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I think they may be considering discontinuing the RG,Road Glide?

badinfluence63 wrote:I think they may be considering discontinuing the RG,Road Glide?

I've seen that on a few different forums now that '09 is the last year for the RG. Supposedly there is a replacement next year but, in true Harley style, nobody knows what it will be.

I have heard rumbles about discontinuing the Fat Boy and liquid cooling for the engines on the touring models...

[quote="Gummiente"][quote="badinfluence63"]I think they may be considering discontinuing the RG,Road Glide?[/quote]
I've seen that on a few different forums now that '09 is the last year for the RG. Supposedly there is a replacement next year but, in true Harley style, nobody knows what it will be.[/quote]

Many with wisdom way beyond mine believe that with the anounced deletion of the Road Glide for 2010, they will re-introduce the father of the Road Glide known as Tour Glide. Instead of the the V-twin engine the new Tour Glide will become the first touring bike with the V-rod water cooled engine in it. In it's current mode the v-rod does not get too much play but if it were retuned as a touring bike engine it would in effect set the stage for mass production of water jacked touring machines which the EPA is indirectly forcing upon air cooled engine makers.
Personally, I like the idea of 110-120 horsepower on a tourer. It won't have the characteristic potato-potato-potato exhaust note long familiar with the v-twins but it will be a barn burner performance and styling wise. Most honest dealers will tell you that they know nothing of what is going to be introduce prior to the dealer show on or about July 22 of each year when the MOCO holds it's dealer convention in BFE.

Is the Nova V4 ever going to be a reality?

All I know is that the Harley dealers by this time usually have information packs on all the models. Also they've started holding tech shops for mechanics and sales people. This year nothing on any new bikes. Just rumors from HQ. What I've heard is that due to econoimic conditions, they may wait a year to bring out someif not all of the new bikes. Or release them later in the year if economic conditions improve, There been a series of seriious layoffs and this had affect HD from realweasing new concepts. Haeley isn't doing that bad off economicaly. It just might be a little conservative this year.

I hope that I'm wrong but it's what I've heard from a couple VIPs. And Harley is not the only one to be facing this problem. Of cource to highlight this, Honda is bringing out the Fury so go figure.

BTW, I heard the same rumor about the Road King and the same rumor about its replacement. It goes a little farther than that as there seems to be a police bike version of an updated tourglide.

BTW2, What ever happens one thing will be for certain the new bikes will be Harleys for the new head honcho (isn't it sad that no can remember his name) wants any new bikes to not dilute the Harley mystique. So look for more bikes like the XR1200.

Here's the sccop. New here but I can say Harley is introducing two Road Glides next Year. One will be similar to what we had in '09 except will be a mix of the Street Glide and RG. The other will be a Touring version of the RG. Wide Glide is back, a "B" version of the Fat Boy, Std Rocker is gone, an "X" (extreme) version of the XR1200 added, Nighttrain, XL883, RG as we know it are gone. All Softail Custom's are 103".

Biggest news in CVO is a Street Glide CVO, Ultra CVO, Dyna CVO remains and a new Softail Standard CVO.

Dirt Bike was thrown in the can a long time ago and no scooter or smaller version. It has been approved for California sales, but was last year also.

Oh yea, don't look for water pumps.

Gutman wrote: an "X" (extreme) version of the XR1200 added,

Do you have any more info on that?

Gutman wrote:Here's the sccop. New here but I can say Harley is introducing two Road Glides next Year. One will be similar to what we had in '09 except will be a mix of the Street Glide and RG. The other will be a Touring version of the RG. Wide Glide is back, a "B" version of the Fat Boy, Std Rocker is gone, an "X" (extreme) version of the XR1200 added, Nighttrain, XL883, RG as we know it are gone. All Softail Custom's are 103".

Biggest news in CVO is a Street Glide CVO, Ultra CVO, Dyna CVO remains and a new Softail Standard CVO.

Dirt Bike was thrown in the can a long time ago and no scooter or smaller version. It has been approved for California sales, but was last year also.

