Trump: Planned boycott by Harley-Davidson owners 'great'

[DonViejo]

Source: The Hill


BY KYLE BALLUCK - 08/12/18 09:10 AM EDT

President Trump early Sunday called a planned boycott by some Harley-Davidson motorcycle owners “great.”

Link to tweet

Some Harley-Davidson owners told The New York Times that the will abandon the Wisconsin-based company if it goes through with plans to shift some production overseas.

Several owners said they planned to stop purchasing motor cycles from the company as a result of its announcement to move some of its production out of the U.S.

The company’s decision was prompted by retaliatory tariffs on motorcycles from the European Union following Trump’s decision to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminum on the EU and other longtime U.S. allies.

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/401434-trump-planned-boycott-by-harley-davidson-owners-great

[George II]

9. That's what I thought. "Yeah, I'm gonna boycott them, just let me buy one more!"

[Sneederbunk]

14. Turn in your bikes patriots.

[slumcamper]

41. LMAO--awesome!

Real snowflakes, those patriots, eh?

[mindem]

19. Great plan

I'll be happy to accept one of their unwanted bikes when they start giving them away. It's the least I can do for a drumph backer.

[VMA131Marine]

28. They just won't buy spare parts when the bikes inevitably break down

That'll teach 'em!

[3Hotdogs]

35. .

Post removed.

[workinclasszero]

37. They should go on youtube with their made in China MAGA hats and banners

and destroy their 30,000 dollar HD's with sledgehammers, then set them on fire while chanting MAGA and USA USA USA!

[NastyRiffraff]

43. Remember the keurig coffee makers

The morons destroyed the ones THEY OWNED as a protest against Keurig. Go ahead, MATAts, wreck your bikes. That'll show them!

[Glamrock]

2. Great.

Run an American icon out of business because you don't get your way. Our president is a child.

[GusBob]

18. Trump just lost Wisconsin in 2020. Eom

[pstokely]

42. there's always voter suppression

nt

[John Fante]

57. Trump will win re-election in a landslide. Feel better?

[cstanleytech]

33. Well its also a great way to increase you and your families personal wealth.

Imagine if you will that you are worth hundreds or billions and you become President and then you start a trade war you know will cripple alot of companies in the country driving their stock into the sewer.
You could then have your company (which you still control) buy up those stocks cheap because you know that eventually the stocks will rebound once you are out of office and the tariffs are removed.

[Freethinker65]

4. Loyalty pledges by these bikers, like Trump's marriage vows, are meant to be broken

[greymattermom]

5. Is there something personal here?

Like with the NFL? This seems beyond the usual Trump schtick.

[dembotoz]

6. To be replaced with a nifty thrifty Honda 50?

Or a scooter? Perhaps a golf cart with flames painted on the side.

This is like bud drinkers getting peeved and switching to wine... should be funny to watch

[gay texan]

47. Well, you do meet the nicest people on a Honda n/t

[dembotoz]

58. Born to be mild?

[gay texan]

61. Good one! n/t

[DBoon]

50. no, more like Jack Daniels drinkers switching to Sake

which would not surprise me either

[still_one]

7. Most people who buy motorcycles, especially Harley-Davidson do not BUY motorcycles that frequently.

For one thing, they are very expensive, and Harley's are one of the most expensive bike out there, so as far as I can discern this is mostly bullshit.

[cannabis_flower]

39. I bet..

that quite a few of those Harley owners got their Harley used from someone who bought a better, newer Harley. So them saying they are going to boycott Harley? What do they even mean?

[still_one]

44. You are right, and used Harley's aren't cheap either

[sinkingfeeling]

8. What Harley competitors are opening manufacturing plants in US?

[lapfog_1]

16. there are almost NO motorcycle manufacturers in the US

except for HD.

The only major production line is Indian... now owned by Polaris and they do most of their US based manufacturing in Iowa.

However they account for maybe 10% of the market share in the US.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. The real reason is that Harley is going to make electric bikes and small bikes. Too wussy?

Snowflakes.

[dalton99a]

12. +1. Real men ride a coal-burning Harley-Davidson

[kwassa]

56. and clean American coal, at that!

[Downtown Hound]

11. Go right ahead. You can always buy from that other company that makes their bikes in the U..

Last edited Sun Aug 12, 2018, 11:22 AM - Edit history (1)

Oh wait, there soon won't be any.

Oh well.

[TomVilmer]

13. Harley-Davidsons are already made partly in Japan, Italy, Mexico, China, Australia...

From the saddle of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, you get not only a view of the open road but also a glimpse into a manufacturing world where parts of the American-made bikes could be from Asia, Europe or South America.

