The Harley-Davidson ‘False Friend’

“Harley-jiang” 338cc

A ‘false friend’ (‘faux amis’ in French) is a word in two languages that on the face of it sounds or looks alike, but which does not share the same meaning or which may even mean the opposite.

When you communicate with people from other countries in another language than your own, you need to consider both cultural and language differences if you want to engage in a good, honest and accurate dialogue.

Speaking of another language…

Press reports have circulated since June that Harley-Davidson is working with the Quianjiang (QJ) motor group to introduce its ultra-affordable (parallel-twin) motorcycle for the Chinese market. According to this article, both motorcycle manufactures have approved the final design of the motorcycle by ‘signing off’ publicly.  The new motorcycle is a parallel-twin streetbike, which is currently expected to launched in the Chinese market by the end of 2020.

For motorcyclists of a certain age, parallel-twin sport bikes are synonymous with British iron of the ’70s. Ride one down the street and watch as babies point and smile, dogs chase joyfully, angsty teens fight the curling in the corners of their mouths, old biker types in leather nod with appreciation.

But, I’ve digressed…

The manufacturing and production of the motorcycle will be done by Qianjiang, a motorcycle-building giant in China. Since 2016 it’s been owned by automotive behemoth Geely, which sells cars under its own name but also owns more familiar western brands Volvo and Lotus as well as the upcoming car firm Lynk&Co. Qianjiang itself sells motorcycles under brands including Keeway, Generic, KSR-Moto and, Benelli.

The Italian-branded part of this equation is most relevant.  While true motorcycle enthusiasts will recognize the Italian roots associated with the Benelli brand, the company is no longer authentically Italian.  Since 2005 Benelli has been a part of the Qjianjiang (QJ) motor group, the largest capacity manufacturer of motorcycles in China. Qjianjiang produces over 1.2M vehicles per year at its super modern factory in Wenling, about 250 miles from Shanghai. With over 14,000 employees, the factory is as big as many cities.  Benelli is one of the oldest Italian motorcycle brands, now Chinese-made machines. The motorcycle company once manufactured acclaimed shotguns, although that part of the business is now a separate company.

According to this post: A modern Benelli will offer you poor build quality, vibrations, a finish that’s below what anyone would expect of a modern motorcycle, and depending on the model, you can also get a motorcycle with bad power to weight ratio and less than inspiring handling. “What a great way to spend our hard-earned money…”

The design of the joint “Harley-jiang” 338cc parallel-twin engine motorcycle is heavily inspired (inspired = essentially a parts-bin special slapped together to meet demand) by the Benelli 302S. The current thinking is to borrow parts so the motorcycle development can be accelerated.  The motorcycle shares the trellis frame, motor, swing-arm, suspension and braking components with the Benelli 302S.  A trellis frame connects the steering head to the swing-arm pivot as directly as possible using metal tube arranged in triangulated reinforcement. Using lattice girder principles, a trellis frame is typically constructed of round or oval section metal tubular segments that are welded or brazed together.  I think Ducati when I hear trellis frame!  Also, in using the crankshaft from the Benelli 302S, with a stroke of 45.2mm, and the pistons and cylinders of the TRK and Leoncino 500cc engine – which uses a 69mm bore – you get the 338cc.

Harley-Davidson’s “More Roads” plan is all about bringing it’s brand of freedom to more people around the world.  That marketing strategy/message seems naive and incredibly ironic given the human rights abuses in China and the “police state” in Hong Kong!  I’m unclear how the Chinese Harley-Davidson inspired motorcycle maverick ― Stickin’ It to the Man ― will square given everything is completely controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

In connecting the title of this post back to China; “There are few things worse than mistaking an enemy for a friend.” ― Wayne Gerard Trotman

If you want to observe first-hand a commercial website in disarray visit Benelli.

Photo rendering courtesy of Harley-Davidson

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Harley CEO Calls For Lazarus-Like Resurrection

First was a slam about H-D imitating and going down the General Motors path.  Then there were calls for a Lazarus-like resurrection!

