Author |
Message |
No_rice
| Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 12:54 pm: |
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was just reading through some stuff from the mothership this morning about the false rumors that hd was going to start selling ATK's at the dealerships and stumbled across this "As both Keith Wandell and Matt Levatich mentioned during the Q&A sessions in many of the recent Dealer Town Hall meetings, Harley-Davidson has a motorcycle under development for use in the Rider’s Edge® program that will be a Harley-Davidson® motorcycle that Rider’s Edge® graduates and other riders seeking a smaller displacement motorcycle will want to buy. Because the decision to discontinue the Buell® product line was made in a relatively short period of time, the timing of the launch of this new motorcycle did not coincide with the discontinuation of the Buell® Blast®. More details regarding the launch timing of this new model will be communicated at a later date." hmmm, wonder what the heck thats gona be. an XL441.5L? it should be interesting... maybe. |
Hootowl
| Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 12:56 pm: |
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"will be a Harley-Davidson® motorcycle that Rider’s Edge® graduates and other riders seeking a smaller displacement motorcycle will want to buy" Once again, I think they're not understanding the market. |
Froggy
| Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 01:01 pm: |
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FAT TIRES! |
No_rice
| Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 01:14 pm: |
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i cant wait to see it with a bunch of chrome and things that are easily damaged when its tipped over alot. that was one of the great things about the blast. you could just drop the thing on its side if you felt like it and more times then not when you picked it back up nothing was broken. |
Wolfridgerider
| Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 01:25 pm: |
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If they are smart..... IF... they will make it with sliders that can be removed or added. |
Bikertrash05
| Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 01:50 pm: |
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I am going to bet it is foreign made. I'll see if I can get some more details later, but I think I have heard of this, code-named "skater". |
Babired
| Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 01:52 pm: |
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At the annual dealership RE meeting we tried to squeeze it out of our regional lead JT but he wouldn't say. I can hardly wait to see what they come up with, and I'll be the first one in line to try it out to see what its like. |
Rwven
| Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 01:54 pm: |
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They had better not make it too good. They'll drive the customer to the competition to find a worthy replacement. |
Buellkowski
| Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 02:29 pm: |
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How about a new retro Sprint? Compete w/ Enfield at the $5K price point. |
Cityxslicker
| Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 02:36 pm: |
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Royal Enfield 500 cc, same styling since the 50's. Theres your design model, nothing bounces back up better than the BLAST. They made a HUGE mistake... well ok, many of them in a row. they should have had a reality show contestant run the mothership for the last year; at least an enthusiast that would understand RIDING have they called AMF ? maybe there is another buy out to be had to save their bacon. |
Spiderman
| Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 03:37 pm: |
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Onezeno
| Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 03:48 pm: |
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Because the decision to discontinue the Buell® product line was made in a relatively short period of time, the timing of the launch of this new motorcycle did not coincide with the discontinuation of the Buell® Blast®. Wasn't the Blast discontinued well before Buell was axed?} |
Wolfridgerider
| Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 03:55 pm: |
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no... the BUELL Blast was discontinued The BLAST was still being made |
Froggy
| Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 03:55 pm: |
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quote:Wasn't the Blast discontinued well before Buell was axed?
Nope. |
Trackdad
| Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 03:56 pm: |
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The Blast was squashed!!! I bet it will be a blinged out tube framed Blast maybe even called the "Wannabedell" Glad I sold my shares...working on kissing the Deuce goddbye and retire the leathers for a racing suit! Matts XB9 sure rides well.... |
Ourdee
| Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 05:36 pm: |
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Cubed! |
Fast1075
| Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 05:36 pm: |
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"Tube framed Blast"...as in like the original prototype Blast?? I'd love to have one of those... |
Stalker
| Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 08:28 pm: |
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Wannabedell.....love it I bet it will have an engine that will work on his future golfcart. |
Jayvee
| Posted on Friday, July 02, 2010 - 12:16 pm: |
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At the San Mateo Motorcycle show late last November, the Harley display had a white Blast on their floor. I asked about it to the HD guy there, "isn't Buell gone?" He said HD needed the sales of the Blast for the Riders Edge program, and would most likely continue building it, under a new name. (The display model was unbadged!) As we read in the book 25 years of Buell, it was HD's idea to put out the Blast in the first place, to suck in some younger blood to the fold. |
Babired
| Posted on Friday, July 02, 2010 - 12:24 pm: |
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yeah It was to suck in younger blood when I went to Rider's Edge Instructor training they had a marketing tab in the instructor book. Back then they were after generation X and the women who wanted to ride. That was in March of 2000 when I took the class and in 2003 I took the Program manager class and they went further with the marketing with more detail on the women who were thinking about riding. In class they said the Blast was designed by MC safety instructors. |
1313
| Posted on Friday, July 02, 2010 - 12:36 pm: |
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I sure hope it doesn't end up being like the 'mini-Sportster' prototype with the Blast! engine. Man, was that thing FUGLY! Wait - maybe I do hope that is what it is? 1313 |
Swordsman
| Posted on Friday, July 02, 2010 - 12:46 pm: |
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What was the mini-Sportster prototype? never seen/heard of it before. Got a pic? ~SM |
Wolfridgerider
| Posted on Friday, July 02, 2010 - 12:55 pm: |
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I don't think it would look to bad...
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Hughlysses
| Posted on Friday, July 02, 2010 - 01:00 pm: |
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Something along these lines would actually be pretty cool:
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Swordsman
| Posted on Friday, July 02, 2010 - 01:00 pm: |
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I can see why they'd want to use the one pictured above (EDIT: Wolf's pic)- as low as that frame is, I doubt you could dump it. I bet it doesn't even have/need a kickstand. (good luck navigating The Box though) ~SM (Message edited by Swordsman on July 02, 2010) |
Wolfridgerider
| Posted on Friday, July 02, 2010 - 01:06 pm: |
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We can just modify the curriculum so they can pass the class on the new bike.... kinda like they did for the police and the new fat tire touring bikes... they just don't turn as well as the older stuff from what I hear... so some change were made to the riding requirements |
Cityxslicker
| Posted on Friday, July 02, 2010 - 02:20 pm: |
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That Street Tracker would bring me back to the Harley Shop. Rest assured it aint the bike. That thing oozes fun and abhores chrome. |
B00stzx3
| Posted on Friday, July 02, 2010 - 03:02 pm: |
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Maybe it will come with starter chaps. |
Paint_shaker
| Posted on Friday, July 02, 2010 - 10:19 pm: |
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Wolf, They may have slightly changed some other things due to it being wider, but the circles (and most other cone patterns) still use an 18' diameter. One pattern uses a 17.6 which is really, really tight on the newer bikes. |
Firebolt020283
| Posted on Friday, July 02, 2010 - 10:24 pm: |
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that blue and yellow blast looks really cool. |