For the past fifty years, various motorcycle manufacturers have tried all sorts of strategies to capture even a little bit of Harley Davidson's huge American market share. This pursuit is made almost silly by the simple fact that the heart of the Harley-Davidson brand is a motor that is both obsolete and defective in design. And ironically, it is the design defect that endears it to Harley lovers worldwide. So in pursuing the Harley market, the other manufacturers were pursuing something that was, in effect, behind them.
To illustrate the Harley design defect, think of a bicycle and how it is propelled. You have two legs, each "attached" to a pedal that is 180 degrees separated from the other pedal. This design maximizes the efficiency of pedaling; when the top leg's stroke is complete with the leg fully extended, the other leg takes over with its stroke just beginning, at the top. The motorcycle analog is the BMW with its two horizontally-opposed cylinders that operate in pretty much the same way. When one cylinder's stroke is finishing the other one takes over.
Now picture a bicycle with the two pedals spaced 45 degrees apart. You push one pedal, then immediately after, you push the other one, then you have 315 degrees of rotation before the next power stroke. Pretty stupid, eh? That's the way a Harley engine works. It was originally done this way to SAVE THE COST of having two different "pins" connecting the cylinders with the crankshaft. It is this uneven firing sequence that gives Harley's their distinctive sound, and the unavoidable vibration. In the Old Days, Harley riders used to have to re-tighten all the visible bolts on the engine and transmission regularly, otherwise they would vibrate right off the bike. (aftermarket companies sold packs of Allen screws, which are much easier to tighten than the Harley Phillip's heads).
And of course, no rational engine designer today would make a large engine that is air cooled, especially when one cylinder sits behind the other one, with the air flow blocked by the front cylinder.
Many years ago, Honda first attacked Harley's "cruiser" concept with a bike called the Magna. It was eleven hundred cc's of dynamite - the world's fastest production motorcycle for its first couple years. It was a well-balanced V-4, which is a superior design to the V-2, and of course it was water-cooled as any modern engine would be, but Harley owners just yawned. Not interested. Fact was, the 750 Magna was faster than any Harley of the day.
Then Honda figured that it must be the 2-cylinder thing that Harley owners liked, so they made the Honda Shadow, which was two cylinders in a variety of sizes, the largest being 1100cc's. The engines were well-designed, well balanced, and water cooled. Didn't work.
So Honda thought, maybe it is the sound (and the imbalance) that makes Harley owner's happy. So they dumbed-down the Shadow, and gave it a single-pin crank, so that it would run unevenly, just like a Harley. It got about 20% less power, but so what? They called this innovation the "American Classic Edition" of the Shadow, now commonly referred to as the "Shadow Ace." Unfortunately, Japanese designers think that motor noises are vulgar and they muffled the sound so effectively that you couldn't hear the damned thing from across the street. So much for sounding like a Harley.
Honda's later attempts included the VTX's, which were very good motorcycles, and they continue making Shadows to this day. They sell a small fraction of what Harley does.
The other Japanese manufacturers, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Suzuki have all made great "cruisers" over the years, and they continue to do so, with no real success at capturing Harley's huge market share. Triumph has made cruisers with two and three cylinders, but so far they have been unwilling to make a V-2. They have to be satisfied with making good bikes that sell in low numbers. BMW recently came out with an 1800cc behemoth - again their traditional opposed twin - that is kinda-sorta a "cruiser," but it has one serious disadvantage. With a true cruiser you have to at least be able to have floorboards and highway pegs. The BMW's big jugs make highway pegs impossible.
Polaris created a new company ("Victory") just to try to take market share from Harley, building models that were measurably superior to Harley's in almost every way. They were V-twins just like Harley and made in the U.S. Excellent bikes. But Victory failed. Then they bought the Indian name, and attacked Harley from the phony approach that they were a hundred year old company (or whatever). Again, they are making great, beautiful bikes, but selling in relatively small numbers.
The noteworthy thing about this constant and extensive pursuit of H-D's market is that the real innovations in motorcycle technology are ELSEWHERE. The Japanese are making 600cc bikes that, performance-wise, can run circles around any Harley, especially since H-D quit making the V-Rod.