Not my words, but direct from Mr. Keith E. Wandell (Harley-Davidson CEO and President) who states; “Look in a mirror – Harley was already so far down that same (GM) path it wasn’t even funny.” More talking point nuggets from his first in-depth press interview HERE and HERE.

I’m not sure about you, but I’ve never thought of my Harley as a “Chevy” and I own both!  Never mind that many GMs are made in Mexico or Canada.  The public perception of GM is that it stands for overlapping product lines with bland differences and the “bigger is better” mantra is followed to extreme, and then a crash diet when fuel prices soar.  This has lead to a sea of monstrosities as well as a few genuine moments of clarity and even a hint of brilliance.  But in total, the brand is most often marred with an indifferent quality perception and inexpensive or cheap label.

I don’t hang on Mr. Wandell’s every word, but his point above is an interesting way to send a condescending comment to the Harley-Davidson employees and buying public.  Does the Harley Chief really want his current customers to associate their recently purchased premium ride with GM?  It seems disingenuous to compare GM to the state-of-state at Harley-Davidson or use them as the poster child for everything wrong at H-D.  Wasn’t it just a little over a year ago that H-D management and the board approved what many would consider the equivalent of GM buying Ferrari (H-D acquires MV Augusta)?

Keith E. Wandell - CEO Harley-Davidson

The implication from the CEO interview is that H-D, like GM is a fading American industrial might, one that offered up a motorcycle to feed every market segment which has since degraded into exuding minimal coolness from contrived models.  Many others with little identity and somehow you’ve been duped into paying a premium price for indifferent quality.  This doesn’t seem intellectually honest or make for good PR!

The mind-set reminds me of an article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal about plastic corks and how they’ve made major inroads into the 400 year-old world of wine-corks.  One quote rang especially true and reminded me of the Harley motorcycle business.

“By the 1990’s, retailers and wineries were clamoring for a solution to wine taint, but the cork industry didn’t respond.  No industry with 90% market share is going to see its propensity to listen increase – and that’s what happened to us,” stated Mr. Carlos de Jesus (Head of Marketing, Amorim Group (largest cork producer in Portugal)).

The bottom line is corks didn’t work that well and wine ended up contaminated/bad because of cork deficiencies.  No cork manufacture believed there was a problem and didn’t see the opening for an entrepreneur.  In less than 10 years, plastic corks account for about 20% of the bottle stopper market.  They changed the way winemakers think about making and closing wine.

Lessons for Harley?

1. Never lose focus on your core mission.  Which is bringing great quality motorcycles to the public.  Some motorcycle manufactures have tumbled into the abyss because it became more about hip-hop star alignment, brand marketing, finding a tiny niche and filling it, oblivious to the point most of your market just doesn’t care.  Oldsters and hipsters are both confused.
2. Don’t be inured to nostalgia or old technology.  The public is more open to innovation than the supplier.  People are not married to the old ways, they’ll embrace new ideas even if not every innovation triumphs.
3. Success breeds complacency.  All most innovation in the motorcycle business is by the independents or custom shops doing it outside of the system.  To say you need a major motorcycle company to triumph is to say plastic cork suppliers can’t win unless they align with real cork suppliers in Portugal, who after all are fluent in distribution and have pre-existing relationships with wineries.  But, the plastic cork guys went it alone.
4. Efficiencies and price. We’re not talking virtual here, corks are physical whether real or plastic.  The future is lower priced motorcycles and the cycle time for new models can’t be like harvesting cork from a tree every 9-to-10 years.  The fundamental measurement of lean manufacturing is cycle time.  It doesn’t matter how many “Kaizen” events or “six sigma” projects a company holds. Cycle time is to lean what weight is to a dieter.  You can get all the bean counters to measure inches lost or reductions in calorie intake, but at the end of the day the bottom line is determined when you step on the scales.
5. Multiple answers. There is always more than one answer which can take hold.  Screw caps are triumphant ‘down under’ in Australia and New Zealand.  Who will develop the next “screw cap” for the motorcycle industry?

