Lawrence G. Hund Promotion Fortifies The Command Center

According to a SEC, Form 8K filing, Harley-Davidson (i.e. acting CEO Jochen Zeitz) promoted Lawrence G. Hund to chief commercial officer and will be responsible for the global sales function including the company’s motorcycle Parts and Accessories, General Merchandise and Harley-Davidson Museum businesses effective today.

Hund will be responsible for building and supporting growth strategies, cultivating opportunities in new and existing markets, and increasing demand for Harley-Davidson products globally.

Lawrence G. Hund

I previously blogged about Mr. Hund back in 2009 when H-D re-hired him HERE.  He returned to Harley-Davidson from Tygris Commercial Finance Group, Inc. where he worked only 8-months as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Mr. Hund is 64, and has been the President and Chief Operating Officer of Harley-Davidson Financial Services (HDFS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Harley-Davidson, Inc. since 2009.

Jonathan Root, 46, vice president of insurance at HDFS, will be promoted to senior vice president of HDFS and take over Hund’s previous role.

Photos courtesy of Harley-Davidson and SEC

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50th Anniversary Of Jet Fire Orange

1970 Harley-Davidson XR-750

I’m talking about the Harley-Davidson XR-750, which last month marked the 50th Anniversary since it’s debut.

From 1953 to 1969,  Harley-Davidson manufactured the KR750, the backbone of American dirt track racing.

The motorcycle engine was an air cooled, side valve 4-stroke 45° V-twin (flathead), 45.125 cu in (739.47 cc) displacement built for racing.  Unique for Harley’s at that time, the KR model shifted on the right, like a British bike, which worked great for dirt track.  It wasn’t until 1975, when DOT specified that all motorcycles sold in the U.S. had to have a standardized, left-side gear shift.

Harley-Davidson Flat Track Racing

Prior to 1969, the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) rules for the Grand National Championship were structured to favor “sidevalvers” (side-valve engines) rather than overhead-valve (OHV) engines.  The intent was to deliberately favor American made bikes such as those from Harley-Davidson with their side-valve engines, and disadvantage the competition which was mainly from British manufactures i.e., Triumph, BSA, and Norton. The AMA rules allowed side-valve engines of up to 750cc capacity but OHV engines were limited to 500cc. The 50% engine size advantage stacked the odd in the favor of the side-valve bikes.

As you might imagine, the British manufactures complained…about everything—the rules, the manufactures, the officials, the drivers, the races, and the racing itself.

Harley-Davidson XR-750

As a result, in 1969, in prep for the 1970 race season, the AMA approved that all professional Amateur & Expert dirt track and speedway engines could be 750cc, regardless of configuration or valve style. This rule change eliminated the 250cc penalty for OHV engines that had existed since 1933.  Many British manufacturers begin designing and developing OHV 750cc engines for competition. To be approved by the AMA (for Class C competition), a motorcycle must be a standard catalogued production model and at least 200 units of the same model with identical engines and transmissions and must be available for inspection and/or purchase within the United States.

XR-750 Engine – Ported and Polished Heads

Unhappy with the decision, but with a desire to continue the racing legacy, Harley-Davidson set out to create a new overhead-valve racing motorcycle.  The Milwaukee motor company leveraged their OHV V-twin racing engine based on the Sportster XLR.  However, it’s engine had a displacement of 900cc (55 cu. in.) and would need to have its capacity reduced to 750cc. Harley-Davidson engineers accomplished this by decreasing the engine’s stroke from 3.81″ to 2.983″ and increased the bore from 3.0″ to 3.2″ bringing the engine in just under the 750cc maximum.

The AMA approved the Harley-Davidson “XR”, a 750cc V-twin overhead valve engine, for Class C competition on Feburary 27, 1970. It had been tentatively approved in late-1969 as the “750 Sportster”, but the motor company lacked having 200 units available for inspection at the time. The motorcycle is dubbed the “iron XR“, or “Iron Head,” due to its steel cylinders and heads.

Even Knievel

For the 1972 race season, there were a number of changes.  A vote was taken on November 18, 1971, and the AMA Competition Congress voted to allow qualified women to compete in all forms of AMA Racing.

The Water-Cooling was approved, as long as it is an integral part of a production motorcycle.  Titanium frames were outlawed from all AMA competition. The AMA approved the Harley-Davidson XR-750, an updated version of the XR, for Class C competition on April 12, 1972. The updated engine used aluminum cylinders and heads to address the overheating issues that plagued the XR model. However, due to delays in getting all 200 units completed, it wasn’t approved in time for the Daytona 200, but debuts at the Colorado Springs national on April 30, 1972.

Speaking of aluminum heads, they were made, then shipped to Jerry Branch of Branch Flowmetrics in Long Beach, California to be ported and assembled. The new cylinder head design included larger valves. The cylinder heads were then shipped back to Harley-Davidson’s factory in Milwaukee for fitting to the new engines. This V-twin engine was not quite of the same dimensions as the Iron Head. The bore was increased to 3.1” and the stroke reduced to 3”. Carburetors were 36mm Mikuni, one for each cylinder. The exhaust systems were mounted high on the left side of the motorcycle well away from the carburetors.  Power was 82hp at 7,700rpm giving the bike a top speed of around 115mph.

