Tomahawk Fall Ride - No Harley Demos, etc?

[djw479]

Well, looks like the H-D's senior management is cutting back at the Fall Ride this year. Per all schedules I've seen it looks like the Harley Davidson is not participating at Sara Park...at all. No demo rides, no factory-sponsored HOG Rally, and no Traveling Museum. Sara Park is going to be a ghost town compared to years past. While I am sure there will be some activities & vendors there, the factory-sponsored events were the main draws other than the motorcycle raffles.

I'm sure there will be the a statement somewhat like "the economy is causing us to reduce our expenses, and participating at the Tomahawk Fall Ride is a casualty...yada yada yada". But is the real reason tied to the ongoing contract talks? I'd bet so. H-D is still providing demo rides & more at other 2010 events.

It may not affect this years's participation as many attendees will not be aware of this change until arriving, but it will negatively effect attendance in the following years if this is the new status quo. That could be a big drag on the already soft northwoods economy.

Or perhaps H-D management didn't get the memo stating the bridge replacement does NOT start until after the 2010 Fall Ride? Just kidding!

For those whom dislike the Fall Ride, sadly you wish maybe coming true.

Dan

[KEN]

Harleys new CEO, and upper management, have many Wisconsin residents very nervous. They only see $$$$ signs and numbers.

[Catfish]

Armour Leather Company in Sheboygan was the WORLD'S Largest Tannery. Many years ago they left the state and moved to Boliver, Tennessee leaving many many Sheboygan people high and dry. They left the state because of Wisconsin STATE income tax. That was a money issue too, but not really the tannery's greed but rather the states gouging our pocketbooks. This happened to many other large manufacturers in the state, now it may be Harley's turn. Not many other states have state income tax.

[Tomahawk Leader]

Please note that 2010 bike demos, with the ability to purchase one onsite, will be at Bubba's Big Party at Nokomis Community Park this year!

Excitement is starting to build for the events and we just sent the official Fall Ride Guide to the printer (8/16/10). Should be back in our hands soon. Get an early look at the book and all the 2010 Fall Ride has to offer by visiting http://www.tomahawkleader.com and click on the pdf/link posted there.

[KEN]

Catfish

This doesn`t appear to be tax issue. It`s more of a corporate greed issue. They want the guy on the factory floor to work for less money, and have reduced benefits, while the ones at the top get more , more , and more.

[Catfish]

That may be the case, but I'm sure the corporation also knows about the state tax thing and if it's for the bottom line that is also a consideration. If so many other manufacturers in the state moved for that reason, Harley must be savvy enough to consider that, as another factor, in their corporate greed.

[KEN]

Here`s where they can save a few bucks...........................

http://dailyreporter.com/blog/2010/03/1 ... e-in-2009/

[djp]

Harley is selling back the Itallian company (mvagusta) it bought less than two years ago, they paid 109 million,selling price, about 3 bucks. And they also put in 20 million into a fund for the new company to spend. I wonder if they would buy my bike for about 20,000 and then in two years if I want it back they could give me another 10,000 to take it. Nothin wrong with that management. HD has built their product on costumer loyalty too bad they can’t give a little back. The demos at Bubbas will be the local dealer nothing to do with the company, if Harley moves out of Wisconsin I'll have to go to a Kawasaki dealer to demo my next bike. Hopefully the Union will stand together the fall ride is a great time I would hate to see it end.

Dave

[mtgleason]

We all work to make a buck....so does HD. WI has not been business friendly for several years now. Realize that the state (Doyle) decided to start charging state sales tax on all products sold by WI mfrs (globally) vs products sold in WI.
Instantly HD owed an additional $22 mill (approx) to the state. Where does that come from?
These added taxes almost drove Mercury marine out of the state.....but Doyle cut them a deal. If I'm HD, I play the same card Mercury did and hope for the same deal. If Doyle doesn't come thru.....I can't blame HD.

Tax increases kill business. Thats the bottom line. Call businesses fat cats, call them selfish, call them whatever you want, but without them, none of us have jobs.

[djw479]

Please note that 2010 bike demos, with the ability to purchase one onsite, will be at Bubba's Big Party at Nokomis Community Park this year!

Thanks for the update! I agree with djp, sounds like a dealer is going to offer demo bikes instead of the factory so I doubt we will see many CVO models, etc.

[Catfish]

Don't know what CVO's are but Bubba says they will have ALL the new models and all the colors.
This may be a better demo deal than when Harley did it because if you like one you can ride it home that day. If you liked one at HD's demo you had to wait for one on order.
The only other difference is you will not be able to ride and beat up a model for half the day and then walk away and say thank you it was fun.
Only riders that are prepared to buy will be able to ride one. Not sure how they will qualify????? those riders as being ready to purchase.

[ski_lover]

Sorry to hear the Fall Ride's future may be jeopardized by HD's potential move out of the hometown. You gotta think positive though, it's not about the Harley display that the bikes come to the Northwoods, it's about the Northwoods just like Sturgis is about a gathering and good times (minus a few nuts.)
Look, HD is going to leverage anything they can to get concessions from the union and shore up the bottom line and it is about the bottom line. Intel walked out on Colorado, went to China AND spent $3.5B to build a new facility. That's right, billion. Why? Economic reasons, not to mention that China is the next major economy arriving on the scene so Intel wanted to be positioned to TAKE advantage of that. It is about the bottom line and fiduciary responsibility to the stock holders, doesn't matter they left several thousand people high and dry here or sold the chip making facility which they spent about $1.7B on for $15M. It's always about the bottom line for corporations.

[Catfish]

Marryann, what are you talking about? Your sentence structure leaves me confused. You rode a Harley in the past and found them all wanting live music including? Then something in the middle there in parenthesis about power and handling?
???????????? TILT ???????????? hi Jeff

[Deb Richardson]

TILT indeed.

[Kerry Tobin]

Maryann's post was a spam message. This was a new one to me, they changed the text color to match the background of the message board so it was harder to see...

They're starting to get annoying again but I might be able to better filter them out after an upgrade to our web server that should be coming soon...

Kerry

[djp]

well for better or worse the contract issue is settled (for now) I feel sorry for the workers who had to vote knowing it would cause some of their co-workers to be laid off but had no choice other than to lose their own job. If there's any justice in about 5 years the economy will be booming harley will be having record sales and can not keep up with bikes then the union should say o.k. if we don't renegotiate our contract, bring back all the workers that were fired, plus a nice pay increase were going on strike...........tomorrow. Now that I'm done ranting It's time to get on the bike and head to Tomahawk for the weekend. IN THE FREAKIN RAIN