The point is not to be weighted down by your presuppositions.  Don’t think that you’re operating in a world of immutable laws.  And to realize that trying to hold back the future is a losing proposition.  The only way to maintain your share is to improve what you’ve got. Concentrate research dollars on fewer models, pack them with the latest features and technologies, manufacture them in low-cost, U.S. factories (non-union?) and update them relentlessly on rapid fire engineering design cycles.

Schematic photo taken at H-D Museum; Keith Wandell photo courtesy of Tom Lynn/JSOnline.

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MV Augusta Twists The Throttle

I landed on the Discovery channel the other night and watched a rare look inside the MV Augusta factory, where they built the F4-312. 

You may recall Harley-Davidson acquired MV Augusta last year for $108M which was previously blogged HERE.

At any rate, I’ve watched the ‘Twist The Throttle‘ documentary series in the past, but MV Augusta was one story I had not viewed on the world’s most famous sport motorcycling brand.  The series reviews various brands (Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Ducati, Bimota, BMW and Alpinestars) histories, what happens behind the scenes at their factories, inside their research and development centers and ultimately what it’s like to ride the machines on some of the great motorcycle roads and race tracks around the world.  The series is available on the Discovery Turbo website.

For example I learned it takes 11 hours to build the F4 engine and 4.5 hours to build just one motorcycle.  It was also interesting to hear several of the on camera interviews evangelized the lack of any hard-core time-based manufacturing processes… huh?  Isn’t MV a motorcycle manufacture?  Watching the story you couldn’t help but think a bottle of red wine followed each motorcycle down the assembly line like a cocktail soiree and when it’s done, it’s done.  No rush…we’re artists!  Wow, the Italian build process seemed opposite and very casual compared to the Milwaukee plant tour I attended last year.

DADS Simulation

In fact, Harley-Davidson uses advanced engineering and simulation tools to compress design cycles as well as other tools to reduce the overall manufacturing process time.  For example the application DADS from CADSI (now part of LMS of Coralville, IA) is used for full 3-D prototyping and to simulate the handling of the motorcycle during a lane change, j-turn or weave maneuvers.   For a company that produces 12 different parts made of 4615 material with complex profiles of 20-42 teeth and robots measuring parts baskets with door-to-door cycle time of 11.3 seconds and overall grind times of 56 seconds…I find it astonishing that MV Augusta/H-D exec’s would go on camera pontificating the merits of the aristocratic craftsmen — “no motorcycle before it’s time” philosophy.

Is it time to exchange the Girard-Perreguax watch for a Timex and bring on the accountant dawgs to rehabilitate the long lunch wine drinking staff?

Photo courtesy LMS and H-D.

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Street Vibrations Trip – Day 2

I was up early on day 2 and stood for a moment in the motel doorway, contemplating the Road King as though it were some postmodernist sculpture in the sunrise. Its gleaming chrome “big twin” engine, pipes, polished black-on-black fenders, beach bars and seven-inch headlight is nirvana in terms of form and function. I suspect the low grade headache has more to do with the tequila shots from the El Aguila Real restaurant the previous night than the crappy pillow.  It was time for some caffeine.

The rest of the crew was stirring and we headed across the street to the Tall Town Café & Bakery for some melt-n-your-mouth handmade cinnamon rolls.  Even from the outside you can tell this ‘Ol School bakery means business and the eggs with home-made biscuits and gravy were perfect for the short 250 mile ride into Reno.

After breakfast we brought the eight bikes to life in the motel parking lot and the neighbors likely wondered when was the quiet possession of their homes revoked?  The sound makes your heart beat a little faster and we shake, rattled and rolled down the US 395 trail.

