[Ravveendrra]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Many people who have a take home of 1L a month(forget 50,000) can afford a 8L car. But how many would spend 5L on something for "fun"?
I guess that was the point Samurai was making. Nothing to do with Airforce or military.
In our country, people who get 50K take home will buy a car with 15K EMI, but a bike for 15K EMI? That would be somebody with real passion.
that said, its an very good Marketing move from Harley. They are here to promote their bikes, and also convince people that its okay to splurge on your passion.
And whats a better place than an Air Force base. Full of young officers, and people who like speed and thrill.
I am sure if they had come to a huge software company campus, all they would have gotten are very confused stares

Forget the quibbling. I think Tanvir has got the right perspective and has in his inimitable way hit the nail on the head. It is not about "affordability", it is about "choice". What people choose to spend on is different from how much money they have.

I agree that it was a great move on the part of HD & HDFC to identify young pilots as probable customers and go to them, this shows application of mind.

@Samurai: IMHO your patriotism etc. were never in question. So please put those ghosts to rest.

[VW2010]

Love the fat boy. Rode a softtail and fatboy in an expensive rental program when i was in the states. Ended up buying a more reliabile honda valkyrie. The 6 cylinder valkyrie was even more fun to ride and had so much power even at 75MPH.

I wish they sell the bikes at a similar prices in the US rather than the 30L/20L price.

The sporster at 2.5L will mildly motivate me to convince my wife. When i become so rich when burning 20L will not impact me a little bit, i will think of the fatboy.

Till then i am ready to wait and see how the indian market turns out. Happy with a 350 and 500 RE at this moment.

[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by Fauji

Neel ,

Bidar is most neglected place from tourism perspective though it has a fabulous fort rivalling even Agra fort. Historians and Archeologists place Bidar fort amongst the ten best forts in the country. So no need to feel small and underestimate the city. It is sad that it has not got its due though it is so close to Hyderabad. Other than the fort, Bidriware the delicate silverware manufactured in Bidar is beautiful as well.

Ram,

You are correct. But there more than AF base. See my answers above

Hey Fauji,

Thanks for the post as it would have been very informative for others. To me the most famaous are our Fighter Pilots

I know or knew Bidar like the bak of may hand back in the 1970s. One of my best friends was from Bidar and I used to spend a lot of time in his house/farm. We used to hand around out side the AF base and watch the planes for hours on end.

Have not gone back there since his sad demise back in 1981 at 22 years
:(

Best Regards & Drive/Ride Safe

Ram

[neel385]

Originally Posted by Gansan

Do (young) airforce pilots have that much take home pay? Don't they have to pay for their own insurance, which alone may cost them 15K a month?

Trust me they do!

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Many people who have a take home of 1L a month(forget 50,000) can afford a 8L car. But how many would spend 5L on something for "fun"?
I guess that was the point Samurai was making. Nothing to do with Airforce or military.
In our country, people who get 50K take home will buy a car with 15K EMI, but a bike for 15K EMI? That would be somebody with real passion.
that said, its an very good Marketing move from Harley. They are here to promote their bikes, and also convince people that its okay to splurge on your passion.
And whats a better place than an Air Force base. Full of young officers, and people who like speed and thrill.
I am sure if they had come to a huge software company campus, all they would have gotten are very confused stares

Valid point. But then, fighter jocks cannot be mature...else they wont be fighter jocks!! So, they are ruled more by passion than anything else, at least till they get married and have some sense hammered into them

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by neel385

Trust me they do!

OK! Please don't mistake me, I sincerely feel airforce pilots should be paid at least on par with airline pilots, if not more! This topic came up in the office during the cargill war when Flt Lt. Nachiketa was taken as POW in Pakistan. We came to know from a colleague whose brother was in the airforce (in administrative position though) that the pay for that rank would be something like 20K a month, out of which a sizable portion will be deducted for his own insurance premium. We were flabbergasted by this info and felt very angry.

I am happy to know things are at least looking up, you guys can think of a Harley now and don't have to pay for your insurance anymore!

[ashphil]

Segmenting the market and tailoring it's approach accordingly seems to be a very proffessional approach adopted by HD towards the market. I think that the Indian companies too are taking on this approach and thats a good thing.
What is worrying is that a company of International repute selling a niche product turns up for a show with machines showing signs of rust! (Whether they belong to customers or not is a moot point. I for one wouldnt entrust my bike, any bike, let alone a HD to a company organising a show in which heaps of people are going to ride my bike!)Are they in turn learning the secrets of successful marketing from the Indian cruiser manufacturer?
regards,
Ashok

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by neel385

Trust me they do!

I am really glad they do. I guess I owe you an explanation, but not to the others who went tilting at the windmill.

Before posting that comment, I had quickly taken a glance at Harley-Davidson India - Home and saw numbers like 19L and 22L flashing on the main page.

Later I looked up all models and realised there was a 5.5L model too. But the models you mentioned/test-drove in the first post cost around 20L or more. Sorry about the misunderstanding.

PS: Before anybody overreacts again, Tilting at windmills is an idiom that means attacking imaginary enemies.

[Pretorian]

HD is finally striking the right chords. Wonder why RE survived in India, its only because of the Army & Police.

[neel385]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Later I looked up all models and realised there was a 5.5L model too. But the models you mentioned/test-drove in the first post cost around 20L or more. Sorry about the misunderstanding.

Hey!! Samurai nothing to be sorry for!!

By the way, the screaming eagle is for 7.5L, the Softail and fatboy around 24L while the XR1200 was around 14L. The Harley guys called back a few of the not decided buyers to inform them that come Dec-Jan, prices will come down by about 1.5L.

[avisidhu]

Originally Posted by neel385

Hey!! Samurai nothing to be sorry for!!

By the way, the screaming eagle is for 7.5L, the Softail and fatboy around 24L while the XR1200 was around 14L. The Harley guys called back a few of the not decided buyers to inform them that come Dec-Jan, prices will come down by about 1.5L.

Quite an experience you had Neel. Wonderful pics, thanks for sharing. When he said that the prices would come down, did he mean for all models or just the high end ones? A harley below 4L can entice a lot many people, software guys included

[neel385]

Originally Posted by avisidhu

When he said that the prices would come down, did he mean for all models or just the high end ones? A harley below 4L can entice a lot many people, software guys included

The price reduction of 1.5L was mentioned for the XR 1200 where the on road price is likely to come down from 14.5L to 13L. Don't know about the others.

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by neel385

The price reduction of 1.5L was mentioned for the XR 1200 where the on road price is likely to come down from 14.5L to 13L. Don't know about the others.

I would be guessing this is because of HD starting to locally assemble bikes here resulting in decrease of duties and taxes.

Cheers

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

I would be guessing this is because of HD starting to locally assemble bikes here resulting in decrease of duties and taxes.

Cheers

Or do you find HD on the approved list for Canteen sales? 1.5 usually is the road tax for these bikes

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Or do you find HD on the approved list for Canteen sales? 1.5 usually is the road tax for these bikes

1.5 Lakhs is amount by which the prices of the base models got reduced when HD started assembling bikes here in India. As regards to CSD, please note that its a time consuming processes. Having myself done the CSD certification for one of the auto majors that I used to work for, I can tell you that the whole process takes anything between 1.5 - 2 years. And the costs in terms of time and other resources is also quite high. I wouldn't think the investment will have enough returns for HD especially considering that they may sell at the max 100 units to the Armed Forces.

Cheers

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Having myself done the CSD certification for one of the auto majors that I used to work for,
Cheers

Ahh okies, thanks for the update. Just got a little bit curious on what were you doing? Hope you have an introduction set up for yourself?