Oh yea, don't look for water pumps.

Okay, this is what I "know" to be true and I can say...

First of all, there is a new CEO/CFO for Harley Davidson from May 1 2009 named Kieth Wandell. He isn't a bike person. He doesn't even own a motorcycle. From all reports he's a bean counter/marketing type brought in because HD supposedly lost up to 37% in sales during different quarters last year. HD made some $641+ million but still felt it necessary to cut 1000s of skilled jobs to make the company more finacial viable.

Sounds like AMF doesn't it.?

There are several places on the internet that have different parts of the picture. This forum has the most of what is verifiable by HD.

http://www.cyclespot.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24387

The factory is keeping it close to the chest, not only from the public but the dealers too. Everything is supposed to be come known during the July 21st national dealer's meeting. There are things that are the factory reps have let out to the dealers but people that have let it out to the public have been reprimanded or fired for it.

However, one thing is known. Expect price increases for 2010.

As for Gutman's post. Nothing is guaranteed. 2010 is considered to be a rebuilding year for HD. There will be no new water cooled motorcycles. The extreme XR, he mentioned is a possiblility but don't hold out an expectation that it will be a Ducati beater. However, Storz had a killer year for it's add on performance pieces that HD may feel that it wants a piece of that action. Also, expect it to be differentiated from the standard Spotster line. During 2009, there were a lot of lost sales as many thought the XR nothing more than a styling exercise. The company has buit several prototypes. However, they haven't said much about which one if any will be the new XR1200.

There is one major thrust that is driving a lot of Harley's decisions fo rthe future is the present reliance on the "biker" base that provides the major sales of the company. The average age of the normal Harley buyer is in their 40s and continues to grow older. Harley wants to widen it's public appeal and become a viable choice for younger motorcyclists. There have been several prototypes mentioned but the biggest one so far is a 2011 or beyond introduction of a water cooled V4 touring line.

Everything else is pretty much as Gutman's post except there is a lot of Dealer to Factory exchanges of the XL883. The XL883C is definately gone but the dealers want the smaller Sportster to be a lost leader and bring customers in that will buy Big Twins in the future. The new management feels that it costs as much to build 883 as the 1200 and feel that all bike models should pay for themselves. We'll know July, 21st.

For me I've over reacted but with prices that I can't see going any lower, I've bought for myself those bikes I wanted and will just see what the future brings. I hope that the Davidsons keep the company in the business of soul building bikes.

Ryethil wrote: The factory is keeping it close to the chest, not only from the public but the dealers too. Everything is supposed to be come known during the July 21st national dealer's meeting. There are things that are the factory reps have let out to the dealers but people that have let it out to the public have been reprimanded or fired for it.

I found out that I was wrong about the date of the National Dealer's Meeting. It is supposedly pushed back till 7/23/2009 which is odd since the date of the shipping of new motorcycles is 7/27/2009. However, that date may change too as there are a backlog of older bikes. Also as far as the new bikes, the final word on them will appear at Stugis (Aug 3-8).

While the new ship date "MAY" be held back till as late as September. As far as I've been told that changes to present bikes will be announced at the meeting with few major new bikes announced. However, expect some bikes to come standard with 103" motors.

I still don't know about HD as a whole but the new CEO/CFO Kieth Wandell is supposed to make a speach that will detail the propsed future of Harley Davidson. There are 2 problems facing Harley right now that have to be addressed. Reducing the number of bikes produced to better match sales figures and the EPA is making it extremely hard for air cooled motors to be approved for the road. The 2010 bikes will run hotter than the 2009. However, more and more of HD motorcycles are going to be water cooled because of the EPA.

As a side not, a lot of HD's infrastructure is being sold and outsoursing maybe come the order of the day. For example, 1/2 of all the specially painted trucks that used to carry motorcycles and parts are being sold and commercial carriers substituted. Such as that for now.

As far as truth of what I say here, it is all heresay. No matter how high placed my sources, this is really all CR*P and believe what you want.