This could be quite cool, and something I'd certainly be up for test-riding.
It would also be quite ironic, in an enjoyable sort of way, to see Harley-Davidson at the top of the pack in terms of innovation. Just hope it's got as much go as it does show, unlike most of their other offerings: Rod series aside[1], their bikes are absolutely worse than other major manufacturers' by almost any measure you care to name (performance, handling, reliability, fuel efficiency, weight, features, price, and TCO). I think the only attributes they've been winning on recently are swagger and decibels which, in fairness, are probably the two main reasons to buy a Harley... so I suppose they at least know their market.
[1] And lots of people complained about the Nightrod because it wasn't a "real" Harley: it had a Porsche designed engine that incorporated modern features such as water-cooling (I'm being totally serious).
Like just about any marketing campaign, HD sells emotion rather than an actual product.
One of the reasons people are drawn to HD is they are highly customizable, with a huge aftermarket of parts that are mostly "bolt on," meaning a knucklehead like me can do it.
> And lots of people complained about the Nightrod because it wasn't a "real" Harley: it had a Porsche designed engine that incorporated modern features such as water-cooling (I'm being totally serious).
Serious? As if such attitude was unknown to the hacker community...
It would also be quite ironic, in an enjoyable sort of way, to see Harley-Davidson at the top of the pack in terms of innovation. Just hope it's got as much go as it does show, unlike most of their other offerings: Rod series aside[1], their bikes are absolutely worse than other major manufacturers' by almost any measure you care to name (performance, handling, reliability, fuel efficiency, weight, features, price, and TCO). I think the only attributes they've been winning on recently are swagger and decibels which, in fairness, are probably the two main reasons to buy a Harley... so I suppose they at least know their market.
[1] And lots of people complained about the Nightrod because it wasn't a "real" Harley: it had a Porsche designed engine that incorporated modern features such as water-cooling (I'm being totally serious).