Quote:I never liked them, I don't know much about them just that I didn't have any desire to ride one. Personally I love my V-Star but it's my first so I might be a little biased.

 

The Star line are nice bikes.  My brother had a Silverado Classic.  Nice bike.  Very reliable.  Decent displacement.  

 

Buell's were a poorly made attempt to go after the Japanese and European market catering to the younger demographics.  I think the Harley demo is somewhere in the 50-60 year old group, especially for the more profitable bikes.  They were looking at ways to drive that number down a bit by building sport bikes that appealed to the 20 something crowd.  When parts started falling off, it didn't make a good impression.  The bikes spent a lot of time leaking, rattling, or being repaired.  They were actually not bad looking bikes, and they did have some success racing them, but they were never able to create a reliable enough product to have a demand for them.

 

Interestingly enough, that's why Harley is now coming out with smaller displacement bikes.  They're getting ready to roll out water cooled 500 and 750 cc bikes.  The purists are going to hate them with a passion, but I think they've got a great idea this time around.  There are those in the younger crowd who don't want to ride a rice burner.  They want a cruiser, or even a standard bike.  The Japanese companies have all come out with standard bikes that are considered almost retro.  Harley sees an opportunity here, so they're going after it.  I think that's at least partly why they've moved forward with the electric bike as well.  Plus, the Rushmore line of bikes have technology on them that's intended to appeal to younger riders.  A buddy of mine who is in his late 50's just bought one, and we make fun of him because he refuses to figure out how to use the blue tooth technology.  The dude has a magnetic mount for a portable cassette deck.  He uses that for his music.

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