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Twobuells
| | Posted on Friday, June 30, 2017 - 12:25 am: | 
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As of Thursday, June 29, 2017, Ducati Motors will officially be owned by Harley Davidson. It will remain as a separate entity operating on their own. There has been talks that they will continue projects that were implemented with Buell and hope to have better results with a reputable name brand as Ducati. Harley Davidson CEO Matthew Levatich is set to announce the news formally tomorrow at a new conference.
http://channel23news.com/2017/06/sold-ducati-motor s-expecting-major-changes/
(Message edited by twobuells on June 30, 2017) |
89rs1200
| | Posted on Friday, June 30, 2017 - 10:06 am: |
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D'oh!! 
I took the bait and the hook!
Nearly forwarded that announcement to my friends and family.
Good one Twobuells! |
Johndd
| | Posted on Friday, June 30, 2017 - 10:39 am: |
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... their first joint project will be a 960 lb touring road king dual sport bike...with off road tires.... |
Jaimec
| | Posted on Friday, June 30, 2017 - 07:19 pm: |
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Confirmed! |
Midknyte
| | Posted on Friday, June 30, 2017 - 07:54 pm: |
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Man, who'da thought that would happen! |
Tootal
| | Posted on Saturday, July 01, 2017 - 11:31 am: |
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Water slot? You do know that's where the driver backrest goes through, right?
Not talking about the back rest slot. Look in the bottom of the saddle. |
Williamscottrobertson
| | Posted on Monday, July 03, 2017 - 08:03 pm: |
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Another model
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Oddball
| | Posted on Monday, July 03, 2017 - 11:38 pm: |
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Both of those pics show how Ducati Davidson will redefine the sport touring category. |
Zac4mac
| | Posted on Thursday, July 06, 2017 - 01:35 pm: |
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I'm really liking the Ohlins springer... |
Hughlysses
| | Posted on Thursday, July 06, 2017 - 02:10 pm: |
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I'm really liking the Ohlins springer...
 |
Court
| | Posted on Thursday, July 06, 2017 - 02:28 pm: |
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The funnest part is that there are some Harley-Davidson executives you could show that to that would never spot the problems.
I kept an interesting poster, made by an agency retained by Harley-Davidson, that was to promote Buell. The poster had a bike that looked a bit like a Bandit or FZ the was emblazoned with the words BUELL on the tank.
The company, no kidding, didn't know Buell made motorcycles . . . thought they were a supplier of aftermarket goodies and performance parts for HD.
It was on display at the New York City IMS show when I arrived . . . I grabbed it, sliced off the offending part and put the rest back on the display tripod. |
Oddball
| | Posted on Thursday, July 06, 2017 - 10:52 pm: |
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LOL
That poster would be funny to see.
"Hey, who cut a hole a hole in our poster?" |
Mnscrounger
| | Posted on Friday, July 07, 2017 - 03:08 pm: |
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"The funnest part is that there are some Harley-Davidson executives you could show that to that would never spot the problems"
I don't know maybe the HD engineers actually learned something from their Buell days.
Those springs could be in tension. We could be witnessing the debut of a "pull type" fork spring assembly. |
Lynrd
| | Posted on Friday, July 14, 2017 - 11:40 am: |
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That bike is completely impractical. It needs forward controls |
Toxic
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2017 - 01:42 pm: |
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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-harley-davidson- results-idUSKBN1A3126
Don't think Harley's buying anything soon... They're bleeding. They should have invested in something that would have appealed to younger riders. Oh wait... |
Stevel
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2017 - 03:51 am: |
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Brian,
You can criticize HD for a lot of things, but marketing or bad business decisions isn't one of them. The demise of EBR has proven the HD decision correct. |
1313
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2017 - 07:00 am: |
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You can criticize HD for a lot of things, but...bad business decisions isn't one of them.
Case in point, buying MV Agusta?
(Message edited by 1313 on July 19, 2017) |
Tootal
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2017 - 10:15 am: |
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I'm with 1313 there. Buell was making a profit when they pulled the proverbial rug. Wandel was an idiot! Very bad decision IMO. It seems that anybody that takes on MV Agusta loses. Cool bikes, just not profitable enough to sustain. Had they not considered MV Agusta and let Erik alone there would be a lot more happy campers today. |
Toxic
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2017 - 11:17 am: |
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Stevel,
I can and I will. They are currently proving that the only market they knew how to sell to is no longer buying their new bikes. The EBR failure IMO can not be viewed as proving HD correct, as EBR never truly got established and had no marketing budget at all. Saying that HD couldn't have done a better job at marketing, and/or couldn't have made a business decision to allow Buell to use something other than the air cooled twin earlier on would have failed is impossible to prove. |
Rkc00
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2017 - 11:46 am: |
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I have seen that poster. |
Blake
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2017 - 04:26 pm: |
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"Had they not considered MV Agusta and let Erik alone there would be a lot more happy campers today."
Exactly.
HD Inc lost their shorts in their greedy pursuit of onerous financing profiteering; selling 7 year loans on motorcycles. Scoundrels. |
Oddball
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2017 - 07:50 pm: |
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They were swamped with repos for a while. I remember Orlando Harley having an endless sea of used touring rigs in their lot as traffic drove past on 4. Dunno how they ever unloaded that glut. Guess they wrote more risky loans?
