BIKERS AGAINST BORING RIDING
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FREEDOM FOR ALL

9/27/2017

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Here is an update on how Harley Davidson is doing nine months after the 2018 models launch:   Beyond management's happy talk, it's hard to make out a reason why investors aren't punishing Harley Davidson stock. Despite U.S. sales continuing their sickening slide -- down 12% year over year -- CEO Matt Levatich says his team is cobbling together a strategy that'll turn things around. What that strategy will be, we don't know, but, boy, it's going to be awesome!

It'll have to be for Harley to hit its goal of bringing in 2 million new U.S. riders over the next 10 years, delivering 100 new bike models in that time frame, and increasing its international volumes so that foreign markets account for half of all Harley Davidson bikes sold.  From The Motley Fool at www.fool.com 5/18/2018
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Harley Davidson recently launched their 2018 new models advertising campaign. Their ad slogan for this year is "All For Freedom, Freedom For All." Of course, the word "Freedom" has been used in most Harley Davidson advertisements and commercials for as long as most of us can remember. 

Along with the hype of the Fall sales push came the pessimistic announcement from the Motor Company that it expects deliveries of bikes for the year to decline by 6% to 8%. Weak sales will mean a cut in production and some job cuts.  One news outlet suggested that millennials don't "live to ride" like their parents and grandparents did.  

Recently, the Aging Rebel stated the issue a bit more cynically: Wow! Who could resist going right out and spending $35,000 for a 900 pound motorcycle with an EPA approved, 126 cubic inch, 47 horsepower engine? And, then taking a three day course on how to ride it? 

Maybe this whole freedom thing is slightly overrated?

Recently a non-riding friend asked me if I feel "free" when I ride. I was tempted to answer with Will McAvoy's quote from "Newsroom":  Out of 207 sovereign states in the world, like 180 of them have freedom . . .   

Freedom isn't limited to Americans or Harley Davidson customers. 

I answered my friend this way:  no, riding my bike doesn't make me feel free.  What it does make me feel is a sense of existing totally in the moment, in the present. If I find myself thinking about work, bills or what I need to get at Trader Joe's - I probably won't remain upright for very long.  

One rider put it this way:  As those of us who ride know, being on a motorcycle removes distractions and focuses you like a 1,000 pound brick of Adderall.  There simply isn't room for other thoughts when you're reduced to a chunk of meat sitting on top of a few hundred pounds of machine moving at a hundred miles an hour.  

Well said. 

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose . . .   ​lyric by Kris Kristofferson

No biker deserves to be bored . . .



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