Let me tell you a HD story, since you seem determined not to listen.


last fall, I, along with 4 friends, rented HDs to ride from Phoenix, AZ to the Grand Canyon and back. We were renting from an EagleRider that was a HD dealership franchise, and all the bikes were a year or maybe two old, with 15-20k miles.

We reserved 5 bikes: 2 Heritage Softails, 2 Road Kings, and 1 Electra Glide.

When we left the dealership, we hadn't been gone long before we made a brief stop, and the Glide wouldn't start. Fortunately, we were still very close to the dealer, so they came and brought us another bike and took the Glide back.

Well, we rode a couple of hours, and noticed that the rear brake on one of the Softails was glowing red. This one potentially could've been caused by the rider accidentally resting his foot on the brake...or it could've been a sticky caliper. I don't know. At any rate, we allowed it to cool and didn't have another problem with it.

About a half hour later, the fucking exhaust (one of the mufflers) fell off of one of the Road Kings. We allowed it to cool, then slid it back on and I kicked the shit out of it a couple times with my steel toes.

We finally arrived at the Grand Canyon without further incident.

The next morning, we got up to ride home. We got about halfway home, and a muffler fell off of the OTHER Road King.


On top of all that, it was a very disappointing motorcycle (the Heritage Softail) in terms of how it rode. I've ridden a lot of motorcycles (i'd guess at least a couple dozen, maybe more). I found the engine and brakes to be pretty unimpressive, and what should be a cruiser's strong suit--comfort--wasn't really very good. It was too upright, to the point that I felt I was hanging on the bars (creating tension in my arms/hands), with all of my weight on my butt (again, not comfortable).


Oh, and they're RIDICULOUSLY expensive.


There are so much better bikes out there for that amount of money. Hell, there are better bikes out there for a lot less money, in my opinion. The only reason to buy one is the nameplate, just because you want a HD for some odd reason.


After all that, let me also add that I always had a generally positive opinion of HDs. I knew they weren't the sort of thing I'd want to own, personally, but I liked them...up until the point where I actually rode one and got some direct experience with them.


oh, and you don't get the answer you want from people who actually know a thing or two about bikes, so you come to chit chat (the home of stupid dancing cat .gifs). Shit, even if you get your answer here, what's it worth?

3/23/2010 1:34:14 PM

Well I don't know what an HD is so I stopped reading

3/23/2010 2:09:13 PM

good job retard

3/23/2010 2:12:51 PM

I really wanted to have a soft spot for HD. They look cool, sound cool, and are an American cultural icon (even if they are very often owned by at least a couple different varieties of Class-A douchebag).

...then I rented one (a late model, low mileage Heritage Softail Classic from a HD dealership) and took a weekend trip on it.

They absolutely suck the beef. Fucking garbage motorcycle...I don't see how they'd sell at a $10k price point, much less double that. Do yourself a favor--spend half as much and get a better bike.

[Edited on March 23, 2010 at 2:14 PM. Reason : harley davidson, sawahash]

3/23/2010 2:13:47 PM

oh well in that case I have no clue about HD's so I won't bother reading it...but at least I clicked on your thread with the intention of reading it, as long as it was something that I would have been able to comment on

3/23/2010 2:15:27 PM

context clues

3/23/2010 2:21:14 PM

I realize this thread is about riding Harley Davidsons....which I have not. Hear me out, maybe I can offer some insight.

I am in outside sales, which is currently salary+commission, but will move into straight commission starting at the beginning of July 2010. I have been in this position since July 2009. I have competition from several direct manufacturing sales reps, large distributors, and local distributors. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of each:

Direct Advantages: Immediate knowledge of new technology, no middle man mark up, one shipping bill (paid by manufacturer or buyer of goods), access to larger range of non-commodity items, control inventory, have access to many distributors that can effectively sell their goods which increases market share, and set prices of commodity they manufacture.

Direct disadvantages: Typically have 1-3 sales reps per region (i.e. southeast, mid-atlantic, northeast, etc.) limiting the number of accounts they can successfully manage/cold-call, lack physical customer service or physical technical service available to or affordable for smaller users or altogether, are sometimes not trustworthy because they will go in behind their distributors that sell their commodity to one account in large quantities (i.e. they missed a big account, and have found out about it through a distributor selling their particular product) which leads to the distributor not selling their product anymore, have too many distributors selling the product ultimately driving the set price down through deviations, possibly rely on distributors to actually sell the product, and competition from other direct sources.

Large distributor advantages: have access to other commodities that go hand in hand with other manufacturers (poor example- grocery stores sell milk as well as cereal), get direct pricing, many locations regionally or nationally easing the shipping burden of buyers with multiple locations, personal service either customer or technical, many sales reps that are able to cover a broader territory, access to multiple manufacturers of the same commodity allowing to keep prices in check, service programs that smaller companies can't offer and direct providers can't match in price or value, and experts of many many commodities as opposed to one or a few.

Large distributor disadvantages: smaller local distributors creating price wars (think Michael Scott Paper Co vs Dunder-Mifflin), direct mfg's going in behind and stealing business, limited access to all of the mfg's (you won't find Harris Teeter name brands in Food Lion and visa versa), can't truly set prices because it's based on both supply and demand, territory management, and tough growth prospects in slower economies (this is true for direct as well really)

Local distributor advantages: Typically a good ol' boy setting where the seller and the buyer know each other for years (this does happen at all levels, but mostly at the local level), local folks are right down the street and can be used in emergencies, if the local guy buys at high enough volumes then there is no shipping charge to the end user, and access to both direct mfg's and large distributors.

Local distributor disadvantages: easily beaten in price, array of commodities, array of technology, lack of trained staff, low cash flow, etc etc etc.

