[neel385]

Yes Bidar...a small nondescript town in northern Karnataka that no body knows of...except for some old timers from the days when there was prohibition in AP and Bidar was the nearest town in Karnataka..without prohibition.

And yes Harley was here. The event was organised by HDFC bank in conjunction with the Harley Davidson Hyderabad branch. The target was the Air Force crowd. The Harleys were meant to woo us to ordering a few of these beauties and last known, I think that there has been one order as of now and a lot of torn hearts!

But so what if I cannot own one..at least I have the bragging rights to have driven one. Three in fact...the 883 Screaming Eagle, the Softtail and the Fatboy. Needless to say the experience is something that I will cherish and remember for a long time. The performance, the handling of the heavy beasts and the road presence of the bikes takes the rider to a whole different plane...a plane I could sure get used to!

Dont want to rant about the performance of the bikes and all...a lot of more informed people have already posted a wealth of information on the Harleys in this forum..so here are a few snaps that I took during the event.

Hope you like it!!

883N IRON "SCREAMING EAGLE"


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HERITAGE SOFTAIL CLASSIC


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FATBOY

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[neel385]

Mods..some of the pics did not upload when I submitted my post, so uploading them again

The missing pics..
883




SOFTAIL









FATBOY

[mayankjha1806]

Amazing pictures, all i can say you are one lucky soul to have driven all of them in a short span of time. Reviews are available but it will be interesting and worthy to read your feelings/findings when you rode them. Which one did you find he most pleasurable to ride.

I liked the looks of the Fatboy the most and would love to drive/own one someday. Thanks for the pictures, are there more on their way or this was the whole lot?

[sudev]

They could not get this right?



To me an eyesore after all that talk about attention to detail....

[phamilyman]

Their attention to detail is pathetic. This bike at the auto expo had pathetic finishing in person - the welds, the finish. not suiting a 36L bike. Did anyone take closer pics of this bike?

[navpreet318]

I think you would remember the plastic on this bike was worse than Maruti 800's dashboard. and the exhaust had rust inside. Infact i caught them painting the exhaust black to hide the rust. They pleaded me to not take any pictures of it. This was in the morning on the first day.the press day.

I had a chat with one of the senior representatives and asked him that do i get a major discount owing to all the rust thats all over the bike.

I don't know whether you noticed something on this bike. The front axle hub. The bearings and the bearing spacers were all rusted too. and this is supposed to be a timeless and ageless bike for decades.Hahahaha.


The main excuse that i was given was that these were actually customer bikes in india and had been used for 6 to 12 months and hence the rust.Their actual display bikes were on the way in shipping.

I just asked them one question. "You're a proud american company looking to increase your profits and sales because of the dwindling sales in America and you've come here at the AUTOEXPO with used customer bikes?"

[dustom_99]

I think thats the difference made by passion for motorcycles. I had a chance to meet a few assembly line people,very frankly I did not get a feeling that they knew much about what makes a harley A HARLEY. they may be damn good workers but they were surely not motorcycle people.
One of the guy actually said to me' sir may dard hota hai sare din tempo ki aawaz sunke'
I am sure they would have had many sessions organised by the factory to let them know how they were special,how harlely had a soul and thinks like that,but many of them treated there job as just another job.
You guys can imagine what would be state of mind of someone working in paint shop, subassembly and at various
vendor ends. They dont even see a harley rolling off the line in person.
I guess that counts as difference in there salaries in USA and india.
I was there at auto expo,and I found one of the bike had a leaking exaust from the cylinder head side.

[ku69rd]

Think in all fairness to Harley, they might be facing with issues in getting around our country's draconian laws coupled with their in house bureaucratic process whilst they are importing their display bikes which might have prompted them to request their customers for some help. Fairly understandable for a company which is keen on investing millions of green notes without knowing for sure that they will be able to get it back. After all Harley is listed a profit making company and not as a charitable NGO.
People working for Harley in India, bet many of them did not even have it in them or as their career goals to be associated with Harley at one point or other. Typical Indian mentality, where they get a better pay/less work they jump en mass. We have seen this happen in our IT industry where people switch jobs without an eye on their long term career goals. That's where the passion will be amiss.
What i see commendable in this thread is HD making attempts to reach out to all parts of country. Has any Indian company done this? How many times do we see Bullet or other Indian companies making any efforts like this to woo Indian Customers.
Come on gents when they are pampering you get it done, they are not gonna look at you and say Oh Oh you are not wearing an armani suit hence you are not welcome to my showroom.
PS: Am a disappointed soul as HD could not honor the timeline they gave me when I booked one of their bikes.

[navpreet318]

Oh i completely agree with you on their reaching out part. They have set new standards on giving test rides and being open minded about customers.

I am a royal Enfield Rider. I simply love the harleys. Simple tech. Don't break when they fall. I have seen so many harleys falling and tipping over during test rides and nothing happens to them.

And even if something breaks just get it welded at your friendly local welder. hehe. But that apart i think that they are a bit expensive. I plan to own a fatboy in the future and its pretty expensive. So what happens is while you love the bike for its ease of use and no rattling plastic parts but then you see some rust and all your packs of notes that you have spent on the bike come instantly in your mind. if you're asking for this kind of money atleast come up with the quality that it deserves.

See the bike has no performance. I mean some 1500CC v twin and it moves like a truck. But i didn't care about it at all. Because i love the ride. I don't want to go fast....

