"Then AMF (the bowling equipment manufacturer) bought the company and nearly killed it."
(They also owned the Electrolux vacuum cleaner company then, too.)
I remember one story from this period. New Harleys on the showroom floor and there being a piece of cardboard placed under it to catch the oil drips from the engine. From a new machine.
I'm 74 and have been riding since I was 11 when my uncle let me take his Honda 50 (or maybe it was a 90) for a spin. I've literally forgotten how many bikes I've owned, but there were dozens of variants of dirt bikes and engines, virtually every brand on Earth, many unknown today (like Rokon, with a chain drive to both wheels), flat-trackers (Maico 501!), the usual English mix of Triumphs (4+), BSA's (5+), and a Norton 850 Commando...I eventually got tired of changing out the Zener Diodes so went to HD...another half-dozen or so. I sold my last bike about 6 years ago, a custom hardtail with a 115 hp S&S hooked up to a Baker 6-speed tranny. After 5 years of getting beat up by it I had to let it go. Sold it to a guy from England who came to FL specifically to buy a custom bike. After checking out about four or five others he decided on mine so he had it crated up and shipped home. Unfortunately, my bike was largely illegal in England and he had to change the pipes, mirrors, turn signals, headlight, taillight, and license plate bracket. Thought about getting a HD trike but then the Scamdemic hit and my business dropped about 90% so that was out the window. But now there's a Royal Enfield dealer about 8 miles south of me that I might stop by. I was checking one out at a dealer in Paraguay when I worked there for a week in 2018 and they appear more solid than I remember them from years ago, plus they are affordable. By the way, if you're interested in nearly 75 HD tee-shirts in very good condition, let me know. With the exception of two, all were purchased by me personally from all over the US, Australia, New Zealand, Paraguay, Columbia, etc. during travels. And a side note: NEVER buy a HD tee-shirt in Paraguay...it took nearly 45 minutes and involved four other people. The most inefficient sales process I've ever witnessed in my life!
Wow. What an awesome post. As a 70 year old boomer who is about to drop a new engine in my sweet little manual transmission 2004 Scion xB, I salute every sentence!
I am 75 years old. My life is somewhat adjacent to this story. My Father worked at Schlitz Brewing Co. in Milwaukee for twenty four years in the computer dept. At the end, the latest generation of owners were more interested in the money than the job. (One died in an accident in his Porsche). They were destroying the brand by making small changes to the brewing process and ingredients. The customers noticed the difference and didn't like the beer so much anymore. They continued cost cutting and merged the three computer departments into one. My father and the other two heads had to fire 2/3 of their staff. At the end of the day The CEO fired my dad and one other dept. head. Painless for the management, a terrible to the two men who had the pain of firing people they worked with and befriended for years. Where is Schlitz now?
My Harley Davidson adjacent story. My mother dated a Davidson when in high school. Lucky for me it did not last or I would not be here. When I was in my thirties I was doing advertising graphics and copy from my studio near the small town where S&S Cycle was located (Viola WI.). I was asked to do illustrations and exploded parts drawings for their instruction manuals. The company made Harley replacement parts and custom kits. They eventually made a complete engine and moved much of the operation to La Crosse WI. They also asked me to make graphics for some T-shirts in a Ed "Big Daddy" Roth style. The biggest seller I made was for one that said: "Have You Hugged Your Stroker Lately?" S&S Cycle has declined, particularly since Covid and the Subsequent recession. They also faced the same problem of the newer generation taking over.
As an aside, I had a friend who died at 92 around 1990. He road Harleys since he was 14 years old. Even in his 80s he would go each year to see the new models. He would become apoplectic about what AMF did to them.
Guess I'll have to build my own forest green three wheeled Morgan though. For some things there are no substitutes, even when they put the same name on a replacement.
Shucky darn, I'm only 87, still have plenty of time but refurbishing the Balboa (The Ranger's sailable but a little work on the centerboard will sweeten it.) in my back yard's gonna cut into it a bit.
For what it's worth, I owned a '67 Triumph Bonneville when I was stationed in the Navy in San Diego in 1969. (My recollection is I paid $500.) Sold it when I left for Vietnam in November of that year. A great bike! Wish I still had it.
I did my basic at MCRD San Diego. Had two 650 Bonneville's, as well as a Trophy 250 that I got for a GF at the time (early 70's). The Bonny's were great! So was a BSA Lightning 650 I had, but the handlebar vibrations on long trips numbed my hands.
This was great, I am the lady who wrote you about the son of Man yesterday. When I got married at age 62, having never married before, my husband was a Harley enthusiast. He has a 2012 heritage softail. After I sat on the back after an eight hour ride, we invested in a trike that I ride. For my husband and I, there's Harley Davidson, and then everything else is a sewing machine :-)
Thank you for the great research and how wonderful is your writing! God bless you.