Harley-Davidson Flat Track Racing Team

Branch wrote engineering books on his engine air flow work and eventually sold Branch Flowmetrics to Mikuni in the late 1990s.  Branch was the only independent company to ever supply Harley-Davidson ported and polished heads!

In 1972, Harley-Davidson was the first-ever “Grand National Manufacturer’s Championship“, which compiles the highest finish of each brand at every Grand National Championship event.  Between 1972 and 2008, the XR-750 won 28 of 37 AMA Grand National Championships. The XR-750 racked up more wins than any other motorcycle in AMA racing history and earned the description of being the “most successful race bike of all time.”  In addition, the XR-750 became a cultural icon with legendary stuntman Evel Knievel at the handlebars. Evel Knievel began jumping an XR-750 at the height of his career from 1970 to 1976.

Harley-Davidson created one of the greatest bikes in the history of American motorcycling.

For 2020, the Harley-Davidson Factory Flat Track team will use the updated Harley-Davidson® XG750R flat tracker, powered by the liquid-cooled, fuel-injected and race-tuned 750cc Harley-Davidson® Revolution X™ V-Twin designed for the Street 750 motorcycle.

Full details on the Flat Track team can be found HERE.  Flat Track racing news is HERE.

Photos courtesy of Harley-Davidson

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Every Restored Motorcycle Has A Story — The 1913 Single

Highway 50, just outside of Great Basin National Park

You might not know, but there are 59 national parks and 4,092,729 miles of roads in the United States.

All the roads in Brazil, Germany, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Sweden, and France combined would not equal the length of America’s roadways.

Believe it or not, there was a time in our not-so-distant past when there were no paved roads bridging the gap between civilization and the North American wilderness.  The earliest Harley-Davidson motorcycles had the same suspensions as bicycles of the time: none at all. The roads were a hodgepodge of dirt, stone, and other materials. Bumps were everywhere!  Harley-Davidson’s weren’t necessarily the fastest bikes on the market, but they were built with reliability in mind and were among the first truly heavy duty motorcycles in the world that could be relied on for safe running over the atrocious roads of the day.

1913 Harley-Davidson Model 9-B Single — Valve Side

The transformational American road-trip essentially became touring wide-open spaces from the saddle of a motorcycle.

In last months posts, I touched on a collection of classic motorcycles in the northwest and provided tribute to an inspirational man (Bob) with a genuine love of wrenching motorcycles.  I also illuminated his first restoration in the collection — a 1937 Harley-Davidson Model U-Series Flathead.

In this post, I’m plunging head first into another motorcycle in the collection, a Harley-Davidson 1913 Model 9-B Single.  It was already Harley-Davidson’s 10th anniversary when this bike originally rolled onto the showroom floor. From their humble beginning and that first bike built in their 10′ x 15′ shed, they had overcome the competition to produce over 1,000 motorcycles in 1909 to almost 17,000 bikes in 1913.

1913 Harley-Davidson Model 9-B Single — Transmission Side

According to an advert for the 1913 Chicago Motorcycle Show, Harley-Davidson states (page 10) that they sold out their entire manufacturing output in 12.5 weeks!  Clearly, the Milwaukee motor company had grown past the “motorized bicycle for fishing trips” into planning  motorcycles for large volume production.

Postured affectionately in the corner of the vintage collection showroom, you’ll want to gaze at this motorcycle for hours, and each time notice something new. A small hand-turned screw on a throttle linkage, a one-off brass cam on the carburetor body, a perfectly machined castellated nut on the rear hub that firmly holds the pedal sprocket – a few indicators of its origins as a commercial motorcycle. All of these details amaze and remind me of just what this bike was built to do – both by its original designers and by its inherited restorer.

1913 Model 9-B Single — Valve Side Close-up

It was interesting to learn that Bob’s motorcycles were never chosen for specific “provenance” or heritage — the range of manufactures in the collection represent personal tastes as well as unique expressions — beauty, performance, functionality and style that resonated with him through the years.

This 1913 Model 9-B single originally sold for $250.00 at the factory in Milwaukee and it took Bob more than 15 years to fully restore.  It’s the oldest motorcycle in the collection, and was one of Bob’s top-three favorites, but not the rarest or most collectible in the world.

Restoring a Milwaukee icon is no easy task, but with Bob’s guiding hands this motorcycle showcases exceptional restoration craftsmanship, pristine attention to detail, and along with some unique history it might well mean that it is destined to be in a museum some day.

1913 Model 9-B Single — Transmission Side Close-up

The condition of this single-cylinder, four-cycle, air-cooled model is truly immaculate and a bill-board poster of simplicity.  It’s also the foundation of what generated the Milwaukee motor company mystique.  The motorcycle features a 35 cu in (565cc) motor with a nominal 5 HP, an overall weight of 235 pounds, a 2-gallon fuel tank, a 3.5 quart oil tank, and a Bosch magneto placed behind the motor to keep out road grit.

For the 1913 model year, the Harley single was updated with the mechanically operated inlet valve (replacing the ‘atmospheric’ type), which was developed first for the twin cylinder models, and at the same time boasted a balanced bottom-end, alloy piston and improved carburetor.  The stroke was increased to 4 inches as compared to 3.5 inches of the former model.  The wheel-base on the singles were 1 inch shorter than the twins.