Harley, the world’s largest manufacturer of heavyweight motorcycles, doesn’t disclose where most of the parts are sourced, but industry sources say the company gets them from the U.S., Japan, Italy, Mexico, China, Australia and other countries.

For years, Milwaukee-based Harley has used Showa-brand suspension components from Japan. Brake and clutch parts have come from Italy, wheels from Australia and electronics from across Asia.

Increasingly, this is the world of manufacturing for everything from airplanes to home appliances. Global companies seek the best deals they can find on parts shipped to their factories; in some cases, it can be a way to sidestep import tariffs that add to their costs.

https://eu.jsonline.com/story/money/2018/06/28/harley-davidsons-classic-americana-foreign-sourced-parts/741163002/

[TxVietVet]

23. K&R

Amen

[dalton99a]

26. +1. Foreign parts:

[GusBob]

17. ER trauma workers across the country breathe a sigh of relief

Organ donations will suffer however*


*my ER friends call them donorcycles

[tom_kelly]

20. He didn't write that

There’s got to be someone controlling his tweeter. This person(s) writes the majority of them. They ought to dumb down their grammar to make it more believable.

[leftofcool]

21. Yep! All you Harley riding schmucks burn your cycles just to own us libtards!

That'll show us!

[TxVietVet]

22. Kinda stupid, I think.

Harley owners proclaim the bike is AMERICAN MADE. Bu$hit! It's got foreign parts. Take a Harley apart.
What we are listening to is Harley owners who support tRump.
They are supporting their conservanazi fuhrer.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

24. In the 70s the U.S. put sizeable tariffs on Japanese motorcycles to protect Harley-Davidson

whose bikes lacked the quality of the imports, even though they were more expensive. While this gave the U.S. motorcycle manufacturer time to retool and regroup, in the meantime riders were stuck paying the higher prices. Eventually H-D got its act together, but it just shows how the consumer is the one who gets screwed in the end where tariffs are concerned.

[jmowreader]

45. Boy, that was dumb

The government was attempting to kill the Honda Gold Wing.

Honda retaliated by moving it’s Gold Wing factory to Ohio, and having all its US-based parts suppliers start making Gold Wing parts in the US. Result: the only 100 percent US-made motorcycle said HONDA on the side.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

51. I was about to post, in reponse to post #16, "What about Gold Wings?"

I am at the Wikipedia page now, and I see that the last year Honda produced Gold Wings in Marysville, Ohio, was 2010. So not even that is made in the US.

5th generation

GL1800
....

Update

The 2010 model year was the last to be produced in the United States, and no 2011 model year Gold Wings were produced while manufacturing was transferred to Japan in 2012. Some retailers and aftermarket traders group all GL1800 models into two categories: US made GL1800s (2001–2010) are "1st Generation", and Japanese-built GL1800's (2012-2013) are "2nd Generation".

Does Kawasaki produce bikes in Nebraska? WMATA's 7000-series railcars are assembled in Nebraska, at a Kawasai rail division plant.

[jmowreader]

52. I think the Japanese changed their tax laws

In the Old Days (I was taught this long before the Internet, so no link) Japan had a law that said a domestically-produced motorcycle could be no larger than 750cc...which explains why the Big Four Japanese bike builders had such nice 750s. Any bike bigger than 750cc, to be sold in Japan, had to be an Import. The government wasn't screwing around here: you had to crate the motorcycle for ocean shipping, put it in a container, put the container on a seagoing vessel, sail into international waters, then bring the bike back into Japan through a different port than you shipped it from. (Japan has five container ports.) Then it had to go through a long, complicated inspection to ensure the bike met Japanese safety and emissions standards for its year of manufacture. By the time you were done with the government paperwork and paying the taxes, a $5000 Gold Wing became a $10,000 Gold Wing.

Honda decided this is bullshit - which it was, the whole purpose of this folly was to make big bikes so expensive no one would want one - and went about it a different way: the biggest market for the GL series was North America. Since any GL sold in Japan had to be imported into Japan, why not make the things in their biggest market and cut the hell out of their shipping costs to that market?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

55. Honda CB750

Sounds complex. Not impossible, but complex.

I am certain that the day the Honda CB750 hit the US market, Harley's was in trouble. I figured it {or a successor; I don't keep up with Honda models} been here for fifty years. I was close. Next year is the 50th anniversary.

I don't see how anyone who looks at that and then looks at a Harley is going to buy the Harley. Insistence on made-in-the USA -- to which I can relate -- tradition, stubbornness; but for what your hard-earned dollar buys, it really opened up a previously non-existent market.