Those were the days. Watching the nightly sweeps of the repo trucks through the community. It was a good business time for those guys i guess. Always a silver lining. |
Hughlysses
| | Posted on Friday, July 21, 2017 - 01:15 pm: |
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Here's the latest: not Harley, but Polaris!
http://www.motorcycledaily.com/2017/07/reuters-rep orts-harley-not-among-bidders-for-ducati-but-polar is-is/ |
Electraglider_1997
| | Posted on Monday, July 31, 2017 - 10:29 am: |
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Why anyone who calls himself a motorcyclist here would like to see the demise of Harley is beyond me. The Buells you ride were made possible by Harley Davidson motor company. Have you not noticed how Buell has not been able to function and is now kaput since Harley dumped them. I was very upset when that happened just like the rest of you but Harley did what they did and that is that. As for the demise of Harley, the whole motorcycle industry is in the slumps and that should worry all of us. Ducati wouldn't be up for sale except that they aren't performing any better than the rest of the mc industry in general. I for one want Harley to succeed because it would be a sad day indeed if Harley wasn't around. I agree that MV Agusta was a very stupid move and never understood what they could of possibly been high on when they did that one sided deal. Just pissed over 100 million down the drain. That still doesn't belie the fact that Buell has not been able to be on their own without another big money business to prop them up and even that has not worked out. I wish like everyone else here that Buell was still part of Harley and continuing to improve their motorcycles for us to buy but that is over and done. |
Tootal
| | Posted on Monday, July 31, 2017 - 04:10 pm: |
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The demise of Wandel maybe but not Harley. He was the screw up in charge at the time and he pulled the rug on a profitable company.
I wish Harley would improve quality so I could buy one. Cranks that have .014" of run out, starters with no shaft support and self destructing Compensating nuts. They started going down hill in 2003 all in the name of cheaper manufacturing cost. I'll keep mine as long as I can keep it running or until Harley starts respecting their customers again. |
Needs_o2
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2017 - 09:43 am: |
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I surely don't want to see them fail, but what really frustrates me and probably others, is the reason they gave when they abandoned Buell. They said they were going to focus on their core business. Unfortunately, the core of their business is no longer motorcycles, it's lifestyle. As far as Buell being on their own, they were never given the chance to do that, especially with H-D. And don't forget how much help H-D has needed in the past, including from the feds. |
Court
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2017 - 04:43 pm: |
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Well. . . . ummmmm . . . . "kinda".
The "lifestyle" thing . . . while not without merit, was an outgrowth of the motorcycles and Harley-Davidson . . a firm that was making a mint on the sale of black t-shirts . . . would have been remiss to not take advantage of that revenue. The lifestyle thing was smart, not something that obviated the core motorcycle business.
Ditto the chatter about handouts, government help and so forth. While there was some . . . it's important to understand the environment it occurred in (you'll read up on "dumping" and also folks tend to forget that Harley-Davidson went back to the feds to have the restrictions removed early.
I'd suggest reading the book "Well Made in America" by Richard Teerlink for a good understanding of what was going on.
https://www.amazon.com/Well-Made-America-Lessons-H arley-Davidson/dp/0070265003/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qi d=1501620183&sr=8-1&keywords=well+made+in+america |
Needs_o2
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2017 - 05:55 pm: |
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Court, didn't H-D, in the first half of their existence, thrive to win races and out perform others, especially Indian? Now, all their bikes are designed with function following form.
I was fortunate to have meet the Teerlinks while working on their house in Elm Grove, and they were very down to earth and caring people. H-D was lucky to have him.
My point about the money end of things was in regards to Elect's comment about Buell being able to stand alone. I don't know what company could survive when their funding is abruptly cut off (more than once), and not because of their own doing or misdoings. |
Glide
| | Posted on Friday, September 22, 2017 - 06:03 am: |
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You can't fault HD marketing, the lifestyle is what keeps their customers. Can't show up at the Hog meeting on a Goldwing, the new bike has to be another HD. |
Greg_e
| | Posted on Friday, September 22, 2017 - 02:54 pm: |
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-duca ti-m-a-exclusive/exclusive-vws-1-8-billion-ducati- sale-stalls-at-union-roadblock-strategy-rift-idUSK CN1BF25D
Looks like it is holding right now. |
Xb9sxvtwin
| | Posted on Friday, December 07, 2018 - 03:50 pm: |
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Man that is some CRAZEE sh$#. HD owning a dago sportbike company is like Erik Buell joining Honda. WoW!!! |
Mnscrounger
| | Posted on Monday, December 10, 2018 - 07:32 pm: |
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If Polaris is willing to consider coughing up 1.3 billion for Ducati, why in the heck couldn't they spare the change to pick up EBR. They definitely have the manufacturing capability to bring every one of EBR's projected products out to market, with none of them ( to our knowledge) competing against anything in their existing lines. |
Portero72
| | Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2018 - 08:33 pm: |
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https://imotorbike.my/news/en/2018/12/its-official -ktm-wants-to-buy-ducati |
Midknyte
| | Posted on Friday, January 04, 2019 - 06:56 pm: |
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https://www.cycleworld.com/ktms-stefan-pierer-want s-to-buy-ducati |
