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Harley-Davidson Tries to Rejuvenate Motorcycle Sales

ScottRNelson said:
Lou, you remind me of a guy I know here in Folsom. He's in his 90's now, but was one of the original rocket scientists. When he joined the armed forces in the 40's, they gave him an intelligence test and decided to send him to Cal Tech instead of somewhere to learn how to shoot a gun. He was involved with a lot of the early rocket development including the atomic rocket that they built but never actually launched.

Keep posting here, Lou. You're a BARF treasure. :thumbup
Click to expand...

Man I'd like to meet/talk to him....:thumbup...

When we had nuke warheads on missiles in the cold war years...
They sat on my workmanship.

Boeing welded up the launching pad adapters, shipped them to us,
I did the precision machining to take out the welding flaws/warps, and bring them to spec. for the MinuteMan Missiles.
 
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louemc said:
Man I'd like to meet/talk to him....:thumbup...

When we had nuke warheads on missiles in the cold war years...
They sat on my workmanship.

Boeing welded up the launching pad adapters, shipped them to us,
I did the precision machining to take out the welding flaws, and bring them to spec. for the MinuteMan Missiles.
Click to expand...

Well THAT explains a few things ;)

[youtube]vqW0LEcTAYg[/youtube]
https://youtu.be/vqW0LEcTAYg





( :twofinger lou :laughing )
 
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Harley has claimed that part of its problems is that Metric dealers are using heavy discounts to move product. Harleys full price model is largely predicated on managed "scarcity" of its models. This is not very viable if there is a reasonable alternative. Most people are willing to pay a premium to own a Harley, but there are limits.:wow

I believe that Indian is also having an effect on sales. Although full priced, they are considered a viable alternative to Harley.:thumbup
 
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louemc said:
Man I'd like to meet/talk to him....:thumbup...

When we had nuke warheads on missiles in the cold war years...
They sat on my workmanship.

Boeing welded up the launching pad adapters, shipped them to us,
I did the precision machining to take out the welding flaws, and bring them to spec. for the MinuteMan Missiles.
Click to expand...

- - - - - - - - - - -

Missile components on your workbench yes, but not warheads or their internal components.

Boeing did the design / development of the Minuteman missile not the warheads. They utilized a dummy nose cone(s), correct dimensions and weight for missile design and testing but not a completed, functional warhead.

All warhead design (W56, W62, W78) was done at either LANL or LLNL, depending on warhead. Warhead testing was at NTS and all warhead assembly was done at Pantex.

Final missile assembly was done at the Boeing site in Ogden, Utah. Missile / warhead marriage may have been there too, don't think they did that at Pantex.

Met Edward Teller on several occasions. Wow, what an interesting person. Have autographed copies of his "Memoirs" and "Brotherhood of the Bomb" about him, Oppenheimer, and Lawrence.

Boy, did this thread take a turn! :laughing
But it's all good. :thumbup
 
Lunch Box said:
Scott, congrats on joining the rest of us who realize that there is not a single subject about which we could possibly know more than Lou. Physics, engineering, materials science, mathematics, street riding, small farm animals, dirt riding, motorcycle design, marketing, sales, microbiology, humility, weather patterns, motorcycle tire design and manufacturing, the life and times of Socrates, and the list goes on. We are truly fortunate to have him hear to share his teachings with us, even though most of us are not smart enough to grasp more than a small percentage of the lessons.
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Having personally interacted with the dude IRL, he's probably legit on the spectrum. frealls, not an insult.
 
Karbon said:
Having personally interacted with the dude IRL, he's probably legit on the spectrum. frealls, not an insult.
Click to expand...

I had a similar impression. Being smart, however, is not the same as having knowledge in specific subject areas.
 
Ah, so Lou can be acerbic, which comes across as arrogant at times. So what. Doesn't affect my paycheck, or my quality of life here. What's more important to me is that he's alive, has passion and he participates. I'd miss ya if you were gone, Lou.

Back to Harley. Maybe they should do retro remake. :p

harley-davidson-aermacchi-image-760x570.jpg
 
I would like him more if he would share his knowledge with the newer riders, rather than just belittling them and repeating the same vague phrases over and over. I guess what I'm saying is that it frustrates me at times knowing that he has so much to offer the community, but almost never shares anything worthwhile.
 
Makes sense on Barf that a Harley post becomes about the ego of a particular Barfer haha!

Harley has a strong marketing team that has been handling their business pretty well and is trying to evolve. Personally I think Harley has created way more of the market share than they've lost, and the competitors have been able to profit from it. The answer to getting new riders isn't just making a product with better components... Goes deeper than that. Weird how so many of you think you know how to make Harley's business model better, when they're the best in the industry.
 
DReg350 said:
Back to Harley. Maybe they should do retro remake. :p

harley-davidson-aermacchi-image-760x570.jpg
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that belongs to Cagiva. They didn't sell all that many of those back in the day. They were around, but were pretty much eclipsed in the market by the Japanese bikes. Maybe it could get some traction among the niche that buys V7 Guzzis. :dunno
 
Today's BARF Challenge:

Find a picture of a CEO of a motorcycle company, ANY motorcycle company, riding a motorcycle. And I'm not talking posing on one for a photo-op (though that is what Harleys are designed for I guess), an actual picture of the CEO riding on two wheels. Good luck!
 
FLH03RIDER said:
- - - - - - - - - - -

Missile components on your workbench yes, but not warheads or their internal components.

Boeing did the design / development of the Minuteman missile not the warheads. They utilized a dummy nose cone(s), correct dimensions and weight for missile design and testing but not a completed, functional warhead.

All warhead design (W56, W62, W78) was done at either LANL or LLNL, depending on warhead. Warhead testing was at NTS and all warhead assembly was done at Pantex.

Final missile assembly was done at the Boeing site in Ogden, Utah. Missile / warhead marriage may have been there too, don't think they did that at Pantex.

Met Edward Teller on several occasions. Wow, what an interesting person. Have autographed copies of his "Memoirs" and "Brotherhood of the Bomb" about him, Oppenheimer, and Lawrence.

Boy, did this thread take a turn! :laughing
But it's all good. :thumbup
Click to expand...

Missile components on my workbench?

You don't have any idea what size these launching pad adapters were, that Boeing welded into this shape.

They were roughly 10 feet in diameter X 14 inches thick.

The lathe I was using, was the largest I've ever heard of.
 
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