Blackbridge Harley

[xrljoel]

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I get that HD has staked a great deal on their notion of "brand value", "exclusivity" and tribal belonging (in a marketing sense) within the greater context of the marketplace, meaning purchasing motivations beyond us as experienced MC owners/riders.

Where I think they completely missed the mark with their new bikes is that people who ONLY care that their purchase is shiny and has a bar and shield logo can buy a mostly lightly used one (even big twin and touring) for 10's of thousands of dollars less than a new one. And it can be just as shiny.
Plus, the people within that cohort that they're trying to impress/appeal to don't know the difference between a 1999 street glide and a 2025. The extra bonus is that even high mileage doesn't matter if you're only riding a few hundred km's per year to bars, coffee shops or other meet ups.

 

[ToSlow]

When i traded my 05 Electra glide, it had 65thou on it. i thought it would be worth 14 to 15. i got 10 for it.

After looking on the net i think i done OK

 

[adri]

If you want to finance, H-D Financial is 10 to 11% plus, Insurance for me at 68 is over 1700 bucks. WTF?

Call me old fashion but, "If you want financing, you can't afford it."
I'm never paying interest on a depreciating asset. That's just giving away money, to pay for the luxury of being able to lose even more money. I'm not wealthy enough to afford financing. That's something for the richest among us.

As for insurance at $1700, on a $30,000 vehicle, that seems pretty damn good to me. My truck's replacement value is half of what that Harley is, is 100x safer, and 100x less likely to be stolen because it's ten years old... Insurance is twice as much. $1,700 for a $30k motorcycle sounds like a steal of a deal at any age to me...

 

[Lightcycle]

Call me old fashion but, "If you want financing, you can't afford it."
I'm never paying interest on a depreciating asset. That's just giving away money, to pay for the luxury of being able to lose even more money. I'm not wealthy enough to afford financing. That's something for the richest among us.

Some exceptions:

If your finance rate is much lower than the rate of returns on conservative investments then it makes absolute sense to finance.

I got my DesertX at 0% for 60 months. Finance rate was subvented by the manufacturer, so they're the ones taking the hit on giving away free money.

I then take what I would have put down for it and stick it in a 4-5% money market or Investment Savings Account and you're ahead by $6000-7000 at the end of the 5-year term.

The most important point being that you actually have the money and you actually do invest it (or keep it in your existing investments in my case) Instead of buying more depreciating assets/toys with the money you're not putting down... which is what most people do by maxing out all lines of credit offered...

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