As an avid fan of older bikes, I have a lot of love for Harley Davidson. I know most people these days scoff at those over chromed heavy ass buckets of  steel. Ancient motors! Rudimentary suspensions! Slow as hell!

I've heard it all. And the worst part is.. theres a great deal of truth in these criticisms. 

I found these pictures a few years ago and they blew me away. A monoshock Harley? Sure this particular model isn't exactly cutting edge, but it got me wondering. Why can't Harley make a modern motorcycle? After all, Harley Davidsons weren't always about putting around at 60mph on the freeway across the country. While that is a big part of HD culture, its not the ONLY part of it.

When you go to the HD website, under "racing" all they have is drag racing and dirt track. Whatever happened to road racing? Harley had some pretty sweet bikes back in the 1980s on the racing circuits. The closest thing we've had to high tech racing Harleys lately were the Buells, but those have been cancelled now.

But I think I figured it out. HD the company isn't the issue. The customers are. The guy who comes in to buy a Road King with hard bags and a fairing and floorboards is not interested in the least in the high tech V-Rod, a HD-Porsche collaboration. He WANTS his slow ass chromed machine. Which is fine, those bikes should exist for those who want them.
But why can't I go down to the local Harley dealer and find something that can compete with a comparable Japanese midrange sportbike? The XR1200 you say? I do love that bike... but its hardly a sportbike. Cool as shit, yes, but not a true performance bike.
Most "Harley guys" scoff at that bike too. I saw a post on an unnamed forum not too long ago where one HD owner posted in the XR-1200 section that he wished they would cancel the bike. 

WHY? He doesn't like it so its a travesty that the bike even exists. I rolled my eyes so hard my roommate came in to ask if I was alright. This hatred of fellow enthusiasts that merely have different preferences is ridiculous. I guess that's why Harley doesn't make cutting edge bikes anymore: the average client seems to be too ignorant to give a rats ass.
Then why not market these cooler sportbikes under a different brand name, sell them to the types of people who DO want a modern bike with a sweet vintage sounding v-twin and call it a day? surely that solves the problem. Wait.. this sound a lot like Buell.... which they canceled..
Sigh. I guess I won't be seeing a sweet cutting edge HD anytime soon.. At least they do offer some bikes without chrome.