How Harley-Davidson Killed Itself

What people said

IgorPartola · 2021-04 · Strong recommendation

You are correct. This very entertaining 11 minute video from Fortnine (still one of the best channels on YouTube) does a great job explaining exactly how HD wound up where they are today: [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗

ubermonkey · 2025-08 · Recommendation

It's nuts, right? I mean, I ride, but I know plenty of folks who are subscribed to the F9 Youtube channel who don't just because so much of the content they do scratches nerdy itches. Some of my favorites, in case anyone's interested: * Ryan's periodic "check out this weird bike from the past" clips are always great, but I really LOVE the one about the Honda Rune: [LINK] * Their "trilogy" of sorts about Harley, and the hows and whys of their odd and honestly self-defeating decisions, are all great, but my favorite is the one that compares an Indian Scout to its then-corresponding Harley model; the Indian made 43% more power, and it's all down to Harley's genuflection at "tradition". [LINK] The other two are "why millions ride HD" ( [LINK] ), which kinda lays the background for the tradition at work in the aforementioned video; and "How HD killed itself" ( [VIDEO] ), which is more about their demographic problem. * They did a "how to deal with dealers" video that is really a thinly veiled tribute to a particularly excellent and longstanding dealership, which is just lovely: [LINK] * And my personal favorite is the FANTASTIC film homage built into Ryan's vid about the Ducati Desert X, which he ended up buying: [LINK]

Read the original HN comment ↗

noir_lord · 2021-06 · Recommendation

Harley Davidson is on the ropes long term though. They made the mistake of pitching their entire product at a very singular niche and the people in that niche are now getting older and in many cases too old to ride. Fantastic overview here [VIDEO] Simply put HD make nothing that appeal to rides my age (41) and younger.

Read the original HN comment ↗