I have been riding since the 70's, never have been much on commuting deep into the jungles of say OP, and the dangers of distracted drivers, but I used to ride a hundred miles daily into St Louis for 6 months straight. I only had to ride a mile off the interstate. I was in my mid 50's and never had an issue. Riding down Metcalf or near Oak Park Mall is not me, I'll kick off the beaten path before dealing with idiots.
I personally don't see the newer snowflake types who never climbed a tree or repelled down a cliff without 4 layers of safety gear to be buying what HD is selling. Mopeds yes, road hogs? No.
I don't think the market is down that much on bigger bikes but Harley's last offering didn't set the world on fire and their numbers are down but they are not out of the game.
HD is investing in robotic equipment platforms that will reduce their workforce by about 500 and most of those are technical jobs that will go. New welding robots will get rid of skilled metal workers and put out frames that are nanometers of being perfect, New power plants from Asia will cut heavily into the ranks on the machinists...
I can see HD shipping the KC factory to Asia along with the takeouts from York to get it going there. They could build and sell our old models there.
I expect to see a new generation of power plants to come from Asia, , maybe hybrid turbo's like the NSX, and bolted in by former PA homeless workers making $14 hr.
I for one would love a bad ass hybred turbo bike based off the NSX technology. Autonomous motorcycles? Not in my lifetime.