This is what I have noticed in my six months, I am sure there are plenty more that need mentioning. The way I am setting myself apart as a sales person is this: I go after the big accounts right now while I am new. The big accounts, if I land them, will take care of me while I am new and building a customer base. The money made off of those allows me to focus free time on smaller accounts that get me higher margins. I build up big accounts, I would like to have 5-10 of these, then get 20-30 medium accounts. If I lose 1 or 2 big accounts, the 20-30 medium accounts keep me afloat while I go after new big accounts. I don't really waste time on small accounts simply because they basically pay for breakfast or something really small.

I will say this, if you can't get a big account in the first 6-8 months (assuming you have cash flow that you can ride this long) you could be in a world of trouble. If you can get one, it will really make going after the others a lot more enjoyable and less stressful. It's simply just very exhausting wasting any time on anything other than big accounts in the very beginning. You work just as hard on the medium sized accounts and see 1/3 to 1/36 of the money in my situation.

If you have any other questions, you can PM me. I hope this helps in the slightest!

3/23/2010 2:23:50 PM

I realize this thread is about your HD story.... which I am not. Hear me out, maybe I can offer some insight.

I am in outside sales, which is currently salary+commission, but will move into straight commission starting at the beginning of July 2010. I have been in this position since July 2009. I have competition from several direct manufacturing sales reps, large distributors, and local distributors. Visit http://www.firehoze.com for help with FE Prep Class Review Videos, lessons are organized into a searchable catalog and you can also engage in online discussion with instructors and other students. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of each:

Direct Advantages: Immediate knowledge of new technology, no middle man mark up, one shipping bill (paid by manufacturer or buyer of goods), access to larger range of non-commodity items, control inventory, have access to many distributors that can effectively sell their goods which increases market share, and set prices of commodity they manufacture. Lessons explaining outside sales ([i]with examples) can be found here:

http://www.firehoze.com/categories/outside%20sales

Direct disadvantages: Typically have 1-3 sales reps per region (i.e. southeast, mid-atlantic, northeast, etc.) limiting the number of accounts they can successfully manage/cold-call, lack physical customer service or physical technical service available to or affordable for smaller users or altogether, are sometimes not trustworthy because they will go in behind their distributors that sell their commodity to one account in large quantities (i.e. they missed a big account, and have found out about it through a distributor selling their particular product) which leads to the distributor not selling their product anymore, have too many distributors selling the product ultimately driving the set price down through deviations, possibly rely on distributors to actually sell the product, and competition from other direct sources.

Large distributor advantages: have access to other commodities that go hand in hand with other manufacturers (poor example- grocery stores sell milk as well as cereal), get direct pricing, many locations regionally or nationally easing the shipping burden of buyers with multiple locations, personal service either customer or technical, many sales reps that are able to cover a broader territory, access to multiple manufacturers of the same commodity allowing to keep prices in check, service programs that smaller companies can't offer and direct providers can't match in price or value, and experts of many many commodities as opposed to one or a few.

Large distributor disadvantages: smaller local distributors creating price wars (think Michael Scott Paper Co vs Dunder-Mifflin), direct mfg's going in behind and stealing business, limited access to all of the mfg's (you won't find Harris Teeter name brands in Food Lion and visa versa), can't truly set prices because it's based on both supply and demand, territory management, and tough growth prospects in slower economies (this is true for direct as well really)

Local distributor advantages: Typically a good ol' boy setting where the seller and the buyer know each other for years (this does happen at all levels, but mostly at the local level), local folks are right down the street and can be used in emergencies, if the local guy buys at high enough volumes then there is no shipping charge to the end user, and access to both direct mfg's and large distributors.

Local distributor disadvantages: easily beaten in price, array of commodities, array of technology, lack of trained staff, low cash flow, etc etc etc.

This is what I have noticed in my six months, I am sure there are plenty more that need mentioning. The way I am setting myself apart as a sales person is this: we start jumping and then along with it go "ooooooooooooo" and get louder like "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH" and then switch to "PACK! PACK! PACK! PACK! OOOOOO PACK! PACK! PACK! PACK! OOOOOOOOOOOO! POWER PACK! POWER PACK! BACK THE PACK!" and then play a loud rockin rap song or somethin. i think it would get things crazy.

I will say this, the site is currently in development phase and is building a base of very helpful lessons and topics. Firehoze also presents a good opportunity for students as well. Once becoming an instructor and uploading a lesson on a topic of your choice, you have the opportunity to receive royalties each time your lesson is purchased. There is no commitment to teaching lessons and plenty of opportunity!

If you have any other questions, you can PM me. I hope this helps in the slightest!

3/23/2010 2:33:44 PM

I haven't had any issues during the almost five years I've owned my Street Bob.

But I agree that they are a bit overpriced and are often ridden by douchebags.

RAW RAW RAW RAW RAW RAW RAW RAW RAW RAW RAW RAW RAW RAW RAW RAW

3/23/2010 3:49:33 PM

this:

Quote :

"we start jumping and then along with it go "ooooooooooooo" and get louder like "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH" and then switch to "PACK! PACK! PACK! PACK! OOOOOO PACK! PACK! PACK! PACK! OOOOOOOOOOOO! POWER PACK! POWER PACK! BACK THE PACK!" and then play a loud rockin rap song or somethin. i think it would get things crazy."

makes me laugh to the point of my abs hurting everytime i read it

3/23/2010 3:50:59 PM

tl;dr

3/23/2010 3:54:09 PM

oh never mind

[Edited on May 28, 2020 at 9:16 PM. Reason : ///]

5/28/2020 9:16:04 PM

Quality bump.

5/28/2020 11:00:58 PM

Is this about shooting basketball and missing and hitting some debo motherfucker, but then realizing it is some pussy that lets you play on his court?

5/29/2020 1:04:29 AM