1913 Harley-Davidson Model 9-B Single — Front Fort Close-up

Harley-Davidson also made a small change to the form of the clutch lever operating the “free wheel” in 1913.  On the flat belt models a guard was mounted.  These motorcycles were popularly known as the ‘5-35’ (5 horsepower, 35 ci displacement).  The 9-B single was available in belt and chain-driven versions while ease of use was considerably enhanced by the adoption of the rear hub clutch first seen on the twin cylinder.  As the twin’s popularity grew, the single declined, accounting for only 4% of sales in 1917 and production of the Harley-Davidson ‘5-35’ ceased in 1918.

The gray color paint on the restored motorcycle includes a bold striping scheme, which complements the original manufacturing process of taking great care during the enameling procedure with three hand rubbed coats of paint followed by a protective varnish.

1913 Harley-Davidson Model 9-B Single — Transmission Side

Manufacturing the Model 9-B single made up the majority of the company’s production in the early years.  By 1912, all Harley-Davidson’s had gained mechanical inlet valves and all-chain drive, but this restored model, included the belt option, which was offered for several years.  Both singles and V-twins had single-speed transmissions with a robust rear hub clutch operated by a tank-side lever, and their new mechanical inlet valve meant more power and higher revs were possible. The valve side has a pedal-and-chain drive. With the rear wheel raised up by the stand and with the clutch engaged, the pedals are used to crank the motor. The brake is engaged by a slight backward pressure on the pedals.

The rider sits on a leather brown saddle, mounted with a central, sprung pillar sliding with the frame’s vertical saddle tube, which was positively located by an articulated lever pivoting from the top frame, just ahead of the saddle nose.

1913 Harley-Davidson Model 9-B Single — Top Looking Down at Valve Side

Harley-Davidson called this the “Full-Floteing” seat—a riders comfort not-with-standing accurate spelling—as the system should be quite familiar to any Duo-Glide owner.  The oil tank hid with the tool box. While the engine’s drip oil feed was “automatic,” any hard riding owner could give a visible shot of fresh lubricant from a tank-top hand pump.

The 1913 motorcycle frame was reportedly stronger than the previous year models and provided better handling, while the new vertical fins atop the cylinder head allowed the engine to run cooler.

1913 Harley-Davidson Model 9-B Single — Transmission Side

As mentioned earlier, the Bosch magneto was placed behind the motor to prevent collection of road grim, and proved to be a reliable instrument, making the machine easy to start via its bicycle pedals on the stand or off the stand using the valve lifer to take off.  The motorcycle has 28 X 2.5 tires with an Eclipse Knockout front hub that allows the tire removal by taking only one nut off.  The brakes are “coaster type” on the rear wheel like today’s simple pedal bikes.

In the late summer of 1913,  a new board track was opened in Milwaukee, right in Harley’s back yard.  The company’s professional race abstinence came to an end as Harley-Davidson change its corporate mind and the Racing Department was formed, with William Ottaway as its first Assistant Engineer to racing engineer William S. Harley.

1913 Harley-Davidson Advert — Courtesy of Motorcycle Illustrated and Google Books

The Harley twins pulled ahead of Indians and would dominate motorcycle racing in 1914.  The Racing Department was referred to informally as the “Wrecking Crew.”  However, one of the racers acquired a pet piglet, which was quickly adopted as the team’s mascot, and helped popularize the nickname ‘the Harley Hogs’ due to the race team carrying the team’s mascot around on the motorcycle fuel tank during victory laps.

The 9-B single is truly a peppy machine and can be ridden all day long at 40-45 MPH, as proven in the Motorcycle Cannonball Endurance Run, where a 1914 single-cylinder Harley-Davidson won the 2018 event with a steady, thumping pace.

This 1913 Model 9-B was a frame-off full restoration which Bob completed in the 1980’s.  Parts were sourced as needed from various swap meets, nickel ads, flea markets, yard sales, and scanning newspapers to find an elusive part!  There was no Dubya, Dubya, Dubya (i.e. Internet) in those days.  Most of us will never know the feeling of satisfaction derived from unearthing the perfect part at a swap meet and haggling its price down to a bargain.

1913 Harley-Davidson Model 9-B Single — Transmission Side

During the course of multiple interviews, I ask if anyone knew why Bob was so fervent about recruiting parts from swap meets. It turns out that Bob and his wife loved to travel. And, in the course of seeing America from a motorcycle, he recruited ever more vintage enthusiasts to help him find and locate parts for motorcycles he had in the restoration queue.

Those early days began the tradition of keeping motorcycles running and riding as much as possible.  It was called “self-assemble.”  Buying a complete front end may wipe-out your budget, but if one guy has a set of tubes for $40, and you remember seeing a triple tree on that table over by the Port-A-Potty, and you manage to negotiate a wheel and axle for $35… well, you are most of the way to having a front end cheaper than buying a complete unit — if it existed!  The rides and swap meet experiences were some of the best and fun times for Bob and his wife.

This is one of the finest restorations of an early Harley-Davidson model anywhere!

Previous posts on this vintage collection:
Vintage Restorations Uncovered In The Northwest
A Northwest Collection Gem – The 1937 Flathead

Photos taken by author. The black & white Motorcycle Illustrated advert courtesy of Harley-Davidson and Google Books.

