A Harley-Davidson is Not Just a Motorcycle
By Catalogs Editorial Staff
Harley-Davidson Accessories Online
Just what makes a Harley-Davidson a Harley is hard to quantify; but as much as anything else, it comes down to the bike’s unique looks, sound and feel. According to some, owning a Harley is like a poke in the eye to mainstream sensibilities, a rolling sculpture, a club, a support group, a fantasy, a noisy declaration of independence, a way of life, a brotherhood, a religion, an obsession, something to believe in, an escape, and probably the best consumer product marketing device in history.William Harley and brothers William, Walter, together with Arthur Davidson built the first Harley-Davidson motorcycle in Milwaukee in 1903. It was essentially a bicycle equipped with a motor, and required riders to pedal uphill. The bike sold rapidly, and by 1909 the company had improved its design to feature an innovative engine, with two cylinders arranged in a distinctive “V” angle. The new “V-twin” engine produced a deep, rumbling sound that became a trademark of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. With this new, more powerful engine the bike could exceed 96 km/h (60 mph), and hills were no longer a problem. The success of the new Harley-Davidson model encouraged other manufacturers to enter the market, and by 1913 Harley and the Davidson brothers had more than 150 competitors.
In 1969 Harley-Davidson was bought by the American Machine and Foundry Company (AMF), a manufacturer of machinery, sporting goods, and automobiles which expanded assembly operations by opening a new plant in York, Pennsylvania. To make up for the cost of the plant, the company raised the price of its bikes. Then, when AMF management pressed for higher sales volumes, the plants rushed the production of Harley motorcycles and the quality of the bikes began to decline. At the same time, the company faced a major threat from the increasing popularity in the United States of inexpensive, high-quality Japanese motorcycles manufactured by companies such as Honda, Suzuki, and Kawasaki. Harley-Davidson’s share of the U.S. motorcycle market plummeted from 80 percent in 1969 to less than 20 percent in 1979, and AMF began looking for a way out of the motorcycle business. In an effort to save the company, a group of 13 Harley-Davidson executives brokered a leveraged buyout of the company in 1981 that was funded by Citicorp, a large banking company. What’s happened since is marketing history.
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Go online to find whatever you’re looking for in discount Harley parts. You’ll be surprised at the really reasonable prices for any item you need to bring your Harley up to speed (literally and figuratively). Fenders, tires and wheels, brakes, suspension, handlebars and controls and all things electric?all available to you at discounted prices. Buy something else with the money you save when you buy discount Harley parts online. Like a new pair of Road Hog sunglasses. The denim and black leather are not only indications that you mean to be different from the middle-class norm, but it’s also a uniform that lets other Harley owners know you’re one of them. Of course, the uniform has been adopted by everyone from fashion models to lawyers on their day off. The Harley lifestyle is about family and black leather and early morning rides on real motorcycles with big V-twin engines.
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Think of the Internet as just another highway to explore. The Harley mystique is about attitude; it’s a feeling that because you own a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, you’re special, you belong. In a society that worships at the altar of internal combustion, riding a Harley-Davidson may be the last pure expression of what it means to be an American. It symbolizes the freedom to go anywhere. It’s just you and the road and the wind and an engine that growls with that instantly recognizable sound. Only a Harley sounds like a Harley; it’s as distinctive as a human voice.