Used HD Pricing

[kempomark]

I found my FLH using ChopperExchange - Buy and Sell New & Used American V-twin Motorcycles. There you can input any bike you want and it will search the entire country for an exact year and model of bike you are looking for. I searched for weeks and weeks. I was even considering a salvage as my first Harley. But I found my '95 FLHTC out the door for 6200, a thousand miles away, in Texas.

Everyone makes a Harley v-twin clone. These clones are a dime a dozen. Which of course, by design, drives the prices down on a Harley be it new or used. Harley rode that high horse of being the only "viable" v-twin on the market for decades. They don't want to sacrifice their high end bikes or CVO's with cheaper prices. Hence they continue making all versions of the Sportster in order to keep their hat in the ring with lower end buyers. Right now with the economy the way it is, the Sporty and Dynas is going to carry them though these rough times. It appears that in the past the "other" bikes had to compete with Harley for a market share. Now, Harley has to compete with those other bikes to keep it's market share or value.

Regardless of the newest and greatest non-Harleys that are hitting the market, Harley is on a whole different, higher plane. Like they said on the Predator movie; they are dug in deeper than an Alabama tick. Including myself I've always settled for less. Even though I have had some pretty great bikes in the past, I never quit wanting a Harley. Sooner or later Harley is going to have to realize that they are not the only game in town and adjust their pricing accordingly.

Favorite saying of the day: "I've gone to find myself. If I get back before I return, keep me here!"

Kempo

[Monkeyboy]

Well, last weekend I picked up the '05 Super Glide that I looked at last week.Talked the guy down to an even $7000.00 and I gotta say, it's a nice and well maintained bike. Afew more changes to it and it'll be "mine".

As far as HD clones go, I stopped at a gas station a few weeks ago on my Fat Boy and there was a guy there riding a VStar. He asked me about the appeal of HDs over other bikes and pointed out that it is based on old technology. I told him that I compare them to lighters. My Zippo probably needs more maintenance than your Bic. Refilling the "tank" with lighter fluid, replacing the flint, trimming the wick. But it also has more character than your Bic and ten years from now, with all that maintenance and charcter, it'll still be going strong whereas your Vstar will be a faded memory.

[kempomark]

That is very well said. It is true. They do have a personality. And it seems now that I own a Harley, I seem to notice that a lot of people own Harleys. Someone had already custom painted mine with ghost flames and graphics and some chrome doodads. I'll Kempoize it soon enough. It seems to me (in my short Harley experience) that there is a relationship between Harley and Harley owner. I never had that before... On the V-Star thing: My co-worker has a V-Star Classic something. I complimented him on what a beautiful bike he had. Sure enough it had factory custom paint and chrome (and matching helmet). You know what HE said? "It's a Japanese piece of crap. You got a Harley!" Not my words, his. At least his starts....