unlike with cars Lenders seem to feel motorcycles are luxuary items (have they seen gas prices lately?)

This needs to change many here in tx,California ,Nevada, Arizona and Louisiana have only motorcycles and as such they should be viewed in the same way cars are.

Too much production capacity and a weak economy trump the Sportster’s 60 miles per gallon on the highway and $6,695 price tag.

U.S. sales of Harley-Davidson motorcycles were down 12.8 percent during the first quarter. For that reason, Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson Inc. announced in April that it planned to let 370 unionized workers and 360 nonproduction workers go nationwide.

About 300 of those jobs will come from the company’s plant in Springettsbury Twp.

The move is an effort to right supply with demand.

The company wants to ship fewer bikes than it sells. That would be a return to the business model that served the company well during the late ’90s and the earlier part of this decade, when people were waiting as long as six months for a Harley.

One step toward that production correction will include a temporary plant closure.

The plant will close between June 30 and July 3, an annual event meant to allow the production line to be switched over to the newer models, said company spokeswoman Rebecca Bortner.

But the company is now saying the plant will need to shut production for an additional week, starting Monday.

With the nation’s economic state, Stefanie Veon, who sells Harley-Davidsons at the Susquehanna Valley dealership in Lower Paxton Twp., sees the logic behind the company’s move. The economy has everybody cutting back, she said.

“I myself wonder if they are not trying to get back to the way it used to be — people having to wait and order motorcycles,” she said. “They massed-produced so much the value didn’t hold as well.”

Charles Trzcinka, a finance professor at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University in Bloomington, has a different theory: “A Harley is sort of a luxury good.”

He likened Harley-Davidson to piano-maker Steinway & Sons. Wall Street investors look at Steinway when the economy slows. The pianos are expensive and discretionary goods. Sales tend to drop when the economy sours, he said.

The U.S. is not officially in a recession. But the national unemployment rate, a measure of the economy’s health, increased to 5.5 percent in May.

Pennsylvania released its latest unemployment figures on Thursday. Its unemployment rate increased 0.2 percent to 5.2 percent.

Trzcinka, who works with MBA students at the university managing the Reese Fund, said the students decided in February to sell the 1,000 shares of Harley stock it had in the fund’s portfolio.

It wasn’t because the stock was bad, but because the students thought other companies could do better.

It seems the students were on to something.

Shares of Harley-Davidson Motor Co. stock, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol HOG, closed at $38.34 on Thursday. A year ago it closed at $58.95.

Here is a little something to make us all feel better.

Amy, a very fine looking biker babe, on an All American Chopper Company chopper.

Very nice. Hope you have a great weekend!

Take Care – Ride FREE

Maybe thats why sometimes I’m in the mood for my harley and sometimes for my ninja.

“Angel” Maureen Dency wasn’t, so she formed her own group and has been turning heads ever since.

The women who call themselves Chrome Angels are nothing like their male counterparts.
Dency is a older chic with a dazzling smile. During her work day as a salesperson for a tile and marble distributor, she wears suits, dresses and nice jeans. But on weekends, she dons a black leather vest, leather gloves and adorns her arms, hands and ears in silver jewelry.

“Times change,” said Dency, 53, who formed the group in 2003 despite some initial harassing from other male riders. “Years back, most of the [women bikers] were very butch. Now some of the most beautiful women ride bikes.”

Just not in this group

The Chrome Angels are professionals, business owners, mothers and wives who love motorcycles and ride like grannys. Most traditional motorcycle clubs, like the Outlaws, have bylaws that bar women from joining, or even riding alongside them. And the die-hard motorcycle clubs want to keep it like that.

Which I feel is wrong.

“It’s definitely a man’s world and it’s being jealously kept that way,” said Drew Gaytan, vice president of the States Motorcycle Club, the oldest in South Florida. “There are varied opinions about women riding. But it was just a matter of time before someone put together an organization of women riders.”

Dency said existing motorcycle clubs tolerated her group because she’d been around for years. She started out riding on the back of a man’s motorcycle, but got her own after a brush with cancer. With all the people killed on motorcycles, Dency decided she wanted to be in charge of her own destiny. She called her Broward-based motorcycle group a “Destiny” chapter because the members feel the same way.

“No more was anyone else taking control of my life,” Dency said. “I would rather die at my own hands instead of being behind someone where you have no control.”

The Chrome Angels took their first official ride in October 2003. With a membership of about a dozen, they are the only all-female motorcycle group in South Florida to regularly attend and participate in local biker events and fundraisers sponsored by the traditional motorcycle clubs. Other female riding groups exist, but they don’t participate in regular biker events.