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Harley-Davidson’s Entrepreneur and New Mastermind

Jochen Zeitz — Harley-Davidson interim President and CEO

The ultimate maverick has been hired to preserve and renew the freedom to ride.

I’m talking about Jochen Zeitz — the entrepreneur and new mastermind in charge of Harley-Davidson until he is offered the position permanently or a recruitment committee finds a replacement CEO.

So, what do we know and who is this man?

• Speaks seven languages — five spoken fluently including Swahili
• Has his own charitable foundation
• Owns unpublished Hemingway letters and collects robust amounts of African art.
• Owns a luxury tent-camp in Kenya’s Masai Mara game reserve close to the confluence of the Sand and Keekorok Rivers
• A published author: one book is a dialogue with Benedictine monk Anselm Grün called The Manager and the Monk: A Discourse on Prayer, Profit and Principles
• Co-funded ‘The B Team‘ with Sir Richard Branson
• Awarded the Financial Times Strategist of the Year award — three times
• Honored by the fatherland and awarded the German Federal Cross of Merit
• Sits on the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) board
• Formed the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Inside: Zeitz MOCAA)
• Founded ‘The Long Run,’ an organization that grades sustainable tourism projects
• Purchased a 50,000-acre Kenyan retreat — Segera Retreat Lodge — to develop a new type of tourism leveraging “the 4Cs”
• A pilot and travels across Kenya in his 1929 Gypsy Moth biplane that was used in the Oscar-winning movie, Out of Africa
• Wears t-shirts, no socks, meditates, likes to run and became a guitar virtuoso in 5-years — professional percussive technique

Jochen Zeitz at Segera Retreat Lodge

As a slacker who would debate a good life is better than a good job, paint me truly inspired for that list of accomplishments!

Talk about an extreme producer with a missionary zeal!  And, I haven’t mentioned the best part… a profile of his “day job” achievements.

Mr. Zeitz represents qualities too good to be true and the idea of him shilling for some corporation to hawk motorcycles deflates the “HERO” excitement.  It’s clear, Mr. Zeitz won’t be satisfied until he has done everything to promote his vision of a new, better world.

LiveWire — Jochen Zeitz — Milwaukee, WI

With his multi-millions in fortune, Jochen Zeitz is likely the richest person in history to run Harley-Davidson as interim president and CEO.

So, again, who is the 57-year old sandy-haired, 6’1’’ athletic build of a man?

Mr. Zeitz was born in Mannheim, Germany, in 1963, to a gynecologist father and dentist mother.  He grew up in a time when the Green Party and the anti-nuclear movement were enjoying strong support in Germany.  Along with the time he spent at the family’s lodge in the Odenwald forest, the outdoor exposure planted seeds of interest in environmentalism.  He was educated at Karl-Friedrich Gymnasium, Mannheim, south-west Germany, and then international marketing and finance at the European Business School of Oestrich-Winkel near Wiesbaden.

Jochen Zeitz and wife Kate Garwood

Mr. Zeitz began his professional career with Colgate-Palmolive in Hamburg in 1986. He then moved to Herzogenaurach in the Franconian countryside to work for sporting goods manufacturer Puma (Bio) in 1988. From there, he rose rapidly though the ranks to become head of marketing in 1991 and vice president — international and head of the global marketing and sales department.  In 1993, at the age of 30, he became chairman of the board of Puma, making him the youngest CEO of German firms with commercially traded stock. He dramatically reduced staff numbers, took production to Asia, made English the corporate language, started sponsoring African football teams and was credited with turning around the near-bankrupt business into one of the world’s top three sports brands.

The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) — Cape Town

In 2003, he insightfully signed 16-year-old future Olympic champion sprinter Usain Bolt to Puma.  In 2007, he was appointed to the Board of Harley-Davidson.

Puma was acquired by luxury goods conglomerate Kering in 2007, and a few years later Mr. Zeitz served as Kering’s Chief Sustainability Officer.  In 2011, he set up a sustainability committee for Harley-Davidson, which he also chaired.

Also in 2011, he wanted to step back and focus on his environmental work and resigned as CEO of Puma.  He became a director of parent company Kering and chairman of the group’s sustainability committee.  He co-founded ‘The B Team’ with Sir Richard Branson in 2013.  That same year he launched the Kenyan Segera Retreat with a focus on his foundation’s 4C philosophy for sustainable tourism.

In 2020, he was hungry for something much more and became Harley-Davidson’s interim president and CEO.

Jochen Zeitz — 1929 Gypsy Moth Airplane Photo credit: Eric M Rojas

On a personal level — he divorced his first wife Birgit Jöris in 2012 following an 18-year marriage.  He is currently married to LA-based producer Kate Garwood‚ 41‚ producer of the 2016 movie “Race”‚ about U.S. track star Jesse Owens.  They have two children; 4-year old Jesse born September 2017 and a three year old. He keeps homes in Switzerland, Santa Fe, Los Angeles, a 50,000-acre ranch in Kenya and has property in west London.

When researching material for this blog post, I was blown-away on the amount of information published about Mr. Zeitz.

