This is a great point and you’re absolutely right. They tend to hate the XR1200 too, probably because it was made for the Euro market and only after being launched there was it brought stateside... Or because it’s more of a standard and has something so unconventional as an aluminum swingarm... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

I gave the thoughts.

And yes, I’m sorry that’s such a ramble.  I probably should have edited all of that for clarity.

At least a strong portion of that culture, yes.

Okay, thoughts.  It’s totally cool to be a fan, and being a good fan of a brand tends to bring in more fans, particular when it’s higher end, as HD primarily is. It’s an aspirational brand, and therein lies part of the problem. The core of the ownership group has mutated into something powerfully toxic. To them, the…

So long as I’ve still got ‘Gansett and Genny Cream, I’m good.

For real. NA is the fun bargain of the century, and then you can have a Golf too... but you can get the even better one and get a Sportwagen.

I know, I have both.

I will. I have to compile them. Largely it has to do not with the overt reliance on HD’s past (Which actually I don’t think is terminal to the company - they do have amazing design language; you think “motorcycle”, and you imagine HD. You think “scooter” and you see a Vespa in your head. That’s not a bad place for a…

I know I want one.

Powersports Industry person here, and holy shit do I have so many thoughts on this. I was just typing for like 20 minutes, and realized my post was well into tl;dr territory. Deleted the whole thing, but I have thoughts. Someday I’ll manage to get them out in a coherent fashion.

Thank you.

I think you mean,“on their own”.  They’ve maintained quite a bit of tech interchange over the years, not to mention manufacturing overflow.

KYMCO and Honda are tighter than you think...

This is patently wrong. 

Some seriously good engineering and manufacturing comes out of Taiwan. Like, seriously good.

Apparently he does not. 

KYMCO is a bigger deal than you may think. They have the capability to engineer something like this, and the money to make it happen. It very well could be vaporware, as can just about any concept/announcement, but I wouldn’t immediately discount this one.

Agreed. Having grown up reading Dr. Z, and since missing him, I really enjoyed reading this.

Oh, shit. There goes the planet.

Oh, shit. There goes the planet.