Harley gonna Harley.
I think it's inevitable the old faithful aren't going to like "those new fandangled bikes", but if push comes to shove, they'll buy them, and Harley knows that.
And Harley faithful gonna faithful. When you're so invested in a brand, even if you don't like how they change with the times or whatever, you'll still buy the product at the end of the day.
Hard to say how successful that'll be bringing in a new generation though, and as the currently Harley faithful age out of riding, they need to do that. But the price is going to be a huge stumbling block.
I just about choked paying just north of $20K for my new ride. But It would be a cold day in hell before I'd ever pay over $50K for a MOTORCYCLE.
But here's the reality - The metric manufacturers are struggling in the full dresser cruiser/touring market because reality is Harley has it locked up right now.
- Yamaha completely exited it.
- Kawasaki has been pumping out the (literally, except for paint colours) unchanged Vulcan Voyager since 2010.
- Honda has no cruiser touring bike at all right now either aside from the Goldwing which isn't really a "cruiser tourer" - there is no crossover between someone thinking of a HD even remotely considering a Goldwing instead. Their small cruisers don't really compare as IMHO none of them are the sort of bike you'd hop on for a 750km day.
- BMW, they're in the game with the Transcontinental, but they're also in Harley money territory so the crossover is slim. They may be the best suited to avoid the downturn however as their owners typically have deep pockets.
- Indian is the biggest and baddest competitor right now to Harley, but it's also based on the name and legacy, although they do build great bikes as well - arguably better than Harley. But they're also dancing a fine line with a demographic that is fading out, and a price point that won't attract new ones.
When the time comes that the old farts with money crowd start to fade away from riding and the GenX'ers and Millenials coming into it are more likely to be too frugal (or just plain too broke) to even remotely consider $40K+ for a toy, well, it'll be interesting to see if the Metric manufactures jump back in again with lower priced options. There's a reason the Kawi Vulcan Voyager is one of the most popular metric cruisers out there right now, it's because you can get one brand new for under $20K usd, or around $23K Canadian, and I guess they're doing OK with still moving them as they just keep pumping them out.