Honda CB750

The Honda CB750 is an air-cooled, transverse, in-line four-cylinder engine motorcycle made by Honda over several generations for year models 1969–2003 as well as 2007 with an upright or standard riding posture.
....

Production and reception

Under development for a year, the CB750 had a transverse, straight-four engine with a single overhead camshaft (SOHC) and a front disc brake, neither of which was previously available on a mainstream, affordable, production motorcycle. Having a four-cylinder engine and disc brake, along with the introductory price of US$1,495 (US$9,977 in current money), gave the CB750 a considerable sporting performance advantage over its competition, particularly its British rivals.

Cycle magazine called the CB750, "the most sophisticated production bike ever", on the bike's introduction. Cycle World called it a masterpiece, highlighting Honda's painstaking durability testing, the bike's 120 mph (190 km/h) top speed, the fade-free braking, the comfortable ride, and excellent instrumentation.

$1,495!

[jmowreader]

60. Also the Yamaha Seca 750...

the Suzuki Katana 750...

and if you want to go a little bigger, the King of All Purpose Motorcycles:



The GPz bikes were great: you could turn one into a bagger, a cafe racer, a delivery bike...it would do anything you asked of it, and very well.

I had a Yamaha Vision,



but I think I should have gotten a GPz550 instead. Easier to get parts for.

[Mc Mike]

25. Bikers for dRumpf switched over to the NK MW 1200.

It'll go over big, when they ride into Sturgis, in formation.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

66. NK MW 1200?

What's that? And, can you get really loud pipes for it?

[Mc Mike]

67. North Korean Motor Works-produced substitute for the Harley 1200.

The fans in Sturgis can be a bit snobby about fellow participants' choice of motorcycle.

But Shitler can advocate a substitute for the now-disgraced Harley Davidson's products, for his true believer fans. And I'm sure it will go over well down in the trenches.

[Botany]

27. So Harley owners will not buy parts to maintain and repair their bikes?

n/t

[jmowreader]

46. There's nothing in a Harley you can't buy from 4 other companies

These guys can swear off ever going into a Harley shop again and still keep their bikes on the road.

And all the bikers who really don’t want to ride a 600-pound bagger with a V-twin engine will continue to frequent the Triumph, BMW and Japanese bike shops. Unfortunately for Harley, their customers shit bricks every time Harley tries to do something different...like introduce the 500-pound V-twin bagger that was the VRSC.

[Botany]

53. But some Harley riders (richer ones) only want H.D. parts in their hogs.

n/t

[jmowreader]

54. If Cheetolini tells his minions to stop putting HD parts in their bikes...

...they will stop putting HD parts in their bikes. Trump is running a cult of personality. There are people who would kill for him. They'll "destroy the value" of their overpriced motorcycles for him.

[pstokely]

62. will they put russian parts in their cycles?

Last edited Mon Aug 13, 2018, 06:05 AM - Edit history (1)

?

[jmowreader]

63. No need. LOTS of companies make Harley parts in the US

[CanonRay]

29. Everything Trump touches, dies.

[wcmagumba]

30. Harleys can be...

the new Keurig....
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/business/media/keurig-hannity.html

[workinclasszero]

38. Yes!

[moreland01]

31. I would have loved to have seen

Harley just upping the price for US-made cycles by $10,000 each to cover trump's tariffs followed by a PR campaign about the US-made cycles and some commercials with only white guys riding them.

If Harley is toast anyway (since the true believers are now done with them), then this is the way I'd like to see them flame out.

I, personally, don't like to see any company flame out, but watching the trumpers have to get behind a price increase only to see that the company can't sell them any longer, would be such sweet sorrow.

[mopinko]

32. lemme know when they start shooting them up like yeti coolers.

[pazzyanne]

34. So much winning with trump policies, believe me.

[workinclasszero]

36. Hey corporate America, how do you like your boy demagogue now?

[Norbert]

40. Most of the Harley owners I know won't boycott

Of course most of them think we have an ass hole as pResident.

[Snellius]

48. Why is the Prez of the US politicizing businesses? Against American companies at that!

Trump is proud that an American business is failing because "we won't forget" it "surrendered"? MAGA is all about him.

[iluvtennis]

49. All Mr MAGA needs to do is rescind his tarrifs and Harley will stay. Don't these folks

have any critical thinking skills. GAH.

[dreamland]

59. Don't buy Harleys, buy a Kawasaki instead

These people are so smart.

[Supernova9]

64. This trade war

Can have a horrible outcome.

[ProfessorGAC]

65. And Really. . .

. . .what percent of HD riders are really talking about a boycott? My guess is it's pretty small.