Walking through a Harley dealership these days, one cannot help being impressed with the non-traditional bikes that H-D is now producing. Adventure bikes and what not. With the average age of a new Harley purchaser being deceased, they have to do something to keep the spirit alive. But most of their sales, new and used, are the traditional cruisers and touring bikes. People crave the sound and the look of a Harley, whether it makes any sense or not.
To illustrate the Harley design defect, think of a bicycle and how it is propelled. You have two legs, each "attached" to a pedal that is 180 degrees separated from the other pedal. This design maximizes the efficiency of pedaling; when the top leg's stroke is complete with the leg fully extended, the other leg takes over with its stroke just beginning, at the top. The motorcycle analog is the BMW with its two horizontally-opposed cylinders that operate in pretty much the same way. When one cylinder's stroke is finishing the other one takes over.
Now picture a bicycle with the two pedals spaced 45 degrees apart. You push one pedal, then immediately after, you push the other one, then you have 315 degrees of rotation before the next power stroke. Pretty stupid, eh? That's the way a Harley engine works. It was originally done this way to SAVE THE COST of having two different "pins" connecting the cylinders with the crankshaft. It is this uneven firing sequence that gives Harley's their distinctive sound, and the unavoidable vibration. In the Old Days, Harley riders used to have to re-tighten all the visible bolts on the engine and transmission regularly, otherwise they would vibrate right off the bike. (aftermarket companies sold packs of Allen screws, which are much easier to tighten than the Harley Phillip's heads).
And of course, no rational engine designer today would make a large engine that is air cooled, especially when one cylinder sits behind the other one, with the air flow blocked by the front cylinder.
Many years ago, Honda first attacked Harley's "cruiser" concept with a bike called the Magna. It was eleven hundred cc's of dynamite - the world's fastest production motorcycle for its first couple years. It was a well-balanced V-4, which is a superior design to the V-2, and of course it was water-cooled as any modern engine would be, but Harley owners just yawned. Not interested. Fact was, the 750 Magna was faster than any Harley of the day.
Then Honda figured that it must be the 2-cylinder thing that Harley owners liked, so they made the Honda Shadow, which was two cylinders in a variety of sizes, the largest being 1100cc's. The engines were well-designed, well balanced, and water cooled. Didn't work.
So Honda thought, maybe it is the sound (and the imbalance) that makes Harley owner's happy. So they dumbed-down the Shadow, and gave it a single-pin crank, so that it would run unevenly, just like a Harley. It got about 20% less power, but so what? They called this innovation the "American Classic Edition" of the Shadow, now commonly referred to as the "Shadow Ace." Unfortunately, Japanese designers think that motor noises are vulgar and they muffled the sound so effectively that you couldn't hear the damned thing from across the street. So much for sounding like a Harley.
Honda's later attempts included the VTX's, which were very good motorcycles, and they continue making Shadows to this day. They sell a small fraction of what Harley does.
The other Japanese manufacturers, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Suzuki have all made great "cruisers" over the years, and they continue to do so, with no real success at capturing Harley's huge market share. Triumph has made cruisers with two and three cylinders, but so far they have been unwilling to make a V-2. They have to be satisfied with making good bikes that sell in low numbers. BMW recently came out with an 1800cc behemoth - again their traditional opposed twin - that is kinda-sorta a "cruiser," but it has one serious disadvantage. With a true cruiser you have to at least be able to have floorboards and highway pegs. The BMW's big jugs make highway pegs impossible.
Polaris created a new company ("Victory") just to try to take market share from Harley, building models that were measurably superior to Harley's in almost every way. They were V-twins just like Harley and made in the U.S. Excellent bikes. But Victory failed. Then they bought the Indian name, and attacked Harley from the phony approach that they were a hundred year old company (or whatever). Again, they are making great, beautiful bikes, but selling in relatively small numbers.
The noteworthy thing about this constant and extensive pursuit of H-D's market is that the real innovations in motorcycle technology are ELSEWHERE. The Japanese are making 600cc bikes that, performance-wise, can run circles around any Harley, especially since H-D quit making the V-Rod.
Walking through a Harley dealership these days, one cannot help being impressed with the non-traditional bikes that H-D is now producing. Adventure bikes and what not. With the average age of a new Harley purchaser being deceased, they have to do something to keep the spirit alive. But most of their sales, new and used, are the traditional cruisers and touring bikes. People crave the sound and the look of a Harley, whether it makes any sense or not.
