Harley-Davidson in China

[bikerdoc]

Harley-Davidson opened its first dealer in China in 2005, they now have four dealers operating nationwide (Shanghai, Beijing, Qingdao and Hong Kong). Harley reported that sales had doubled in China last year and plans to open four new dealerships this year (Wenzhou, Xiamen, Dalian and Chengdu). According to Rodney Copes, Harley’s Vice President of international sales, China is the fastest growing market for the American motorcycle manufacture. -Motorcycle.com

[ZMC888]

I was chatting with the manager of the Qingdao branch a few weeks ago and apparently they only have CCC certified the 1500cc and 883cc stuff. But China needs to wait a few years before the 1200cc like the XR1200 to become CCC certified.

[bikerdoc]

I was chatting with the manager of the Qingdao branch a few weeks ago and apparently they only have CCC certified the 1500cc and 883cc stuff. But China needs to wait a few years before the 1200cc like the XR1200 to become CCC certified.

I wonder if that is relative to just that branch, as I did see a sportster 1200 for sale in the shop in SH. A mate bought a 883 and I was eyeing up the 1200. Maybe they just license it as the 883 perhaps with the 1200 oversize kit added/moded after manufacture or some other little wee trick... so commonly done here ;)

[chinabiker]

To the best of my knowledge: All HD dealers have to do importation and type approvals by themselves, so it might depend on the area which bikes they can offer.

Doubling sales - from 20 to 40 ?

[bikerdoc]

To the best of my knowledge: All HD dealers have to do importation and type approvals by themselves, so it might depend on the area which bikes they can offer.
Doubling sales - from 20 to 40 ?

Well I know they were selling them here, at both SH and BJ stores. I saw one at SH, and actually they used to have them listed with the prices on the respective HD websites here, but now the sites have changed and I don;t think they post the prices any longer... although it's easy to work out, just take the average price for the motorcycle in international markets whether its a HD, BMW, Ducati brand and double it, that will pretty much put one in the ball park figure of what the bike will likely cost...

[moilami]

although it's easy to work out, just take the average price for the motorcycle in international markets whether its a HD, BMW, Ducati brand and double it, that will pretty much put one in the ball park figure of what the bike will likely cost...

Cool! The same formula works more or less in Finland.

[jape]

Off topic a bit, but I know for decades many people loooove their Harleys, and naturally they are big in USA, but are they all that good a bike? Is the build quality, reliability and ride worth the premium or is a lot of it just the dream built around these things? My brother has built, repaired and raced and daily ridden big bikes of all sorts for many decades and he always said the HD was a dog, unreliable and vibrates a lot, and that perhaps the BMW but certainly the big Hondas are far more reliable.

[moilami]

I heard you need to have a HD if you want to join Hell's Angels or Bandidos. I also heard that HDs have sucky brakes. But I think HD could be good chick trap.

[culcune]

I think that HD have worked out all the bugs from years ago. The bikes look the same as they did years ago, but perform and are far more reliable today. I don't think that they are any better or worse than others. But it did take some international help, such as Porsche designing the engine in their V-rod a few years back. I am sure there are internal bits in other engines that were designed by consultants, too. My old next door neighbor used to be the head mechanic for the local HD dealer, and when the owner retired, got to take it over (so he moved out of this neighborhood,LOL), but he still is in the garage most of the day. He says that the reliability has improved dramatically in the past 10 years, but he is a master mechanic of these bikes, and owns the dealership, so might be a little biased. But he is a straight-forward kind of guy, so wouldn't necessarily lie to me, either. He never did carry the Buell line-up due to what he felt was questionable reliability of those bikes, for instance. I am not a big cruiser fan, although in my later years I have been more drawn to them, so haven't ruled out a HD in my later years, but for now, my budget dictates a used Japanese bike or the bike I would like to get is the Pitster Pro 250 motard.

[bikerdoc]

Well I'm not really a HD fan, but only looked at the sportsters as a way to get a large capacity 100% legal bike in PRC that wasn't so ridiculously overpriced. At the time the 883cc was around 110k and 1200cc was about 130k much less than the BMW options at the time. I'm familiar with horrors of HD reliability after a few friends back home (NZ) had issues with their HD's, while the rest of us were riding. LOL. I kept in mind though that was like 15 years ago, so I'm sure HD has moved on since then and surely has more reliable products. My German friend here has had no problems with his 883cc, and has been 100% reliable on the week long rides we've been on. The one issue is the fuel tank is way too small, though both in capacity and aesthetically. When we ride he has to fill his tank way more often than the rest of us. When I sit on his bike, the tank is way too narrow for my liking, but then I'm used to a nice more rounded oval tank on the Dragstar. Though his sportster is way lighter than my 280kg Dragstar, put I prefer the shaft drive over his belt drive. Nah nah-nah-nah nah!