“What it comes down to is tradition in the motorcycle world,” said Dave Amchir, national president of the Wings of Gold Motorcycle Club and director of the South Florida Presidents’ Council, an umbrella group for local motorcycle clubs. “It was a man’s thing. Women wouldn’t join a men’s fraternity or the Masons or the Moose Lodge.”

The Motorcycle Industry Council estimates that one in 10 motorcycle owners in the United States are women. And according to Harley-Davidson Motorcycles, the number of women buying Harleys has jumped from 4 percent in 1990 to nearly 12 percent today.

Like men, the Chrome Angels wear “patches” on the backs of their leather vests and have “riding” names. Their insignia is a motorcycle with a halo, and members have to earn the right to wear it. They help raise money for kids’ charities at public events like the annual Toys in the Sun Run, and stick by each other through thick and thin.

Requirements are strict: No “sleaziness,” drug use or other suspect behavior.

Well there goes any chance of them being fun to ride with. 

“We are all professional ladies and we are very careful about our reputation,” said Manon “Patience” Calce, 41, an acupuncturist.

“We can get together and laugh because we all have such serious lifestyles and backgrounds,” said Martha “Callahan” Johnson, 47, who engineers life-saving equipment.

They are a diverse but close-knit group who share in each other’s triumphs and troubles.
During a recent “Bike Night” at a local bar, the group sipped margaritas, caught up on the week’s events and waited for news of Dency’s recent crash during an out-of-town trip. The evening turned into a party when they found out she was going to be fine.

Falling is part of riding, as they see it.

“She got microdermabrasion and she didn’t have to pay,” joked rider Delora “Goddess of Trouble” Petress, 42, as the group huddled over drinks.

Patty Sullivan, 52, knows about falling. She took a spill last January when her front wheel hit loose gravel.

“I hurt more for my bike than I did for myself,” said Sullivan, who is known as “Cherish.” She covered her bruises with makeup, her black eye with sunglasses and counted the days until her bike would be fixed.

They love to giggle about biker chick stereotypes.

“You don’t have to be 300 pounds and missing half your teeth,” said Annie “Sparkles” Moynihan, 51, a tiny blonde who rides a pricey 2003 anniversary edition Harley-Davidson Fatboy Softail. “You see a lot more yuppies on them.”

Said Petress, a radiation therapist who treats cancer patients: “They stereotype you like you’re some type of hoodlum redneck, or think you fight.”

All the members are close but some share a special bond.

Sullivan befriended Petress’ neighbor 14 years ago. He had tongue cancer and was one of Petress’ patients. Sullivan fell in love with him and the two married in May 2004. But Dave Sullivan died less than two years later. Sullivan lost her soulmate; Petress lost a best buddy.

This year, Petress and Sullivan lit a candle in Dave’s memory at the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life in Tamarac.

“It’s what you do when you’re somebody’s friend,” Petress said.

Riding means different things to each one.

For Dee “Cookie” Paikoff, it’s a way to escape the rigors of raising two children alone. Her own husband died five years ago in a motorcycle crash, but Paikoff has refused to let fear stop her.

“I say my prayers,” said Paikoff, 44, a cook. “I know [God] watches out for me.”

The Chrome Angels are her family now.

“It is like a second family,” agreed Marlene “Ivy” Koszo, 46, who works for a tile distributor.

Dency, a mother and grandmother, bought her first motorcycle 12 years ago after learning she had been misdiagnosed with bladder cancer. She’s been riding ever since.

After her crash, Dency got back on her bike with some trepidation. A short time later, the motorcycle broke down.

Bruised and scraped from her previous accident, Dency laid down near her disabled bike to wait for help. It arrived in the form of an irritated traffic homicide officer who was stunned to discover a living woman instead of a dead body, as 911 calls had stated.

“You know what we call people like you?” the officer barked. “Organ donors!”

“Yes, sir, I am, too,” Dency said. Then she asked, “What would you call those women sitting in the rocking chairs?”

The officer paused.

“I would call them dead, too,” he replied.

“Exactly,” Dency said. “You got to live in the moment. With caution. But you got to live in the moment.”

Harley-Davidson Inc. said Thursday it’s keeping a tight rein on motorcycle production after a greater-than-expected decline in U.S. sales during a key three-month period.

The world’s largest manufacturer of heavyweight bikes said it would watch closely – and possibly scale back – wholesale shipments for the rest of the year.

In the second quarter, Harley said net income rose 19.3% to $290.5 million, or $1.14 a share, from $243.4 million, or 91 cents, a year earlier. The earnings beat analysts’ estimates by a penny a share.

Revenue increased 17.7% to $1.62 billion from almost $1.38 billion, driven largely by sales overseas.

