Harley Davidson buying Ducati? Seriously?

HD might buy Ducati

I can't imagine seeing a Hyper or Monster on the sales floor of a Hurley Hefferson dealership. Has the world gone mad?

And what happens to all of the rabid foaming at the mouth HD riders that can't stand any other brand of bike and roast marshmallows over burning Japanese sport bikes? Will they become depressed and suicidal?

Most importantly, what would it mean for us Ducati riders?

I'd have to guess they'll buy it for the brand but operate it more or less separately. If anything I'd suspect they'd borrow from Ducati to try to draw in new customers to Harley with something that improves on the Street Rod (which I will admit, briefly raised one of my eyebrows, if only a few milimeters).

IMO they should just stick to what they know. Their track record of running other companies hasn't been stellar and it would be a real shame to see Ducati run into the ground like Buell and MV Agusta.
I'm sure the 1st things they will eliminate form the lineup are the Scrambler and the Diavel after having their noses bloodied by both bikes in their respective arenas.

And personally if taking my Ducati to the dealership for service means taking it to a Harley shop I'm afraid I will have to switch to Aprilia. I've had some really bad dealings with Harley service.

Save the speculation for later. It's just a rumor about putting in a bid. There are other companies putting bids in, too.

http://rideapart.com/articles/heres-harleyducati-rumor-bs

Here's Why That Harley/Ducati Rumor is BS

Combination of brands could be successful but is unlikely to ever occur

On Wednesday we posted a story about rumors that Harley-Davidson may be interested in purchasing Italian brand Ducati, the latter being the subject of an almost constant barrage of rumors thanks to the perceived financial difficulties of its parent company, Volkswagen AG. It was an amusing story, good for getting people talking (which is what our social media guys value above all else), but let's cast a critical eye on this thing: it's almost certainly not true.

Certainly there's merit in the idea of a merger. On the surface you might think Harley and Ducati are a mismatch, but stop to think about what both companies are really good at: branding. Harley-Davidson in particular. Ducati has achieved unprecedented success in recent years in part because it (like Indian, Triumph, and BMW) has ripped whole pages from the Harley playbook. That is especially obvious in the way Ducati has delivered its Scrambler sub-brand.

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If VW needs cash that bad, and they probably do, it will be a Chinese company that offers the highest price.

If you think about it, they have a lot in common. HD buying Ducati makes a lot of sense.

- Both make ****** unreliable bikes
- Both make most of their money selling ****** replacement parts and $300 oil changes
- Both spend more on marketing their cheap chinese junk accessories than they do their ****** bikes
- Both still somehow maintain enough fanfare that no one cares about either of the above
- Talk about bad service? I have had nothing but terrible service at Ducati. Harley and Ducati are peas in a pod.

Regardless, I'll still keep mine.

Wow!!!

I get superior service from the local Ducati dealership.

My experience, over the 8,000+ miles has been excellent.

As for Chinese made parts, even BMW sources from China now. The real world we live in today.

What has happened to Land Rover since Tata Steel purchased them?

What has happened to Volvo since Geely purchased them?

Outside their hugely profitable morbidly obese POS pickups, where does Ford and GM make the lion's share of their profit?

RSL said:

Wow!!!

I get superior service from the local Ducati dealership.

My experience, over the 8,000+ miles has been excellent.

As for Chinese made parts, even BMW sources from China now. The real world we live in today.

What has happened to Land Rover since Tata Steel purchased them?

What has happened to Volvo since Geely purchased them?

Outside their hugely profitable morbidly obese POS pickups, where does Ford and GM make the lion's share of their profit?

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I tend to agree here - but would note that TATA is Indian and also owns Jaguar.

Beef **** has a big beef, but he is right in that they're both "lifestyle" brands and that leads to a lot of forgiveness regarding what a purported luxury brand should provide.

On the brought side, people can now buy their branded T-Shirts, leathers, and helmets in one location. If they come out with Ducati fringed chaps - I might need to buy a pair to put in a time capsule.

appliance821 said:

I tend to agree here - but would note that TATA is Indian and also owns Jaguar.

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Indeed, where Harley builds so many of their bikes shipped to Europe and the UK.

RSL said:

Wow!!!

I get superior service from the local Ducati dealership.

My experience, over the 8,000+ miles has been excellent.

Click to expand...

You must live near a good one.