In a 2013 interview with the International Bar Association, he stated no plans to marry again, although at the time he was in a long term relationship with Kate Garwood. He was adamant about no intention of having children. ‘No, definitely not,’ he stated emphatically. ‘Never say never, but it’s very unlikely. It’s not something that fits with my daily life and I’ve never believed that having children without a father around is a good idea. It’s not really something I would get excited about.’  Just a short four years later both occur.

Jochen Zeitz at Segera, his 50,000-acre ranch. Photo credit: David Crookes

In recent press interviews, he’s stated the joy of his decision to have children late in life, because now he can see them grow up versus having such a busy schedule in running a company and traveling for 10 months in a year.  An interesting side bar: Speculation swirled that Jesse, their first child, was named after the 1930s athlete and fueled by the fact that Jessie Owens was provided with shoes for the 1936 Olympics by the Dassler brothers‚ who went on to found Adidas and Puma. 

But, I’ve digressed and want to return to connecting the Harley-Davidson dots… Mr. Zeitz’s experience at Kering was a critical influence and the driving force behind Matt Levatich’s (the recently fired Harley-Davidson CEO) pivot to sustainability that led him to think much more about environmental profit and loss at Harley-Davidson.  Mr. Zeitz had devised an environmental profit-and-loss account method at Kering which, put a figure on what a company’s air pollution, land use, water use and carbon consumption cost the planet.

Jochen Zeitz’s Favorite Thing — A Scottish Bailey — Photo credit: Charlotte Haden

While Mr. Zeitz — wealthy, world-view philosophy, competitive, over-achiever and relatively young — has the luxury of carving out grandiose, acronym-fueled sustainable ‘visions’, that struggling businesses like Harley-Davidson, desperate to increase motorcycle sales, might find distracting or even an irritant.

We’ll have to read the biography when ex-CEO Levatich publishes the book, but as an outside observer, one distraction example is: it took eight years, millions of dollars and the work of over a thousand engineers to fully realize a product that few want — the Harley-Davidson LiveWire — the Milwaukee company’s first premium electric motorcycle to go on sale in September 2019.  As a long-serving Harley-Davidson board member, Mr. Zeitz convinced executive management to focus not just on the moral justification for electric engines, but on the needs of Harley-Davidson customers to have healthy natural landscapes in which to ride. The logic behind this claim, was that “what every rider loves about the ride – it’s the environment they’re riding in, isn’t it?”  Soon afterward, the marketing and brand alignment teams marched in unison to support sustainability as a major part of the brand.

Segera Retreat — Laikipia, Kenya

The result?  A new mission, twisting the brand’s historic celebration of freedom into a desire “to preserve and renew the freedom to ride” and TWELVE quarters of sales decline.  Along with a $2,152,500 million severance payment to Matt Levatich.

Mr. Zeitz believes and is on record, stating there is more to corporate life than the relentless pursuit of profit. Wait, what?!  Isn’t profit what got Matt Levatich fired?

I’ve watched “An Inconvenient Truth” and the sequel. The oceans are heating and the poles melting, but color me skeptical of environmental groups with sustainable-for profit-business interests.  We’re all too aware of what the world needs: another multi-millionaire telling others how to behave better once they have made their own fortune while flying private and choppering into a rich man’s playground.

Jochen Zeitz GQ Article — in German

The motor-head scholars, bankers, real estate agents, lawyers and fashion designers who gather not to drink cheap brew, but to sip $15 “born to be wild” martinis and straddle $40,000 motorcycles might pontificate on the value of sustainability, but I just don’t see grizzled leather-clad loyalists describing Harley-Davidson as the world’s most sustainable manufacture over a beer at the Sturgis rally.

But, sometimes there’s a man. I won’t say a hero – ’cause what’s a hero? – but sometimes there’s a man – and I’m talking about Jochen Zeitz here – sometimes there’s a man who, well, he’s the man for the time and place.

A man who will improve the brand that is unique, exciting and one that gives value to it’s riding customers.

But wait, there’s more… An incentive if he kicks a field goal… according to the company 8-K regulatory filing, the interim Harley-Davidson, CEO Jochen Zeitz, is eligible and will receive a $3 million bonus (in the form of restricted stock units (RSU’s)) that would vest one year after the grant date and become payable if his employment continues to the date of the installation of a new CEO.  That $3 million would come on top of the annual base salary of $2.5 million he is receiving now after taking over for Matt Levatich. I don’t think this will be too difficult since Mr. Zeitz has served on Harley-Davidson’s board since 2007.

UPDATED: April 17, 2020 — Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and sales impact, Harley-Davidson announced that its acting president and CEO Jochen Zeitz and the company’s board of directors would forgo any salary or cash compensations. As mentioned above, Zeitz currently has an annual base salary of $2.5 million.

Photos courtesy of Harley-Davidson, Jochen Zeitz, Twitter, Eric M Rojas, David Crookes, and Charlotte Haden

Information Source & References: IBA, Independent,Wired,Business Daily Africa, Milwaukee Business Journal, Adventure Rider, Infosys, Telegraph, Financial Times, Angama Blog

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My Big Brother Motorcycle

1984 Honda Magna (VF700C or V42)

It’s a play on George Orwell’s dystopian 1949 novel 1984 — where the world in 1984 is under control of Big Brother and the Thought Police who enforced the rules against individuality and original thinking — essentially praising society’s achievement on the “Unification of Thoughts.”

Taking a page from Apple’s Super Bowl ad, my “1984 wasn’t like 1984,” — thumbing my nose at the roots of America, I purchased a little slice of freedom and original thinking in the form of a Honda VF700C or V42 Magna.

That shiny jet black Honda Magna (V42) had a liquid-cooled, double-overhead cam 90° V4 engine (displacement is 699cc or 42.7 ci) with four valves per cylinder and a compression ratio of 10.5:1.  Honda claimed it’s output was 82 crankshaft HP at 9,500 RPM.  The motorcycle had a smooth shifting 6-speed transmission, a wet multi-plate clutch that was hydraulically activated and shaft final drive with helical gearing in the rear-drive unit.  The motorcycle featured twin horns, coil rear springs, hydraulic clutch, air preload front fork with anti-dive valving, and an engine temperature gauge.

1984 Honda Magna (VF700C)Specs

Braking was delivered via a hydraulic activated double twin-piston disc brakes up front and a traditional non-ABS mechanical internal expanding drum brake in the rear. Great for leaving skid marks, but not so much for stopping!

The instrumentation was housed in chrome and included an analog speedometer, tachometer and engine coolant temperature gauge, along with lights for oil pressure, neutral, turn signals, tail light burn-out and a light that illuminated “OD” which let the rider know the transmission was in 6th gear.

As I reminisce on riding the Magna, I recall it having good power and a broad torque band.  Given its light weight and low center of gravity, the motorcycle was easy to ride in the city or a twisty two-lane country road. The Magna’s features were truly pushing the state-of-the-art for a production cruiser in its day.

From a historical viewpoint, only a few years had past since Harley-Davidson executed the epic buy back from AMF.  Their sales hadn’t reached the levels they envisioned, in part, because the AMF era was famous for shoddy quality, bikes requiring a lot of maintenance and the Milwaukee motor company was getting knocked down publicly and in need of some sunshine.

The poor quality and hi-maintenance requirements on Harley motorcycles was a key factor in my decision to purchase Honda.  In fact, a member of our posse also purchased a Honda, a V65 Magna (VF1100C) the same year.  Man, those V65 Magna’s (1,098 cc) were fast.  It was Honda’s initial entry in the “1/4 mile wars” between all the Japan manufacturers during the ’80s.

As Harley skidded toward bankruptcy, you might recall they petitioned and lobbied the Reagan administration in 1982 to raise tariffs on Japanese manufacturers because of “Dumping.”

“Dumping” in this context refers to exporting a product at a lower price than is charged in the home market, or selling at a price that is lower than the cost to produce it.  In April 1983, President Reagan signed into law an act that imposed draconian import tariffs for a five-year period on Japanese motorcycles with a displacement of greater than 700 cc.  This would give the sole American motorcycle maker some breathing room from intense competition to retool, get its act together and turn profitable.

However, Honda quickly responded to the retaliatory import duties and retooled the engines (what had been the 750cc class, VF750C V45 Magna) to displace just under 700cc; making them immune to the financial impact of the tariff.  One of the bikes that debuted as a “tariff buster” in 1984 was the V42 Magna.  Ironically and in a show of engineering superiority, it had three additional horsepower compared to the 750cc!

Harley was eventually able to turn a corner and the motor company ultimately requested that the tariff protection end early — essentially stating, they were now strong enough to take on the best competition in the world!

While the act was supposed to last for five years, then CEO Vaughn Beals asked that it be lifted a year early in 1987.  The 5-year tariff officially expired in 1988. That same year the Honda Magna reverted back to its original size of 748 cc.

Photos courtesy of Honda and Harley-Davidson Museum.

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Harley-Davidson Snaps Back At Indian

Let me start off by saying I like Indian motorcycles. I really do.  I’m digging the variety of styles and the attention to detail on each build.

But, my heart is with Harley…

In a previous post I discussed the Indian “Challenger Challenge,” a campaign that invites motorcyclists to test ride the Challenger and the Harley-Davidson Road Glide® Special back-to-back for a head-to-head comparison.

It’s brilliant.

It’s worth pausing for a moment to consider how this campaign would’ve worked out if Indian used any other motorcycle in their lineup vs. the Road Glide — one of Harley’s bagger cash cow.  It’s dangerous to make assertions about “might-have-beens,” or what analytic philosophers like to call “counterfactuals,” because no evidence can exist that fully demonstrates the falseness of such an assertion.

But, I’ve digressed.

A “bake-off” for the preeminent bagger, demonstrates a battle for supremacy in the public mind.  It’s also a battle for cultural supremacy, not a judgement about features, technical prowess or achievements.  It’s the subtlety of Indian craving the appeal of that, what makes a Harley, a Harley.  That ineffable something (that je ne sais quoi, if you need a phrase to go with your cappuccino).

So, in classic Harley fashion, and only 5-months in the role, Jon Bekefy (GM of Brand Marketing at Harley-Davidson) calls BS and snapped back at Indian.  Mr. Bekefy uploaded an agency polished Instagram post and in the process scorches Polaris. (Bekefy Twitter)

In other words, “Anything Polaris/Indian can do, Harley can do better.”  Clearly the General Manager of Brand Marketing at Harley-Davidson doesn’t want to get upstaged.