Worldwide, the company said dealer sales fell 1.2% during the quarter, pulled down by a 5.5% decline in the United States.

“While we expect worldwide sales to continue to grow for 2007, we will proceed with caution,” Tom Bergmann, Harley’s chief financial officer, said in a conference call with analysts.

International retail sales saw double-digit growth, driven by a 13.7% increase in Europe and a combined 13.4% increase in other foreign markets. A weak U.S. dollar fueled some of the sales.

“As previously noted, we expect the international sales growth rate will continue to outpace the domestic” rate, Bergmann said.

The company anticipates shipping from 91,000 to 95,000 motorcycles during the third quarter. But it will regularly assess planned shipments for the year.

“We are disappointed with the retail results in the U.S.,” chief executive Jim Ziemer said in the conference call.

The company said it expects earnings per share growth in the range of 4% to 6% for 2007, based on moderate revenue growth, lower operating margin and benefits from a strong cash flow.

After the announcement, Harley shares closed at $59.37, down 2.9%.

Sales slip

“The real concern during the quarter, as we have previously noted, is the retail sales environment,” analyst Robin Farley with UBS Investment Research said in a note to clients.

“With this second consecutive quarter of U.S. retail sales decline, management has now indicated that sales are not meeting expectations . . . For the heavyweight motorcycle industry overall, this is the third consecutive retail sales decline, something that’s not happened in well over 10 years,” Farley added.

Harley is shipping fewer bikes in the third quarter than some analysts expected.

“In all, we view these (second quarter) results as somewhat disappointing. While the company did beat earnings-per-share estimates, the key metrics missed our expectations,” Lehman Brothers analyst Felicia Hendrix said in a note to clients.

To help balance supply and demand for its products, Harley has changed its dealer allocation system.

The new system is more tailored to local market conditions and will attempt to get the correct number of motorcycles to dealers at the right times. To bolster dealers’ profit margins, Harley has pledged not to ship more bikes than dealers can sell this year.

“We found ourselves with dealers that had way too many motorcycles, while other dealers were sold out well before the model year came to a close,” Ziemer said.

The new system is an improvement, said Kirk Topel, president of Hal’s Harley-Davidson in New Berlin.

Under the old system, some dealers were allocated more bikes because they were high-volume, low-margin businesses.

“They were rewarded with higher allocations even if they were selling outside of their market area. They weren’t necessarily doing much to service the customers they were selling to,” Topel said.

Harley enthusiasts won’t be hurt by the new system, according to Topel.

“What it’s going to mean for dealers in our area is that Harley will be monitoring our inventory levels so that we are not getting 10, 20 or 30 additional bikes when we don’t need them,” he said.

Anniversary plans

Harley also is making changes for its 105th anniversary in 2008.

For the company’s 100th anniversary, in 2003, each motorcycle produced that year carried a special anniversary emblem, which the company thought was fitting given the milestone of a century since the first motorcycle was built in a Milwaukee shed.

But for the 105th anniversary, only 10% of the bikes produced will have anniversary markings.

Harley hopes that making those bikes harder to get will increase demand and raise prices for dealers.

Also, the company is being selective about when it releases the 2008 lineup, which includes three new models.

“We aren’t sending out all of the new models at one time. Instead, we are trying to stagger them, sending them out” to stimulate demand when it’s needed, Ziemer said.

Investors have been worried that subprime loans have hurt the company’s financing unit.

The 30-day delinquency rate for managed retail motorcycle loans at the end of the quarter was 4.36%, compared with 3.61% a year earlier.

Credit losses on managed motorcycle loans increased in the first six months of the year to total 1.63% on an annualized basis, up from 1.2% for the first six months of 2006.

“No one argues that these aren’t challenging times for consumer lending,” Ziemer said.

Harley-Davidson Inc.

Figures in millions except for earnings per share. Percentages are based on unrounded sales and income figures.

“We don’t know the reason,” Const. Isabelle Poirier said. “We’ll wait and see what will happen.”

A patrol cop noticed about five people wearing Hells Angels patches at a Greber Blvd. strip club Saturday night, putting police on alert.

Jose Barona, manager at Club Pigale, said there were no incidents with the Hells Angels that night.

“We had no problems,” Barona said.
Ottawa Sun

NO ARRESTS

Poirier confirmed there were no incidents and no arrests.

Police will likely add patrols in the area as they continue to investigate, Poirier said.

“We’ll keep an eye on it for sure,” she said.

It’s also not uncommon for police to keep a sharp eye on outlaw biker activities throughout the summer in Ottawa.

“We try to monitor all the activities and movements,” Ottawa police Const. Isabelle Lemieux said.

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