WI's tax structure is only a small part of H-D's decisions.

miltonalum says:I beleive the Harleys speedometer and computer system is made in china, other than that the entire bike is made right here in america.

miltonalum...You may not want to know the truth...ignorance is bliss.

When was the last time H-D was noted for anything even remotely tied to "Performance"?
It's all image.
Chrome
Fat tires
Huge (HEAVY) engines
Loud pipes
Crappy brakes
Crappy handeling
More chrome
Yet, they sell almost all the bike they produce.
Explain that!

*cough* Honda is not Chinese.

cookiedough, You may like your honda and thats fine but dont go saying its more american than a harley. I beleive the Harleys speedometer and computer system is made in china, other than that the entire bike is made right here in america.
.
Honda and Yamaha both recently announced plans to produce even more bikes overseas and even the ones that are assembled here are shipped over from china. I like hondas too but they arent more american than a harley.

Can you not read Bobby??? I thought I was very clear with my point regarding the Buell division being an asset to the long term success of that company. Why do you think that I would think that they deserved to lose their jobs? Sister companies like Buell and MV Agusta should have been stressed as a part of their business model, never eliminated. As I said, if Harley markets exclusively toward the old 50 and 60 year old weekend warriors without doing anything to capture the interest of younger generations, when those younger generations migrate from superbike/supersport, to streetfighter, to sporttourer, to cruiser--the Harley brand will not be an option because there was no exposure to it. Are there some decent Harley riders?--sure, but the majority of the ones I do run into are out of shape posers who think they are hard as nails when they wrap that bandana "helmet" around their head, chain the wallet to their jeans, roll up the sleeves on their Harley T-shirt and fire up the old straight pipes. Harley has done an excellent job of marketing that image to the vast majority of their customers and that older generation ate it up. The younger one is going to be a tougher sell because all of the other manufacturers(Honda/Suzuki/Yamaha/Triumph/Ducati/BMW) have complete product lines--from sport to touring bikes. Would I have bought a Buell? I almost did get a 2000 X1 Lightning--Loved the looks and the idea of having an "American" bike, but I just couldn't get past the anemic motor in that thing. Buell created a good chassis and design, but that Harley motor ruined that bike. If it would have had the 1125 Rotax I would have one in my garage. Without Buell, I guess I'll be sticking to the Euro bikes........

Honda is the way to go - call it what you want, but my Valkyrie was made in OHIO and more american made parts on it than the comparable Harley. Anyways, said to see some competition go by the wayside and more people unemployed - no matter who the company is.

916WI – Do I hear a trifle of jab at Harley riders? I ride a Harley, a stripped down 1998 Soft-tail. I don’t like the Road-Bike construct – might as well buy a small car – yet, it is still a marginally free country – so,I suggest, buy away, fat, out-of-shape-dudes and Harley chicks, to your free market content. Perhaps there should be a weight tax on motorcycle purchasers. I, by-the-by, am 59 years old and in rather good shape (luck of the life draw ).
I suppose a blog poster like you 916WI is all enamored with the pathetic out-of-shape crowd that hangs out at big-box stores that obsessively buys Chinese crap. If you drive a motorcycle, you most likely drive a foreign job. You also probably think the pending unemployed, soon to be, beat-down workers at Buell deserve what they get and need to get off their back-sides and find another job. Just another hunch.
The wire-media had an article recently that proclaimed the unemployment rate in the younger male generation (the crowd you look for to save Harley) is over 50 percent umemployed in America.
So how's all this working out then?
Bob Keith
– humble and obedient citizen -

Well said 916, well said!

Thank you Libtards and the ever annoying Doyle! The White House said we are out of the recession right?

Bump, Bump, Bump, another Wisconsin connected business bits the dust.
Job well done Wisconsin. Perhaps State Assembly Rep Speaker Mike Sheridan (Janesville District) might support a tax on pets, unemployed teenagers, and hanging flower baskets that could make up the impending lost revenue (tax for the obfuscated pacified)from lost Buell motorcycle sales.
Oh, by-the-by, have not you all heard? The talking-head-evening-news(bull crap)-talk-show elitists proclaim the Great-Recession is over.
Yippee baby, I am off to a big-box store to buy some Chinese crap.....
Bob Keith
- humble and obedient citizen -

Harley is digging their own grave by concentrating on the short term vs. planning for the long term. They need to capture a younger market--get younger riders hooked on their products so that those riders can make the transition to Harley later on in life. There are only so many aging, out of shape biker posers to sell their "cruiser" machines to--by dumping Buell, MV Agusta, and eliminating models such as the V-Rod they basically disconnected themselves from another generation of bikers--the generation they need to survive--the younger one......

Imagine that....WI changes it tax law and hits Harley with a 22 million dollar bill...shortly thereafter harley shuts down one of their product lines assembled exclusively in Wisconsin (east Troy). I really don't think that is coincidence.

Zippy, in fact, motorcycles were added to the auto/truck tax credit in the stimulus bill, and Harley applied for and was granted access to the Federal Reserve's lending facility just this month.
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-2009...
.
This is in addition to a $600M loan from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway earlier this year. Harley is probably required to pare its operations in order to qualify for further credit.

I find that funny (not haha) because lately Buell has been having a big advertising push and there recent models have been reviewed well.

The automakers got a bailout, but not Buell? The builders of the best built bikes on this big blue ball? Booo...

Give me a decent trade in allowance & i'll give them some business!! My Harley loves me,but i would trade her in on a younger model!! LOL

Too bad. A fine piece of engineering. H-D sales are way down as a whole. I'm sure they had no other options.