We all know that Harley-Davidson is not just a bike, it’s a choice.  An existential decision and the life that follows upon it.

Wait.  That statement may not be as defensible, since Harley is now promising to be another “transportation” manufacture delivering a Chinese 338cc bike where affordability remains paramount to the upscale EV future of two-wheel transportation and includes all bicycle types in between.

As Indian and Harley arm wrestle each other over boomer-centric models, it has a limited lifespan and is unlikely to generate a lot of new riders, but it’s pure theater and fun to watch!

Photo courtesy Instagram.

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Indian Looks To Smoke The Competition

Indian Challenger vs Harley-Davidson Road Glide

Earlier this week, Indian announced the “Challenger Challenge,” a campaign that invites motorcyclists to test ride the Challenger and the Harley-Davidson Road Glide® Special back-to-back for a head-to-head comparison.

It’s not the typical, behind-the-scenes advertising effort by Indian to sell a product in its own time and in its own way.  Instead, it’s a high-visibility campaign marked with in-your-face marketing which proclaims — the Challenger will absolutely “smoke the competition.”

That’s a blue-collar craftsmen and beer-bellied “motor-head” inflammatory call to battle!

Will Harley-Davidson laugh and say, ‘Good try, bad result‘ expecting it to reinvigorate the Road Glide sales or will the Milwaukee gurus sit up and make a hard-eyed comparison of the competition’s strengths?

I’ve posted previously that motorcycle growth rates domestically are decelerating.  Wall Street is worried that the motor company has tapped out demand for their line-up as sales cool.

Challenger Challenge Stats

My initial reaction of the Indian campaign was, it being reminiscent of the 1980’s when commercials were a sign of the times — desperate, struggling times that car manufactures hoped would turn prosperous.  You might remember, “If You Can Find a Better Car, Buy It” ad campaign?  The face behind that familiar slogan was Ronald DeLuca — the advertising whiz hired by Chrysler Corporation chairman Lee Iacocca to turn around Chrysler’s late-1970s death plunge in a recession-weary America.

Indian has the not-so-simple task of convincing Americans that the motorcycling passion isn’t an archaic lifestyle teetering on the edge of the toilet bowl.  Or if Millennials are truly killing motorcycles, then why not ride it out in style with a new Indian Challenger!

Carey Hart and Big B

The Challenger Challenge is set to launch at Daytona Bike Week on Friday, March 6th.  The product demo tour will visit Indian Motorcycle dealers around the country, as well as select motorcycle rallies and events, including Sturgis in August. In addition to the national tour, select Indian Motorcycle dealers will have a Road Glide on hand to ensure that any customer who visits their dealership can take the Challenger Challenge.

Of course there will be a full-court press with social hashtags and digital media including a video series where Carey Hart and Bryan “Big B” Mahoney, pit the new Indian Challenger against the Road Glide Special in a series of rubber burning tests that showcase power, torque, braking and handling.

We will know soon enough if the campaign is more about finding new customers who don’t necessarily want to own a motorcycle or boosting the Indian public image and extending the brand’s good name.

Photos courtesy of Indian Motorcycle.

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Thursday Throwback: Harley-Davidson Spare Parts

1922 Spare Parts Directory

Harley-Davidson has been preserving its parts history for over 116 years.

When the motor company incorporated in 1907, Arthur Davidson acted as secretary and general sales manager. He traveled the world recruiting new dealers and establishing the dealer network. He knew the importance of a strong dealer network, but also understood the importance of having skilled mechanics to take care of the customer and thus he also oversaw the development of the Service School.

Harley-Davidson first instituted teaching courses in 1917. Production in 1917 was devoted to the military and the motor company developed the Quartermasters School to teach military personnel how to fix their machines in the field. Recognizing the value of the classes, they continued the classes, which were referred to as the Harley-Davidson Service School. The Service School was a success and adjusted to needs of the company throughout years, even including managerial and sales classes.

1922 Exploded View of Parts

During WWII the focus again turned to military training. Harley-Davidson produced approximately 60,000 WLA models for the military and converted the Service School into the Quartermaster School to train military mechanics.  From 1941-1946, motorcycle models did not change and, due to the many shortages brought on by the war, even paint was hard to come by.

The name “Service School” lasted into the late 1990s when training efforts were consolidated into the Harley-Davidson University (HDU).

Photos taken by author of the nostalgic November 1, 1922 — Directory of Spare Parts

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Harley-Davidson (Re) Introduces The CVO Road Glide

2020 CVO™ Road Glide®

Mid-way through the motor company 2020 model year — Harley re-introduces a CVO™ Road Glide®.

Similar to the 2019 model, the re-launched 2020 CVO (Custom Vehicle Operations) motorcycle is packed with aesthetic and performance features.  Of course, there’s the 117-cubic-inch Milwaukee-Eight Big Twin (includes color accented Rocker Box Lowers), a heavy breather air cleaner with a factory rating of 128 lb.-ft. of torque which is five percent more than 114-inch engine.

The CVO Road Glide’s sub-27-inch seat height will provide a wide variety of riders a solid feel in the saddle.  There is a high-output BOOM!™ GTS infotainment system, as well as a 21-inch front and 18-inch rear wheels, finished in Gloss Black and Contrast Smoked Satin.  New for several 2020 touring models and now included on the CVO Road Glide is the subscription-based cellular connectivity, where you can connect to your bike through a smart phone using the Harley-Davidson® App and check the bike’s vitals including fuel level, get tamper alerts and stolen-vehicle tracking, and more.  The motorcycle is complemented with the “phat” heated Kahuna™ collection hand grips and controls.