I go to Erico in Denver. Cool shop but their service department sucks and they can't ever seem to get their **** together. I keep going though because it's 6 blocks from my house. And I will say, the accessories dude is always very helpful and cool (helmets, jackets, whatnot). Sales guys are cool, but they are typical sales guys. The service department ... ******* idiots sometimes.

First visit was with my Monster 620. A simple valve/timing belt job turned into a high idle problem that didn't exist before it went in. They must have attempted to adjust throttle bodies... after I got it back it would gradually idle up to 2k rpms as the bike heated up then would start to overheat. Great way to run an air cooled engine! I took it back 3 times before they got it right. On the last visit they had it for like two weeks. They gave me a HS loaner on the last trip... which is what sold me on it.

So I buy a HS from them.

Last time I took it in for service the tech insisted the oil change interval was every 3k miles. "No bike has 9k oil change intervals" he said. "How the **** do you not know this?" was my response. I asked him to look it up then he argued with me for 20 minutes before he actually looked up the 9k service intervals in the book. Am I an ******* for assuming a Ducati dealer (who has been selling them for decades) should know the service interval on a ******* Ducati? Its not like it was a new model... The 821 engine had been out for three or four years at this point.

Fast forward, 8 months after buying the bike new I go in to get the bags replaced under warranty, since they were purple (see previous comment re: cheap Chinese parts). My warranty is up. WHAT?! They sold me a "new" bike that had been registered as sold a year and a half before I bought it... to up their sales numbers probably. It had like 6 miles on it when I got it. They made it right by buying me an extended warranty but still... these guys are clowns sometimes. I must have pissed away 4 to 6 hours dealing with this and standing on them to get it right.

Every time it's in they tell me I need to replace or grease the chain... it's an O-Ring chain I reply. HOW DO THEY NOT KNOW THIS. At 9,000 miles it should need nothing except the dust wiped off. "Tires have 60% tread, you should probably replace them" - Stupid ******** like that. I know why they do it... I'm sure the dentist and lawyer crowd jump on that stuff and don't balk at dropping $1500 on unecessary service every 3k miles... Ugh. I miss Suzukis sometimes.

Peas in a pod man. Might as well be a Harley. I still love riding it though.

That's your dealer -not ducati.

BTW: 0-rings do need lube - sprockets need love, and the rings themselves need some care.

I like German cars and think VAG has done a lot of good for Ducati. Look what they did for Lamborghini! Hope they stay put.

Nope, not gonna happen. H.D. stock has been dropping for quite some time while Polaris has been steadily climbing. A friend of mine works for the largest volume H.D. dealer in New England and he says sales are waaaay down in their location....I guess you can only sell so many oversized baggers....

Harley riders are aging out and they are struggling to find a bike appealing to a younger market base.

According to the VAG board members, Ducati is not for sale. Good. I like what has happened with the brand under their ownership.

I think it is some fun fake news that Harley is buying Ducati. This must have come from CNN or the like

Over the last 15 years I have had nothing but great service from ALL the departments at my Ducati dealer. Funny it is the same one beef **** has problems with all the time. They must see you coming, JK: But I must admint that BMS does all my non warranty work on the Ducs.

Not to hijack this thread, but this is related to HD and Ducati. I just bought a 1999 Road Glide as a second bike. I rode it around a few times over a week and a half (about 200 miles). Got on the Hyper after that and I felt like Wile E Coyote strapped to a friggin rocket!!! If you have been taking it for granted and not quite appreciating how really damn amazing a bike your Hyper is....ride a bagger around for a week and you will be deeply in love again. (Of course I still kinda like the HD for a change of pace and "other end of the spectrum" different ride from time to time.

Nothing wrong with the bikes...

Guess what you see the most when out on the big road? Not Ducatis. It's "horses for courses"... our '08 Road Glide was just perfect for the Interstate. ABS, cruise control, so smooth it felt like riding a magic carpet. The Strada is truly punishing on our "freeway hop."

It also had absolutely zero mechanical problems, just like the '01 E-Glide we had before. I did get tired of hefting that 800 pounds around, though. The MX-5 was a perfect replacement. Both have about the same luggage capacity.

I'm still a bit bent over what they did to Eric Buell, though. And they forced a Las Vegas dealer to drop Ducati when they had both. It's the "lifestyle" and "attitude" that's the most annoying!

Harley would prove to offer great influence on Ducati: