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Another HD Spin Off: Metric Cruisers
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Having attended many manufacture product intro events, learned some interesting statistics during the Tech and Marketing session presented. Cruisers, in the USA market, were the overall most profitable segment from roughly '89 up to early 2000's. Only a few key sport bikes took top honors, but overall, cruisers were the true Bread and Butter for the big four for two decades. I know in the UK it's different, not sure what "Metric Cruisers" are sold over there. Here, they are big. Most are way better (IMO) than a Harley, much cheaper to buy and maintain and more fun to ride. Yet, they get no respect ... and are a favorite whipping boy from racist Tatoo'd Pirate crowd. (Jap Crap and all the rest) So, as a result of HD's huge success at reviving an ancient WW2 design, repackaging and modernizing it (very carefully), then pedaling it to a whole generation longing to view life through the rear view mirror and live Walter Mitty/Ronald Reagan/ Cowboy/Wild One fantasies, this illusory lifestyle has crossed over and given birth to Japanese Cruisers, and became their best selling segment FOR YEARS. Thank you Harley-Davidson! :smartass: All we rebel journos always told the Japanese OEM reps they were headed for disaster with Metric Cruisers, but it never happened. Sales just grew, profits increased massively for over a 10 year period. How could we have been so wrong? At the intro for one of the "Star" motorcycles (cruiser line by Yamaha) an executive informed us the typical amounts owners spent on accessories. Astounding amount of money on average. (all the Jap OEM's track this sort to stuff) Most would spend (on average) $3000 on day of purchase, then an additional $3000 in the next year. Also informed us that 80% of these bikes spent most of their life in the garage. Typically doing less than 1000 miles a year. So, accessories are THE BIG THING in Cruiser world. ...and more like a Harley your Metric Cruiser looks ... all the better. (I think most look BETTER the an HD) Look at the Metric Cruiser line ups of the big four. (Yamaha is Star in this segment). Cruisers are still a big part of what they do. https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-...-WNkTZvz-L.jpg Star Stratoliner https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-.../i-cWr7S5s.jpg Ready to head out for test ride. |
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I wouldn't discount the effect of celebrities starting to ride Harleys in the 80's either. Once you had everyone from Tom Cruise to Hulk Hogan to Malcolm Forbes riding, that put some distance between H-D and the dirty biker culture. |
Where are the recent examples though? Drug driving hippies who resemble every serial killer and kiddy fiddler I was told to stay away from in the 1980's has me siding with the hill billy in the pick up truck. Mumbling multiple murdering cyborgs don't really do it. Chases now seem to use Ducatis and chick flick heros ride Italian or Triumph. I think the last Harley I saw was in some "comedy" with Wil Farell I turned off before the end.
Andy |
I can confirm that, at least in India, Harley-Davidson is working towards changing their image. Recently, a video team from Harley-Davidson India visited a few of us from the Goa Chapter. They were looking for footage to create a documentary titled "Humans of Harley". The idea was to show owners in their homes and localities doing nice family stuff such as cooking, fishing, etc. as opposed to making a noise, drinking and partying, which is the current image of a Harley owner.
The video team came to my house and I had them interview me in my compound. Then they wanted to enter my home and shoot some footage with my wife and kids and I said "Hell no!" There was no way I was going to let them use my family to sell their twisted image. So I told the video team about my love for photography and we agreed that they shoot me riding along my village roads and me capturing the sunset with my camera. A preview of the documentary was recently released on Facebook. The link is here. The guy you see first in the video is me. Since I have a Fat Boy, a Tiger, a Duke and an Enfield, I'm part of many riding groups in Goa. The most boring guys to ride with are the folks from HOG. These are mostly relatively well off middle aged men who first need to seek permission from their wives to ride their motorcycles. All they want to do is ride some 30 to 40 kms and then sit down to drink. And needless to say, these are the guys who spend the most on their motorcycles, riding gear and clothes. Most of them aren't real riders. They just want to look cool in front of their friends and family, apart from flaunting their wealth. I just can't associate myself with them and as a result have stopped riding with them altogether. They wear their patches and pins with pride. But what I find most funny is the way they "wear" their tattoos. They have these skin colored elastic "sleeves" that have bad ass tattoos on them. I think you get the picture. :-) |
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One of the main reasons that I never ever for any reasons in the world want to be called a biker. I am a traveller and I travel by motorbike, thats it. I dont belong to a group or a gang. Most of the time I prefer to travel alone. I can ride where I want when I want. I can wear what I want. I can like and dislike what I want etc etc. Thats freedom.... |
Snakeboy, yup, you said it right. That's true freedom.
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One of the main reasons that I never ever for any reasons in the world want to be called a biker. I am a traveller and I travel by motorbike, thats it. I dont belong to a group or a gang. Most of the time I prefer to travel alone. I can ride where I want when I want. I can wear what I want. I can like and dislike what I want etc etc. Thats freedom.... |
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Why on earth does anyone want to be seen anywhere near a vehicle, whether 4 wheels or 2, that looks 70+ years old? I first began to take an interest in automotive design when I was 5 years old. As a result, I think the 1959 model year was probably one of the best EVER in US automotive design - forget the tall finned 55/56/57 Chevies and give me the long, low and wide gull winged '59 Impala. Same with bikes, I first took an interest in bikes as a 16yo in 1970. Forget the chrome tanked Japanese designs from the '60s and the round tank British machines with their huge chromed badges - instead I wanted the painted square bread box designs from 1970 onwards. Even today, in my 60s, I still think the most attractive bikes are the sleek faired road racers such as the R1, GSXR1000 and ZX10 - despite the fact that it has been well over 30 years since my body could conform to the ergonomics. :rofl: So for modern day riders to desire bikes that hark back to the '30s and '40s just suggests these owners are sheep rather than following their own sense of style. What say others? :confused: |
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So the '59 Chevy is the pinnacle of automobile design, but you are a sheep if you prefer a retro styled bike, even if it has modern performance. Okay, got it. |
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Look at the recent ... and very successful launch of a re-born Indian Motorcycle company (owned by Polaris, who also make Victory motorcycles as well as snow mobiles, ATV's and Jet Ski's) Why folks love these antique recreations is also beyond me. I don't consider their fans Sheep really, just that in USA at least, there is no accounting for tastes ... and some people are WAY over paid! Perhaps you don't have the social diversity in Oz that we do in USA? I figure, let the market sort it out and let those with more money than brains spend their cash on whatever they like. They'll never get my money. :helpsmilie: Quote:
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We've helped broke down Harley guys many times on our rides ... and THEY HAVE helped us. At least they are on two wheels ... even though I'm on Earth and they seem to be on Mars. bier https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-S...rter-view1.jpg |
I've had so called retro bikes, a 790 Bonneville and Guzzi V7. Selling features are
1. Low height, twin shocks mean you are an inch lower, important for the vertically challenged. If the ergonomics were right in 1930 they work now, no need for bum in the air and knees by your ears. 2. Everything is acessible to work on. 3. Round headlights work better on incandescent technology. 4. Race fashion produces just as much stupidity and sometimes the retro designers accidentally stumble into the practical area the people in the middle of last century aimed at. Guzzi gave the V7 300 miles range because the tank was styled when engines did 40 mpg not 60. 5. Low power and torque is more useful than race spec screamers for range and other running costs. I have tested a Sportster and only the idiot salesman with his HOG roasts and petrol preservative put me off. I've had an Enfield and Ural too, but that's more authentic to the point of painful. I also don't get the style thing but see desigsn features I like. My current NC ticks the ssme boxes with modern style and that works too. I can't usually tell one car from another. My employer just gives me a list and I pick the one that costs least on tax but has a good radio. I would put a Landrover Defender made two years ago against that Cadillac though. Andy |
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....... which is that I only like the design of vehicles which were styled "after" the period I first started to take an interest in them. I don't like "retro style" vehicle design which harkens back to a period earlier than that, which is why I can't understand why riders who are the same age as, or younger than me, do like bikes with a 1940s styling theme. |
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