Does Harley-Davidson really want to sell sidecars?....or are they hanging onto tradition?
H-D buys a full page ad in "Hacked" showing a mom apparently driving her son to/from school on a rig.....a nice image, but unrealistic scenario imho....I went to Griffith Park this year and there was NO official H-D presence. Why? You would think that someone from HQ would send a contingent...or at least somebody OFFICIAL to represent one of the last American icons....better yet....a tent with some history, old pics, military duties etc.
Since late June we (my dog and I) have covered over 18,000 miles on a Harley combo. We have visited at least 20 dealerships (for "T" shirts) and have seen 1 ONE!! sidecar rig. That was at St. Paul H-D and belonged to the owners wife.....out of site back in service....
But.....we always draw a LOT of attention...ATTENTION is the one commonality I think anyone piloting any kind of rig would agree with. Ural, BMW, H-D, metric.....doesn't matter....we draw attention!!
ATTENTION usually indicates the existence of a market.
ive never seen another rig at sphd.. but ive seen one other outside at tchd north and one at mankato, and FIVE parked on the ready line of various years at delano one day last spring.
i know of 3 in my town - but i ride mine much more than they do.
they sell about 3000 a year give or take.. in 10 years thats 30,000 sidecars - there are a LOT of harley side cars out there.
they include them in every brochure - i see them in ever printed ad. but the salesmen are clueless... hmmm.
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I saw one on the floor in Las Wages last year
TO,
I wonder if MN. might not be the sidecar capital then....because I can assure you that I have not seen 5 hacks in any one location outside of Griffith Park this year.
I was treated very well at Glendale H.D. in LA when I needed a rear tire change last month....but initially I was told that they might not be able to do it....and I heard the Tech. and service manager debating on whether to remove the tub so they could get the bike on the lift!! LOL...and this was in freakin Los Angeles!!
ya they can be real wierd about there stupid lifts
a few times in the last 3 years ive had to tell a tech to either figure it out or go find a different job.
one guy was saying you cant change a tire without a lift.. i pointed out id changed a tire on a 79 sportster with a sidecar in a driveway on the side of the road in 1980.. so it CAN be done -
most of the complaining i write up to laZy. [or less charitably greed]
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it looks like you have the seat pulled out to give your dog a nicer ride.. ill bet that makes him a happy puppy
Just yesterday I rode to Livermore HD and there was a Ural in the parking lot! It being only one of two Urals I’ve seen in my area. The only other rig I’ve seen around here is a Pan head restoration project with the car on the left side. I assume under construction because each time I see it, it looks better than the last. It must of lived in the UK or one of her once Colonies at some point in its life. I’ve never seen the owner to ask about the history.
Harley had an Ultra with sidecar at the Cycle World motorcycle show in November. I had to chuckle because it was not set up right. Only a sidecarist would notice but, the sidecar wheel had a few degrees camber.
They had one at the Long Beach Motorcycle show last weekend. Kind of surprised me.
The tub is gutted. Everything has a very specific place....If I reach for something and it's not there I panic.
I had a 2 piece canvas top made after I removed the seat....when the front half is snapped it keeps the wind off him but he can still pop his head up. You should see the reactions. People will be checking the rig out at a red light and all the sudden he peaks out.
tmo482 wrote:
>>they sell about 3000 a year give or take.. in 10 years thats 30,000 sidecars - there are a LOT of harley side cars out there.<<
I would sure like to know where this info came from. Not necesarriy disputing it but that is a lot of sidecars and much more, probably, than all the other sidecar manufaturers put together in one year.
I have heard more than once in tech sessions that Harley has a long term contrat to produce sidecars for police departments across the nation and are obligated to produce so many each year due to that whether they are sold or not. Not sure if this is actual fact or not. In the same sessions I have heard that if it was not for the contactual obligations it would be doubtfull if Harley woudl be producing sidecars at all. True or false I have no idea.
Claude
Well......only H-D execs really know.....but I have never personally seen one road ready on a showroom floor.
A salesman in Dallas told me that he worked at a dealership (I think in Houston) and that the owner was a sidecarist. Well....this dealership always had at least one combo on the floor, (always a used Harley tub the owner found and mounted on a used trade-in bike) and he said they always sold very quickly.
Well, I live in Minnesota and I have two sidecar rigs in my garage right now. Maybe MN is the CAPITAL of sidecars. I doubt it though, it's 4 degrees right now and they won't see a lot of action until March.
There are actually quite a few in Wisconsin as well. I can think of five or six newer HD rigs within 30 miles of my house and perhaps a dozen older HD's and other brands. The dealer in New Richmond and the dealer in Black River Falls both ride rigs, although Del in NR is usually on a Ural.
My theory is that sidecar ownership is trending upwards. Baby-Boomers, the demographic group which has the most disposable income in the history of our country are just beginning to emerge. And those of us 45+ seem to have a soft spot for all things nostalgic.
Remember when a custom chopper was a unique, one of a kind, attention grabbing anomaly??.....not any more.....there are lot's taking up space posing as $50k garage trophies.....or parked outside "biker bars" serving flavored martinis.
When too many people have access to something cool.....it stops being cool.
There is no argument that Trikes have arrived. I think the Trike market is capable of doubling their sales numbers every year for another decade or so.
That leaves sidecars, which if nothing else rides on the coattails of a fast growing leisure industry......giving the market an opportunity to realize the actual attributes and sheer joy of this unique activity.
Sure hope H-D is paying attention.
one of the regional hd dealer chains often has had a ready to go sidecar rig somewhere around most of the time ive ever checked.
and i got my current 2004 black tle in the crate at a dealer in illinois that had one on a bike on the floor, one by itself for sale and one in the crate that i purchased.
i got my production number guess from the salesman i have purchased two bikes from - they sell about one sidecar a year average - give or take. but who knows he could be way wrong...
so....
the only real hassle with stock hd sidecar combo's is the lack of a adjustable steering head. and most folks dont seem to even notice. the guy with the black classic just north of the river i see go by 4 or 5 times during the summer and the guy with the blue evo factory rig - see at a bar every couple weekends - and one guy has 3 rigs, two of which are pans, one is a shovel.
hd cars are out there - just below the radar - how many? i have no clue.
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