Tag Archives: Harley Davidson

Is it time for Harley Davidson’s CEO to resign?

May 2015 – February 2020 Matt Levatich was promoted to Chief Executive Officer at Harley-Davidson; at the time, H-D was listed on the Standard and Poor’s 500 leading publicly traded companies (S&P 500 or $SPX). During Levatich’s tenure, Harley stocks … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in Opinion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Why are Harley-Davidson Pan America values tanking?

According to the headlines in late 2021, Harley’s first foray into the adventure market was the “Best-selling ADV motorcycle in America”. Two years later, I believe we’re on the cusp of a very different story. In 2021 the two-tone Pan America Special carried a suggested retail price of $20,249. Today, low-mileage Pan Am Specials can be found for 14-grand or less on Facebook marketplace. In the time that I’ve been watching used motorcycle values, I’ve never seen the value of a new motorcycle take a nosedive this steep. Motorcycle dogma clearly states: “Harley’s hold their resale value”, so why is the Pan Am tanking? Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in Opinion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 49 Comments

Harley’s CEO Jochen Zeitz Has Killed the Golden Goose

let’s rewind the clock a bit. When confronted with aging demographics and market headwinds by any other name, former H-D CEO, Matt Levatich launched an initiative he called “more roads to Harley-Davidson”. He promised something like 100 new Harley models, plans to attract younger riders, and so on. We know that the Pan America we see today is the fruit of this labor. We also know, after several quarters of negative press, Levatich left the Motor Company. His replacement, Jochen Zeitz, countered with “Project Rewire” and “Project Hardwire”. Most of which is a bunch of corporate buzzword jargon to send messages to savvy traders and snow the public wherever possible. In short, Zeitz directed the company to slash spending, slash offerings, and stifle supply to boost margins and keep the stock price aloft through “very, very careful management of inventory”. Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in Opinion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 28 Comments

Harley-Davidson Is Doing It Wrong

In recent days Harley-Davidson has trickled out more information about their new “Hard Wire” plan. While there is a lot that goes into this, including information consumers aren’t privy to, the plan in general sounds like “cut expenses, maximize margins, … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in Opinion | Tagged , , | 18 Comments

Progressive International Motorcycle Show: Cleveland in a New Light

One of the first stories I covered here on Moto Adventurer was the “goings-on” at Progressive International Motorcycle Show (IMS) in Cleveland. Considering typical Ohio weather in late January, it’s nice to fill up an otherwise snowy weekend with a … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in Events & Rides | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

What is the Future of Motorcycling?

Over the holidays I spent a lot of time thinking about the future of Moto Adventurer and where the blog, and subsequent social media outlets, are going from here. A lot of folks have asked if I was going to … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in Opinion | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

2018 Harley Davidson Fat Bob: The Softail-Dyna Throwdown

  Way, way back in my early riding days, a guy I worked with told me to go take a ride and handed me the keys to his motorcycle, a 2008 Harley-Davidson Dyna Fat Bob. That bike was the very … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in Bikes | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

March Moto Madness: Scrambler Adventures

Friday, March 23rd 02:54 AM I woke to the sound of my own teeth chattering. I’m not entirely sure when and for how long I actually slept. Hands exhausted from holding my sleeping bag closed with a death grip, I … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in Events & Rides | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Harley Dirtster Project: Planning

Way back in the days of Lola the Speedmaster, my buddy Jeff told me that he wanted to convert a Harley Davidson Sportster into a dirt bike. Having not yet been bit by the off-road bug, and being the (arguably) … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in Bikes | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

What do you want from Harley-Davidson?

Early this week I caught this news snippet regarding Harley-Davidson’s announcement about the closure of the Kansas City manufacturing plant. That news, while tragic, is unfortunately not particularly surprising after so many recent articles have been written about declining sales … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in Opinion | Tagged , , , , , , | 33 Comments