Harley sound when in idle: POTATO-POTATO-POTATO-POTATO… and HEY we boomers know stuff…Montgomery Ward…Westinghouse Appliances…grandpa’s tool shed and the sounds and smells of things getting FIXED…Arthur Godfrey and Jack Benny on the big console radio in the living room after a home cooked meal…list is endless
Harley obviously needs YOU to be running it! Have the old-timers there read this? If not, it needs to get into their hands, probably in the form of a dirty, wrinkled piece of paper rather than the Internet!
(From an old guy still using stuff I designed in the 1950s)
Glad that you’re enjoying your bike, EKO. I thought of buying a Harley in the 1980s. I was discouraged from making the purchase by a Harley-riding fella. “When I look at you, I think of skateboards,” he said. My masculine identity never recovered. 😂
2007 was peak. 350,000 units. Average buyer age 47. Boomers at peak earnings and peak nostalgia at the same time. The numbers were a countdown dressed as growth.
I bought a 2007 Heritage classic in Jake and Elwood Blue. I was 46 in 07, my first Harley. I have ridden since I was seven. Always owned Jap bikes, mostly Kawasakis. I still have my Harley but Im thinking of selling it maybe this year. The current group of drivers on the road do everything but drive. Good luck on the roads, Blessings.
The first motorcycle I road was a friend’s Harley 125 cc Rapido dirt bike. It was 1972 and I was 12. 24 years later I bought my first road bike, a 1996 Sportster Sport 1200. My next was a 95th Anniversary Edition Wide Glide. I sold it because I worked too much and rode too little. I’d love to ride that 125 any day!
How about Ford Motor Company switching their focus to "software defined vehicles." WTF is a software defined vehicle? Does it run on bytes and pixels? lololol!
"Then AMF (the bowling equipment manufacturer) bought the company and nearly killed it."
(They also owned the Electrolux vacuum cleaner company then, too.)
I remember one story from this period. New Harleys on the showroom floor and there being a piece of cardboard placed under it to catch the oil drips from the engine. From a new machine.
.
HAH!
Electrolux = vacuum cleaner, no further explanation needed! We owned one too!
I used to park my HD in the front foyer of my house (no garage) and kept a 2'
x 3' carpet sample under the motor.
It was actually from the chain oiler. But yeah, they still leaked!
I'm 74 and have been riding since I was 11 when my uncle let me take his Honda 50 (or maybe it was a 90) for a spin. I've literally forgotten how many bikes I've owned, but there were dozens of variants of dirt bikes and engines, virtually every brand on Earth, many unknown today (like Rokon, with a chain drive to both wheels), flat-trackers (Maico 501!), the usual English mix of Triumphs (4+), BSA's (5+), and a Norton 850 Commando...I eventually got tired of changing out the Zener Diodes so went to HD...another half-dozen or so. I sold my last bike about 6 years ago, a custom hardtail with a 115 hp S&S hooked up to a Baker 6-speed tranny. After 5 years of getting beat up by it I had to let it go. Sold it to a guy from England who came to FL specifically to buy a custom bike. After checking out about four or five others he decided on mine so he had it crated up and shipped home. Unfortunately, my bike was largely illegal in England and he had to change the pipes, mirrors, turn signals, headlight, taillight, and license plate bracket. Thought about getting a HD trike but then the Scamdemic hit and my business dropped about 90% so that was out the window. But now there's a Royal Enfield dealer about 8 miles south of me that I might stop by. I was checking one out at a dealer in Paraguay when I worked there for a week in 2018 and they appear more solid than I remember them from years ago, plus they are affordable. By the way, if you're interested in nearly 75 HD tee-shirts in very good condition, let me know. With the exception of two, all were purchased by me personally from all over the US, Australia, New Zealand, Paraguay, Columbia, etc. during travels. And a side note: NEVER buy a HD tee-shirt in Paraguay...it took nearly 45 minutes and involved four other people. The most inefficient sales process I've ever witnessed in my life!
What an adventure!
Maico breako!!! That what we called ours. Best dirt bike I ever rode was made by Suzuki. Kawasaki wasn’t bad either.
Wow. What an awesome post. As a 70 year old boomer who is about to drop a new engine in my sweet little manual transmission 2004 Scion xB, I salute every sentence!
Nothing like whose rich sounds
I am 75 years old. My life is somewhat adjacent to this story. My Father worked at Schlitz Brewing Co. in Milwaukee for twenty four years in the computer dept. At the end, the latest generation of owners were more interested in the money than the job. (One died in an accident in his Porsche). They were destroying the brand by making small changes to the brewing process and ingredients. The customers noticed the difference and didn't like the beer so much anymore. They continued cost cutting and merged the three computer departments into one. My father and the other two heads had to fire 2/3 of their staff. At the end of the day The CEO fired my dad and one other dept. head. Painless for the management, a terrible to the two men who had the pain of firing people they worked with and befriended for years. Where is Schlitz now?
