was thinking. Don't know if you picked up on it, but Ducati was pronounced dook-a-de. Might just be the angle of the pictures, but it looks like the radiator sticks out kinda far on the sides.
 
Lots of non-english speakers make youtube videos with text-to-speech software. They copy and paste ad copy and have the computer talk it out.
 
The future face of the great HD.
 
H-D has been building bikes for a long time but they've only been hanging radiators on bikes for just a few years and it shows.
Otherwise, I like it enough. Not as polarizing as the V-Rod was, but not as distinct either.
The name catches my attention as I grew up in the Bronx.
 
dukey33 said:
H-D has been building bikes for a long time but they've only been hanging radiators on bikes for just a few years and it shows.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but what's Yamaha's excuse on the XSR700? Can't for the life of me figure out how they nailed it on the XSR900 and blew it on the XSR700. It's like the Blues Brothers 2000 of motorcycles. But that's a whole different topic. Or two.

dukey33 said:
The name catches my attention as I grew up in the Bronx.
Click to expand...

To me, the name says, "we really want non-traditional Harley buyers REAL BAD". Or real close to, "we know you hate us, so much that we now agree and we hate ourselves too." How many people in Indiana or Idaho are going to want to buy something that says "Bronx" on it? Here's a bike that's "made in America" but named for a borough in one of the least "American" cities in the country. What's next? A Buell reboot called "the Berkeley"?
 
I am surprised the reactions are all not actually about the motorcycle on it's merits. For Harley this is way out there. Pretty slick looking scooter for them. Had to hurt to build basically a Euro-trash adventure bike and this thing. I think it was definitely out there for them. Almost as far out as me owning a KLR. Which I find less likely than me owning a Harley.....I am pretty sure I look better on this than I would on a KLR....LOL


IMG_5434.JPG
 
www.motoworlddergisi.com

The Harley-Davidson Bronx streetfighter cancelled - Moto World

The 975cc super-naked was unveiled at the Milan show (EICMA) last November alongside the new 1250cc Pan America adventure bike, both based around a new, liquid-cooled 60° V-twin intended to spearhead the US company’s ‘More Roads Lead To Harley’ initiative to diversify the range. However, a...
www.motoworlddergisi.com www.motoworlddergisi.com

Maybe next year.
 
OldTLSDoug said:
I am surprised the reactions are all not actually about the motorcycle on it's merits. For Harley this is way out there. Pretty slick looking scooter for them. Had to hurt to build basically a Euro-trash adventure bike and this thing.
Click to expand...

Well, the truth is that Harley's problems are at least as much to do with marketing as they are with product. I think you are right, this represents H-D making a pretty major adjustment in their product lineup, which may reflect their recognition that the market is moving on from their traditional heavy cruisers. That's good. There's a subtle thing going on though. I think the branding change is a step too far.

If anything, this thread along with most other discussions over the past few years about H-D indicates that regardless of the product feature/function/market, a large part of the appeal of the Harley Davidson brand is the "made in America" thing. They are marketing an "American" product to American buyers. Are they really saying their growth market in America consists of people who simultaneously value the "made in America" feature but also do not hold any other traditional American values? I just don't think it's going to work.

I think it's one thing to acknowledge that American motorcycle buyers actually want to buy motorcycles besides those Harley have been making forever, and that the Euro and Asian brands have done a better job of targeting those customers. It's quite another to think that these American motorcycle buyers are choosing the Euro and Asian brands specifically because they are not traditional American in terms of product image. Or in other words, you didn't likely buy a Ducati or Triumph instead of a Harley because you hate America. You bought it in spite of the fact that you love America, because Harley failed to offer you a product you wanted to buy. A big cruiser is not an American motorcycle, it's just an old fashioned motorcycle.