CVO™ Road Glide® Heavy Breather

What might be behind this un-typical launch?

It’s called twelve consecutive quarters of U.S. sales decline. As previously reported, Harley-Davidson motorcycle sales slipped again in 2019 despite new models and expanded overseas operations.

In addition, it’s part of their “More Roads to Harley-Davidson” accelerated resuscitation plan for growth and part of the 2017-2027 Objectives — Launch 100 new high-impact Harley-Davidson® motorcycles — which allows management to check a box for investors on a “new product.”

The good news is that if you want a 2020 CVO (only available in Sand Dune) parked in your garage, it’s going to cost you LESS!  Yes, less. The MSRP is $40,999.00, a reduction of $1,340.00 than last year.  The MSRP on the 2019 CVO Road Glide was $42,339.00 and for comparison the 2018 CVO Road Glide was $42,949.00

CVO’s are the badge-and-shield brand’s shining beacon on the hill!

It’s a borrowed analogy from John Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts who, upon setting sail for New England in 1630, wrote that, “We shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us.”

The eyes of motorcycle enthusiasts are upon Harley-Davidson…

Photos courtesy of Harley-Davidson

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Harley-Davidson Charging Anxieties

Harley-Davidson LiveWire

The Harley-Davidson LiveWire electric motorcycle was officially unveiled in January 2019 at CES.  A lot of marketing hype surrounded the unveiling of the motorcycle with claims of it being the start of “a new focus for the brand that would inspire the next generation of riders.”

Then yesterday, Reuters broke the news that Harley-Davidson had stopped production and delivery (temporarily) of the LiveWire electric motorcycles, after discovering an issue related to the vehicle’s charging equipment. It was reported that the company discovered a “non-standard” condition during the final quality checks of LiveWire, which it already started shipping to dealers in late September.  There were glitches found in the product which has prompted additional testing and analysis.

Interestingly, Webster defines glitches “as a sudden, usually temporary malfunction or irregularity of equipment.”  A glitch like this is not something riders want in a $30,000 purchase!

The LiveWire motorcycle uses a Combined Charging System (CCS), which is a single connector pattern that offers enough space for a Type 1 or Type 2 connector, along with space for a two-pin DC connector allowing charging at up to 200 Amps.  As part of the announcement, the motor company informed current owners to NOT charge the motorcycles through standard home outlets and use only ChargePoint (direct-current stations) charging stations at authorized Harley dealerships to reload the battery.

Well isn’t that “a jolt” of inconvenience?!

For most riders, you’d like to start your day fully charged!  Meaning home charging is normally done at night while you eat, play with the kids, watch TV, and sleep!  There are two Harley-Davidson dealers in the Portland, Oregon metro area that have installed ChargePoint stations.  Finding an alternative direct-current charging station to reload the motorcycle battery on the way to work and then waiting for a couple hours is certainly not ideal.

Charge Locations – Portland, Or. Metro

There are couple of things to know about public charging: the 3 different levels of charging, the difference between connectors and the charging networks.  Riders can go directly to a dealer or try and locate charging stations using ChargeHub.

Knowing your motorcycle’s capabilities is very important and consult the dealer if not understood!

Public Chargers Levels:
Level 1 is the standard wall outlet of 120 volts. It is the slowest charge level and requires tens of hours to fully charge a 100% electric vehicle.
Level 2 is the typical EV plug found in homes and garages. Most public charging stations are level 2.
Level 3 chargers, also known as DCFC or DC Fast Chargers are the quickest way to charge a vehicle. Not every electric vehicle can charge at level 3 chargers.

In general, electric motorcycles are in a phase of adoption known as “the chasm,” (See: Geoffrey Moore’s technology adoption curve) a gulf separating early adopters from the majority of consumers.  It’s a treacherous position in the life of new technology/products, and often determines their success or failure.  One could debate that Harley-Davidson is targeting a market that does not really exist: young, “green” and affluent first-time motorcyclists.

This unattractive “glitch” will be over soon enough, but it does little to promote value creation and owning a Harley-Davidson electric motorcycle.

UPDATE:  October 16, 2019 — An unidentified H-D source tells Forbes:  “This is an issue with the 120v [charging] system, which includes an on-board charger, so it could be a vendor issue with that charger, a wiring harness issue, etc. The point I’d make is that the QC [Quality Control] process worked…there’s an issue, it was discovered before the bikes were shipped to dealers and customers, and I assume it will be fixed.”

UPDATE: October 18, 2019 — TechCrunch reported that Harley-Davidson has resumed LiveWire production.  “After completing rigorous analysis this week, we have resumed LiveWire production and deliveries,” Harley-Davidson said in a comment emailed to TechCrunch. “Customers may continue riding their LiveWire motorcycle and are able to charge the motorcycle through all methods. Temporarily stopping LiveWire production allowed us to confirm that the non-standard condition identified on one motorcycle was a singular occurrence.”

Photos courtesy of Harley-Davidson and ChargeHub

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