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I also have a Street Glide and love it. The FJR and SG are so totally different they are a perfect compliment to each other if your going to own more than one bike. I finally got my wife on the FJR and she liked it and after the ride said she now knows why I like it so much but she would never really want to go any where far on it. She LOVES being on the back of my HD and I love having her there. It's got more room for two people, carries more stuff,etc,etc. One difference between the two is after riding the FJR for a while or after a long trip I'll get off and just stare at it and think to myself. " This bike is f#*ing incredible!" It does everything better than the HD. That being said every time I get on the HD I get a big shit eating smile on my face. I know there not for every one but I would never give up my HOG.

 
I also have a Street Glide and love it. The FJR and SG are so totally different they are a perfect compliment to each other if your going to own more than one bike. I finally got my wife on the FJR and she liked it and after the ride said she now knows why I like it so much but she would never really want to go any where far on it. She LOVES being on the back of my HD and I love having her there. It's got more room for two people, carries more stuff,etc,etc. One difference between the two is after riding the FJR for a while or after a long trip I'll get off and just stare at it and think to myself. " This bike is f#*ing incredible!" It does everything better than the HD. That being said every time I get on the HD I get a big shit eating smile on my face. I know there not for every one but I would never give up my HOG.

HEY ROB,

NEVER SAY NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!

JOE

 
For those of you invested in HD you have good company. It seems Warren Buffet has taken a rather large stake in Harley recently.

Glenn

 
<snip>More news from sales floor…and an interesting complaint on the 2007’s…

First, sales quips from a recent analyst survey of Harley-Davidson™ dealers

“Selling a Harley-Davidson™ is rapidly becoming a price battle instead of an experience or luxury.”

“Too many 07s in inventory. Customer interest in 07s has definitely waned in the past few months.”

“We sell our 07s at below sticker price by giving them $1-2K in free gear/accessories with a purchase.”
'turbodave': Yep, still love Harley-Davidson™. In the portfolio, not in the garage.
And...now I hear those 'ungrateful' workers at Har-Dav are on-strike. One wonders if inventory figures in, some how? :unsure:

'Course, we're talkin' 'bout an Icon, here (revered as a sacred object).... :eek: :)

 
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part of the reason for the heat is that they bumped from 88" to 96", without catalytic convertors, meeting new emissions standards, and they didn't increase the cooling capacity at all.

 
This strike could be great news for The Motor Company™. It will be a surefire way to clear out inventory at the dealers. Should help new and used bike prices.

Nice to see Harley-Davidson™ is willing to go to the mat to reduce worker wages and benefits to enforce their fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders. Hopefully the savings on wages will come back to shareholders as dividends. $22/hour to assemble Harley-Davidsons™ and thats the starting wage. They should threaten to to start assembly in China, Mexico or any other Latin American country. That will help improve profit margins to help drive more share buybacks or dividend increases.

:rolleyes:

 
This strike could be great news for The Motor Company™. It will be a surefire way to clear out inventory at the dealers. Should help new and used bike prices.
Nice to see Harley-Davidson™ is willing to go to the mat to reduce worker wages and benefits to enforce their fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders. Hopefully the savings on wages will come back to shareholders as dividends. $22/hour to assemble Harley-Davidsons™ and thats the starting wage. They should threaten to to start assembly in China, Mexico or any other Latin American country. That will help improve profit margins to help drive more share buybacks or dividend increases.

:rolleyes:

you can't be american!! we have boys fighting for us, and you post something like this?? you should be ashamed of yourself!!

 
This strike could be great news for The Motor Company™. It will be a surefire way to clear out inventory at the dealers. Should help new and used bike prices.
Nice to see Harley-Davidson™ is willing to go to the mat to reduce worker wages and benefits to enforce their fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders. Hopefully the savings on wages will come back to shareholders as dividends. $22/hour to assemble Harley-Davidsons™ and thats the starting wage. They should threaten to to start assembly in China, Mexico or any other Latin American country. That will help improve profit margins to help drive more share buybacks or dividend increases.

:rolleyes:

you can't be american!! we have boys fighting for us, and you post something like this?? you should be ashamed of yourself!!
Here we go....