I look at Chevrolet, doing this way better. They made a mid-engine Corvette. It's awesome. Now Americans who want a supercar that competes with Ferrari, Porsche, MacLaren, Audi, Lamborghini, don't have to to resort to a Euro car to get it. Harley should bring out the bike they call the Bronx, and it should be a Sportster. They should acknowledge that the Sportster needs to evolve.
 
mr72 said:
.....Harley should bring out the bike they call the Bronx, and it should be a Sportster. They should acknowledge that the Sportster needs to evolve.
Click to expand...

The Sportster motor is too old and flawed to actually be a good sport/hooligan motor. I think the Buell era proved that. Harley needs to embrace modern tech and build a decent modern motorcycle. The Harley motor is still an old tractor motor that is very much a rock and a stick compared to other modern bikes. People buy other bikes, as you said, because Harley doesn't make the one they want. I have noticed that most folks ignore the KTM but they flock to the Harely, so apparently their marketing isn't dead yet. I am sad they cancelled it, but then they do make the live wire too. Maybe they will make a low tech KLR in the future....wait, Kawasaki already did that. LOL
 
OldTLSDoug said:
The Sportster motor is too old and flawed to actually be a good sport/hooligan motor. I think the Buell era proved that. Harley needs to embrace modern tech and build a decent modern motorcycle.
Click to expand...

I'm not talking about updating the Sportster. I'm talking about the Bronx should be the new Sportster and leave the old tractor motor bikes in museums where they belong.
 
mr72 said:
...
To me, the name says, "we really want non-traditional Harley buyers REAL BAD". Or real close to, "we know you hate us, so much that we now agree and we hate ourselves too." How many people in Indiana or Idaho are going to want to buy something that says "Bronx" on it? Here's a bike that's "made in America" but named for a borough in one of the least "American" cities in the country. What's next? A Buell reboot called "the Berkeley"?
Click to expand...

Perhaps the name Bronx is actually only the 1st half of the name, the 2nd part being Cheer. :trust:
 
I think the name change is necessary to set it apart from the old bikes. When someone told me Harley came out with a new bike called the “Bronx” and it had a new water cooled engine I at least went and checked it out. On the other hand if someone told me Harley came out with a new “ Sportster” I probably wouldn’t even go check it out. I don’t think the name itself matters, but the fact that they are changing up or at least offer something different is what needs to be the message.
 
The problem I see here is that Harley Davidson is mainly known for it's image. Every time they try to do something motorcycle wise outside that predefined image, it fails. It fails because most folks who want a specific type of motorcycle outside that image don't want to pay or subscribe to the Harley crowd or image. In the end HD tends to charge more for a product that falls short of the competition, hoping that image will pull people in, but it doesn't. For me, there is nothing about this bike that excites me because I know based on HD history, the Japanese and Europeans are going to do a better job with this type of motorcycle. I also know that to look at one I'd have to go into a dealership and here's hoping the dealerships do a better job of learning about this bike and promoting it than they have traditionally with bikes outside that HD image.

But yes, also, it's like we don't know who Doug is anymore, totally agree.
 
gixxerjasen said:
The problem I see here is that Harley Davidson is mainly known for it's image. Every time they try to do something motorcycle wise outside that predefined image, it fails. It fails because most folks who want a specific type of motorcycle outside that image don't want to pay or subscribe to the Harley crowd or image. In the end HD tends to charge more for a product that falls short of the competition, hoping that image will pull people in, but it doesn't.
Click to expand...

I think that's not so much because of image, but because they think that by being made in America, it makes it a premium product, regardless of actual objective quality or demand. If they are going to enter new segments, it is going to be very difficult to find any growth there unless they come in as a newcomer which would mean at a lower price vs. competition.

Now, I think the short term thinking is that Harleyphiles will buy anything Harley makes at any price so they want to satisfy that "demand" first. They are not really joping to get Ducati, Triumph, etc. buyers here, they are trying to get Harley-at-all-costs buyers to try a streetfighter. It shows a complete failure to understand how to go after a new market segments, and a myopia of vision beyond their own current user base.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top