My Harley Davidson adjacent story. My mother dated a Davidson when in high school. Lucky for me it did not last or I would not be here. When I was in my thirties I was doing advertising graphics and copy from my studio near the small town where S&S Cycle was located (Viola WI.). I was asked to do illustrations and exploded parts drawings for their instruction manuals. The company made Harley replacement parts and custom kits. They eventually made a complete engine and moved much of the operation to La Crosse WI. They also asked me to make graphics for some T-shirts in a Ed "Big Daddy" Roth style. The biggest seller I made was for one that said: "Have You Hugged Your Stroker Lately?" S&S Cycle has declined, particularly since Covid and the Subsequent recession. They also faced the same problem of the newer generation taking over.
As an aside, I had a friend who died at 92 around 1990. He road Harleys since he was 14 years old. Even in his 80s he would go each year to see the new models. He would become apoplectic about what AMF did to them.
Man the stories here are the best. Thank you.
I always heard we are all only 7 handshakes away from anyone in the world.
Left Apple for Linux 10-15 years ago.
Absolutely no regrets.
Guess I'll have to build my own forest green three wheeled Morgan though. For some things there are no substitutes, even when they put the same name on a replacement.
Shucky darn, I'm only 87, still have plenty of time but refurbishing the Balboa (The Ranger's sailable but a little work on the centerboard will sweeten it.) in my back yard's gonna cut into it a bit.
I don't believe Brando rode a Harley in "The Wild One." He rode a Triumph Thunderbird 6T.
You’re right! The movie made Harley famous without a Harley in it. Which is somehow more interesting than if Brando had been on one.
For what it's worth, I owned a '67 Triumph Bonneville when I was stationed in the Navy in San Diego in 1969. (My recollection is I paid $500.) Sold it when I left for Vietnam in November of that year. A great bike! Wish I still had it.
Makes me think of Steve McQueen
I did my basic at MCRD San Diego. Had two 650 Bonneville's, as well as a Trophy 250 that I got for a GF at the time (early 70's). The Bonny's were great! So was a BSA Lightning 650 I had, but the handlebar vibrations on long trips numbed my hands.
This was great, I am the lady who wrote you about the son of Man yesterday. When I got married at age 62, having never married before, my husband was a Harley enthusiast. He has a 2012 heritage softail. After I sat on the back after an eight hour ride, we invested in a trike that I ride. For my husband and I, there's Harley Davidson, and then everything else is a sewing machine :-)
Thank you for the great research and how wonderful is your writing! God bless you.
Harley sound when in idle: POTATO-POTATO-POTATO-POTATO… and HEY we boomers know stuff…Montgomery Ward…Westinghouse Appliances…grandpa’s tool shed and the sounds and smells of things getting FIXED…Arthur Godfrey and Jack Benny on the big console radio in the living room after a home cooked meal…list is endless
Harley obviously needs YOU to be running it! Have the old-timers there read this? If not, it needs to get into their hands, probably in the form of a dirty, wrinkled piece of paper rather than the Internet!
(From an old guy still using stuff I designed in the 1950s)
I was thinking the same! Wonder if they'll take any of his ideas 🤔
Glad that you’re enjoying your bike, EKO. I thought of buying a Harley in the 1980s. I was discouraged from making the purchase by a Harley-riding fella. “When I look at you, I think of skateboards,” he said. My masculine identity never recovered. 😂
This made me laugh 😂
I did not know McQueen rode a Triumph Thunderbird T-6 in that movie. Thanks for bringing me up to speed. (Great work by EKO, as always!)
2007 was peak. 350,000 units. Average buyer age 47. Boomers at peak earnings and peak nostalgia at the same time. The numbers were a countdown dressed as growth.
I bought a 2007 Heritage classic in Jake and Elwood Blue. I was 46 in 07, my first Harley. I have ridden since I was seven. Always owned Jap bikes, mostly Kawasakis. I still have my Harley but Im thinking of selling it maybe this year. The current group of drivers on the road do everything but drive. Good luck on the roads, Blessings.
Too
Amazing story that resonates!
The first motorcycle I road was a friend’s Harley 125 cc Rapido dirt bike. It was 1972 and I was 12. 24 years later I bought my first road bike, a 1996 Sportster Sport 1200. My next was a 95th Anniversary Edition Wide Glide. I sold it because I worked too much and rode too little. I’d love to ride that 125 any day!
How about Ford Motor Company switching their focus to "software defined vehicles." WTF is a software defined vehicle? Does it run on bytes and pixels? lololol!
https://www.motortrend.com/news/ford-restructuring-ev-software-defined-vehicles-2026
Maybe it's a virtual vehicle that you just simulate riding in. Much safer than being on the streets!