You are definitely right about Harley use to be a common man's bike. I remember back in the day if you couldn't afford a new Japanese bike you would get a Harley or BSA. But from what I saw over the years it wasn't so much that it was greed on Harley's part it was the type of people that started to buy them. Harley always built a good platform back then but didn't put a lot of bells and whistles on them because the people who bought them were in a certain price they could afford or most people were going to take stuff off and put something more custom on the bikes so they built them in a way that if it's coming off anyways why make it have things that cost more. I grew up riding Harley's because they were the only company that catered to the poor man but mainly because it was the only bike that if you broke down you could fix it on the side of the road. They could be rebuilt many times over without having to replace jugs, heads or any major parts. Just re-ring them put new oil pump and hit the road. Well more of us could afford used Harley's then new ones. So you got to sell a new one first before it can become used and the demand for new wasn't that high. So they started getting more into selling parts and accessories and then hi performance factory parts eventually becoming screaming eagle. That is what kept them going mostly and parts were affordable. They didn't sell t-shirts and boots, people at events made and sold that. When they sold to AMF the quality went way down and the bikes cost more because they started to put things like the Japanese bikes had and those were the only Troublesome Harley's made was in that time period from 72-82 ( I may be wrong on yrs) but still we had our old bikes still running and everyone knew how to work on a Harley due to simplicity so the AMF bike wasn't a big deal cause we knew how to fix them ourselves and knew preventive maintenance needed. When Harley was bought back they took on a big chance because they knowingly bought a failing company and had to start off in the negative and try to bring it back. The only way was to sell new bikes so they had to rework the bikes back into a good bike after what AMF did to the quality and the bad reputation they created for the company that still haunts Harley to this day. They made the EVO engine and that ended the problems of not starting or breaking down and we're damn good engine's....but still people applied the bad reputation of a era gone past. Those bikes were still affordable costing less than Japan bikes but R&D for the new platform cost slot and they had to do it while the company was a failing company so after seeing there was a market in leather apparel and shirts and clothes they started offering official licence to manufacture them and they started selling all kinds of clothing mainly t-shirts. This is what started the comeback and was a major contributor to getting back on their feet. But as with anything it created a side effect. It started a fake culture. People that didn't even ride wore Harley t-shirts and with in this fake culture that the people created (not Harley all they did was sell T-shirts) anyways within this fake culture were people that were middle class and above and were able to afford new bikes unlike us that were real Harley riders. So this fake culture enabled Harley to start selling new bikes now. The enthusiast would get off work Friday pull their bikes out of the garage and go get dressed to play the part then ride their bike to the store to meet 2 or 3 others playing the born to be wild part and stand around looking at their bikes waiting for people to see them as bikers than go back home. Man we would pick those bikes up used with 1000 mi on them and be 5 yrs old. So these people had money to spend so Harley did what any company would do and ride the wave till it's gone. So in a business move Harley saw the people had created a culture so they did what they needed to keep that wave going and the wave got bigger and bigger and things got so they catered to that culture and left us original True Harley guys behind. Which is where we are, exactly as you have said...not for the common man anymore. But in reality if they would of stuck with us they would of went under because we didn't buy new bikes. Wow this got long as hell....sorry about that. Oh by the way I had went to buy a fury. Cool bike, I ended up getting a Deuce instead but only because I couldn't afford a V-MAX. Somethings never change I'm still riding a used Harley because I can't afford a new Japanese bike.

@@stanfordpittman1654 yeah... just staying with the old 454 Chevelle...gas guzzling Monster...

Lmaoo Honda fury owners

Alright lol Honda hasn't made a class leading bike since the 90s.