IBTL

 
The primary responsibility of any company is to enrich the owners or shareholders. Employees are an expense and detract from the bottom line. Reducing expenses, (wages are an expense) improves profit margins and increases shareholder value. Harley-Davidson™ has had a great run lately were they have been improving sales that has led to steady, healthy YOY growth in profits. However, unit shipments are beginning to slow down, 5% YOY increase or so. They have increased prices but in order to keep profits increasing at an acceptable 11-17% or so for the shareholders they need to look elsewhere to increase the margins. Reducing wages and off loading health care costs onto the workers is a great way to accomplish that and do it quickly. Cutting wages AND making the workers pay for their own health care is twice as good for the company as it hedges their forward exposure on both fronts. Shareholders value is up, execs and Board members get their options and bonuses and everybody is happy.

Don't get mad at me. This is taught in every Business 101 class in the country.

Now I do find it quite ironic that a company who has reported record earnings every year for the past 10 years has decided to begin sticking it to their employees. This can only boost morale at The Motor Company™ to new all-time highs. Nice to see Willie G and his friends try and take a big 'ol shit on the very people who helped bring the company back from the brink. I guess when you are worth a billion or so you can afford to be a little crass and steal a few more bucks form the little guy. I am sure he really needs it. As Latrell Sprewell once said after turning down a 2-year, $17 million contract extension offer, "I got a family to feed!"

 
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"It is our understanding that Harley is losing $7,800/minute of lost production, or $11.1 million dollars per day."

That is not good news for shareholders. Hopefully the cash on hand will allow them to weather the storm without cutting dividends this year. I believe they still have outstanding authorization for share buy-backs this year to help keep enhance shareholder value. That may have to wait. If the strike is short enough a little OT can replace the lost production...and revenue.

:rolleyes:

 
I'm of the opinion that the primary responsibility of any company is to build a good product. If they do the shareholders and the employees will be well served. Not to mention their customers.

Glenn

 
I'm of the opinion that the primary responsibility of any company is to build a good product. If they do the shareholders and the employees will be well served. Not to mention their customers.
You and Carlos Ghosn (CEO Renault/Nissan) agree; he said (concerning GM's problems): "Nothing so helps an ailing car company than a good car." Unfortunately, in the case of American motorcycles, I don't think that holds true. Like most things sold here (to a basically un-educated consumer) it all comes down to marketing. Take money from engineering and put it into advertising -- that's what works in America.

Harley's the number one selling bike in the U.S. -- yet they never win any magazine comparisons. It's not the good product that serves the shareholders -- it's the good marketing. jmho, of course :huh:

 
The primary responsibility of any company is to enrich the owners or shareholders. Employees are an expense and detract from the bottom line.
Bah! Humbug!

Are you changing your name to Scrooge any time soon? <_< :p
MNFJR05 is correct in that the responsibility of the CEO and Board of directors is to the shareholders. That's why some companies hold of 'going public' as long as they can. Trying to fix mistakes made by management by screwing the employees will help the company in the short term but leave a major long term morale problem to resolve. Tactical thinking vs strategic planning. On the other hand, a company that is building inventory faster than sales will soon be out of business and all of the employees will be looking for new jobs. A better solution would require some flexibility on the part of both the management and the union.

 
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One more thought, as globalization and competition moves forward, wages and cost of goods are going to equilibrate. They have to, naturally. That means the wages of developed nations will go down and the wages of third world countries will go up. Of course the cost of goods will have to go down too.

I hope someone here can convince me otherwise.

 
No, the costs of goods will not go down, they will continue to rise. If a company goes offshore to pay a lower wage (or none at all), then the wage in that offshore country goes up, then the cost of the product will go up. The only thing that is being cut is the spending power of the average american. Everybody loves wal-mart because everything is so cheap, but they fail to realize that their spending power is getting smaller. if i make 65,000 a year, then i have some control over where is spend my money, i have options. an extra 5 dollars for something that is made here is doable. but if i only make 40,000 doing the same thing, then i have less money to spend. add to that the fact that savings rates are now in the negatives, personal and business bankruptcies are at an all time high, and inflation is still growing, i'd say we are headed for a fall. people all love low taxes and "small" government, but that's an oxymoron. what we need is smart government, which spends our money wisely, not wasting it, and putting it into their pockets and the pockets of all their friends.

did you ever think that harley is now seeing the effects of outsourcing american jobs? the people that are left that would buy a harley can no longer afford to do so. the big three auto manufacturers are seeing/going to see that in the near future. they used to have hundreds of thousands of workers, now they can't afford to pay their retireees, because they can't sell enough cars and trucks. how many people are going to buy a $40,000 chevy truck? lots of gm workers and friends buy them now, but when they make $14/hr, they aren't going to be buying anymore. what will gm do then? cut pay to $7/hr?

 
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I love my V-ROD. Different bikes provide different riding experiences. I would own one of everything if I was a millionaire!

 
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