The road encourages a relaxed pace and many of the trappings of modern travel are just not on this road.  Like the Doobie Brothers song “Clear as the Driven Snow“… “I keep rolling, and rolling, and I can’t stop, and I can’t stop…” there are no big box stores, no chain motels, no fast food chain restaurants and a couple hand painted billboards.  In fact at the Oregon – California border in New Pine Creek there is a shop called “Just Stuff“.  I’ve never seen a customer parked there in all my years riding to Reno, but it’s still there!  And near by the Goose Lake State Park is a large shallow lake that straddles the state line area and it’s so remote reservations are not necessary.

We cruised thru Alturas, Likely, Ravendale and Litchfield.  There is a running joke in this part of the country that the GNP is your choice of rocks, junipers, or sagebrush.  Not much happening in the high desert, but I did learn that the WNBA basketball player Kayte Christensen attended elementary school in Likely.  How unlikely! 

At Standish we filled up and chatted a bit with some High Desert State Prison guards making a shift change at the high-security, lethal electrified perimeter fence prison. We skirted Honey Lake, avoid speeding tickets and rolled into Reno by mid-afternoon.

The crew unloaded and enjoyed all that Reno and Street Vibrations could offer up in the form of some refreshments.  A couple of the “sig others” arrived in town and we had an awesome dinner in a local Italian joint called La Strada.

Next up is the Virginia City, Kit-Kat and Carson City tours.

Read more about the Street Vibrations trip at Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and Day 5.

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Go Italian

MV Agusta - 1078RR

You’re an executive at Harley-Davidson.  Gas prices are up, rally attendance is down, product costs are increasing, product sales are in free-fall, you’re customer demographic is aging, the economy is stalled and the housing bubble prevents people from fun-filled-equity-financing.

You dig deep into the Harvard Business School memories and determine what to do?  Buy an Italian motorcycle company (MV Agusta Group) for $108M of course!  WTF?  Harley completed the acquisition of MV Agusta in July,  but until recently I couldn’t wrap my head around this or understand the complimentary connection to the beer drinking Milwaukee company vs. the high-flying invitation-only cocktail soiree that MV Agusta typically entertains.

MV Agusta Factory - Varese, Italy

But, I get it now!   It’s about wine and Harley execs jet setting to Milan for private VIP parties to swap race stories with makers of high-end Italian brands in what can only be described as a marketing orgy to portray the ultimate in luxury and style.

Let’s break it down.  Fly into Varese on a direct international flight and land in northern Italy…about an hour from Milan.  Grab a room at the Palace Grand Hotel and catch a glance out the window to see a spectacular view of Lake Varese below.  The Palace Grand Hotel was built on top of a hill overlooking the town and lake below. Built over 100 years ago the structure is magnificent, and also happened to be owned by Claudio Castiglioni who was once president of Cagiva and MV Agusta.

MV Agusta is the Italian national symbol of motorcycling prestige and technology, and represents the ultimate in terms of engineering.  They must have held candlelight vigils after hearing about the Harley merger?   I learned the secret to this merger is the approximately 195 wineries located near the factory!  The Corso di Porta Ticinese is a popular place for young people to hang out and is home to many notable churches.  During the day the Harley execs can do long lunches drinking world-class wine and then visit the many boutiques, ateliers, craftsmen workshops and when the sun goes down the canal area transforms into a colorful nightlife where the Milwaukee “jetsetters” hang-out to be seen in the various clubs.

In my view this acquisition is a train wreck.  The concepts of cross-engineering or having a modern product that is consistent with an aristocratic past…is like walking around with a Girard-Perreguax watch, Trussardi jacket and camo-print cargo shorts that show off cotton white socks in tan nubuck boots.  This unusual sense of cool as a “Trussardi-wearing hipster” will not inject soul into the Harley brand or bring about positive word-of-mouth buzz for either party.  There is significant engineering/product overlap with Buell and someone needs to rehabilitate the overexposed, wine drinking executive staff.

This is a magazine shoot – not real life.

 

Photo courtesy of MV Agusta web site.

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