Bmw vs Harley in the US

[Danie]

During our visit  the previous year, I realized that Harleys are extremely  popular in the US.  On the road between Chicago Ill. and Great Falls Mt, we found many bikes - mostly Harleys. When we passed Madison Wi. we found hundreds of bikes - aparantly attending a local motorcycle rally. Again, most of the bikes were Harleys.

In Rice Lake, Wi, I visited a Harley Dealer, and noticed that Harleys are definately not as expensive in the US, as in South Africa. Unfortunately I did not visit a Bmw dealer in the US, so I did not compare Bmw prices in the US with our local prices.

Having seen the popularity of Harleys in the US, I often wonder - are Harleys cheaper (in general) than Bmw's in the US ?

[mxwinky]

Hi Danie,

Until just recently I was a parts manager for a large Harley Davidson dealership, so
I feel somewhat qualified to chime in on this subject.  The most common misconception
is that all Harleys cost $30k or more.  While it is possible to spend that much on one,
either by accessorizing the heck out of it or by purchasing a Screamin' Eagle model
with all the factory options already installed, in truth they aren't all that expensive.
But BMWs aren't bargain basement beaters either.

If you look at the full breadth of each manufacturers model line you'll find bikes
ranging from $10k to near $30k for full-on touring rigs.  Harley is no exception to
that as you'll find Sportsters under $10k, and the average price for one of the
touring models is right around $20-24k.

The ugly side of the price equation is that there are quite a few dealers out there
who mark up the prices above MSRP, especially on the more popular models like
the Street Glide or one of the Screamin' Eagle models.  It pays to shop around
and find a dealer who's playing fair.

As far as prices in the US versus the rest of the world, since Harleys are made here
they aren't subjected to an import tarriff.  Bikes made outside the US (Japan, Germany,
etc.) are subjected to import taxation, just as they are in other countries.  Harleys
outside the US are typically priced insanely high due to the cost of importing them.
I'm sure this holds true for most other brands in most other countries.  As the saying
goes, the only sure things are death and taxes.  Just my .02 worth.

[Danie]

Mxwinky
I do agree -taxation should be part of the problem - our country is one of the highest taxed countries in the world.

The other part of the problem, is  insanely high profit margins by some dealers - in our motor, as well as motorcycle industry.  

As a matter of interest - , some cars (of a well name brand - being assembled in our country - and exported to Australia) are far cheaper in Australia, than the same models in our country .........

 

[Justin B.]

Danie, another thing is that unless you were looking very closely a lot of the "Harleys" could have been Jap bikes as the motorcycle manufacturers from JAP, Inc. all make a Harley "wannabe".  But, there ARE a lot of Harleys around here, a far cry from when after AMF took them over.  The "beancounter" mentality completely ruined the line with aggressive cost-cutting, and they almost went bankrupt because the bikes were so bad nobody wanted one!  In the 70s most of the old Harley Bikers I knew didn't even consider the new bikes to be Harleys, they referred to them as "Bowling Pin Harleys".

[nhmaf]

I think that the H-D equation is about to demonstrate a parabolic shape, as they've also seemed to have saturated the market, at least in my area.

Fully 2/3 of all used motorcycle sales ads in my state are all for H-D, and we have at least (4) large H-D dealerships in our tiny state of New Hampshire, whereas we've only recently grown to (2) BMW dealers.   I think that with the large quantity of used H-Ds, even though some sellers seem to think that these used bikes are worth much more than the price of new ones ("oh, but I've added on aftermarket pipes to make it even louder, and these  gay leather handlebar tassles to slap me in the face when I ride", is a common attempt to justify a ridiculous "premium").  I believe that "The Motor Company" is going to have a tougher time selling new bikes at the prices they are asking - there soon won't be enough H-D riders with disposable income to continuously replace their 2 year-old motorcycle with a new one, which also will only get about 3K miles per year put on it.

It seems that there is a veritable surplus of low mileage, high-priced, used H-D bikes around here.  If I wanted to get a Harley-Davidson, I'd probably buy a low mileage used bike after bringing the seller back down to reality in his price, instead of shelling out even more $$ for a new bike - there are plenty of low mileage used bikes in my region to choose from.   The post AMF-years H-Ds are MUCH better quality machines, but one can also find a number of Japanese bikes that will out-do everything about the H-D except in quality of paint and resale value, and perhaps exhaust system loudness, IMHO.    I've certainly seen more H-D bikes broken on the side of the road here than other brands, but that could very well be due to the fact that we seem to have such a high concentration of them.  When I was a kid, seeing a H-D was a much more rare event.
It was quoted somewhere that we in New Hampshire of the highest percentage per capita of motorcycles to people in the state.  And, I think that the majority of those bikes are all H-Ds, followed closely by Japanese cruisers and sport bikes.

[Danie]

As far as low milage bikes are concerned - I am always very suspisious about many (imported)  so called 'low milage" bikes - available locally at very good prices.

If anything is too good to be true, it obvoiusly can't be true.....