So in short they have not invested in technology too much. Its old tech. the engines are not high performance and that means they're not super expensive to make like for example a S1000RR from BMW. And to top it all the quality is down too. Welds are exposed. Not even grinded properly. Actually looks like electric hand welding that i might do slightly better. Yes i actually would. And then the rust!


Rant off. and i'm still going to buy myself a fatboy or maybe a Road King(just love that sofa seat)

[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by neel385

Yes Bidar...a small nondescript town in northern Karnataka that no body knows of...except for some old timers from the days when there was prohibition in AP and Bidar was the nearest town in Karnataka..without prohibition.

Hi Neel,

Don't underestimate about Bidar. The most famous "product" of Bidar is (should be) well known to every Indian and is (should be) the pride of every Indian - The Indian Airforce Fighter Pilots.

All of them start out as Fighter Pilots from the AF Base in Bidar

Good to know HD is really trying to reachout

Possibly the wrong crowd though - somehow can't see a Fighter Pilot wanting to lumber along on an HD. Then again may be they want the sedate pace in their civy life.

Best Regards & Drive/Ride Safe

Ram

[Samurai]

Just wondering... I know HD is out of budget for most Indians, I would think same goes for young Airforce officers. Are they giving some special deep discount so that Airforce officers can afford it?

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

Hi Neel,

Don't underestimate about Bidar. The most famous "product" of Bidar is (should be) well known to every Indian and is (should be) the pride of every Indian - The Indian Airforce Fighter Pilots.

All of them start out as Fighter Pilots from the AF Base in Bidar

I think he knows, he is one of them.

[Rajesh Rawal]

Post deleted by the Team-BHP Support : Please do NOT post one-liners that add little or no informational value to the thread. We need your co-operation to maintain the overall quality of this forum.

Please read our rules before proceeding any further.

[black12rr]

Something like army canteen prices ? .nice pictures neel .Are HD bikes available through army canteen?

[safari_lover]

Superb! My home town sees the Harleys

Must've been a great feeling to ride this through the city where even a Thunderbird would grab quite a few eyeballs! I am sure these beasts must've left the crowd in the town spellbound.

[neel385]

Thanks all for the kind words!!

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Amazing pictures, all I can say you are one lucky soul to have driven all of them in a short span of time. Reviews are available but it will be interesting and worthy to read your feelings/findings when you rode them. Which one did you find he most pleasurable to ride.

I liked the looks of the Fatboy the most and would love to drive/own one someday. Thanks for the pictures, are there more on their way or this was the whole lot?

Personally, I was blown away by the bikes. I am no expert on superbikes and stuff and this was the first time I had ridden something more powerful than my RX 135, so, it was a memorable experience for me. The handling of all the bikes was amazing. They seemed so naturally balanced! All it took was a shift in body weight to make them do your bidding. I have driven a few Bullets where the body weight shifting worked, but in the Harleys, it worked better than anything else I had taken in between my legs! The higher weight may have been a factor, but somehow I got a feeling that the machines were better balanced by design.

Then there was the engine heat. The engines being air cooled dissipated a lot of heat and naturally they came straight down to your calves. In fact one had to have full length trousers, preferably jeans to get a test ride.

Amongst the machines that I rode, the Fatboy and the Softail had grandest feeling when one was riding them. The sheer size coupled with the power ( again I have no other experience in terms of power) made one feel special! Not to mention that the eyeballs following you on the road added a special kick! But somehow, for me, the 883 Screaming Eagle stood out in terms of both performance as well as drivability. Again to put it in terms of Indian bikes, the difference was similar to the difference between the RX 135 and the Bullet.


There was a XR 1200 along with these, but a youngster plonked it on a testdrive and I did not get to drive/photograph it!

Originally Posted by sudev

They could not get this right?



To me an eyesore after all that talk about attention to detail....

In all fairness, the backrest is adjustable and all the pillion riders were adjusting it when going for the test rides.

Originally Posted by ku69rd

What i see commendable in this thread is HD making attempts to reach out to all parts of country. Has any Indian company done this? How many times do we see Bullet or other Indian companies making any efforts like this to woo Indian Customers.
Come on gents when they are pampering you get it done, they are not gonna look at you and say Oh Oh you are not wearing an armani suit hence you are not welcome to my showroom.

Originally Posted by navpreet318

Oh i completely agree with you on their reaching out part. They have set new standards on giving test rides and being open minded about customers.

Totally agree. In all these years living in God foresaken places, I have seen no other company coming to put up a show. And for Harley to come up and put up a show knowing fully well that theirs is a niche market is quite commendable. To add to it, all were welcome to take a test ride. No biases or questions asked.

Originally Posted by Samurai

Just wondering... I know HD is out of budget for most Indians, I would think same goes for young Airforce officers. Are they giving some special deep discount so that Airforce officers can afford it?

Well, if you are a bachelor in here with a take home pay of around 40K and normal monthly expenses of about 5K (in case yo smoke and drink) which will be your normal mess bill, then I think that one can afford an EMI of 15K which will get you the 883, which is exactly what one guy bought! Another guy is yet to take a final call between a 883 ans 1200!!

The was a discount of about 60K on the bikes and special interest rates by HDFC for us.

Originally Posted by Samurai

I think he knows, he is one of them.

Thanks, but how did you know?? (or am I that loud??)