Harley anniversary for US bikers
By Stephen Evans
BBC North America Business Correspondent
Leather-clad Easy Riders are descending on Milwaukee in the US, as the iconic motor-cycle maker, Harley-Davidson, celebrates its 100th anniversary
Depending on your point of view, the world's biggest gathering of men in mid-life crisis is about to get underway in Milwaukee.
Or it's a 100th birthday party for one of the great icons of America.
Or it's a celebration of the death-defying revival of a company once doomed to, literally, the scrap-heap.
In fact, it's probably all of these things.
There's no doubt the centenary of Harley-Davidson in its home town in Wisconsin will be a pageant of black leather and grey hair.
There will be thousands upon thousands of bikers clad in the classic Easy Rider bandana with wrap-around shades.
Packing a paunch
The leather jackets will also hide a fair acreage of paunch because the age of the average Harley-Davidson owner is 46, eight years older than the average rider of a Japanese or German bike.
It will be predominantly male, though the wave upon wave of chrome roaring back to the celebrations, with that unique "potato, potato, potato" throb from the v-shaped engines, will be peppered by some female riders.
By the early 1980s, it was about to go the way of many American manufacturing companies.
A failure to invest and innovate was pushing it into oblivion.
Quality was an issue.
It was saved by its strong brand loyalty plus good, old-fashioned protectionism against Japanese imports from President Ronald Reagan.
In 1981, 13 Harley executives bought the company they worked for.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3171859.stm
===================================
By Stephen Evans
BBC North America Business Correspondent
Leather-clad Easy Riders are descending on Milwaukee in the US, as the iconic motor-cycle maker, Harley-Davidson, celebrates its 100th anniversary
Depending on your point of view, the world's biggest gathering of men in mid-life crisis is about to get underway in Milwaukee.
Or it's a 100th birthday party for one of the great icons of America.
Or it's a celebration of the death-defying revival of a company once doomed to, literally, the scrap-heap.
In fact, it's probably all of these things.
There's no doubt the centenary of Harley-Davidson in its home town in Wisconsin will be a pageant of black leather and grey hair.
There will be thousands upon thousands of bikers clad in the classic Easy Rider bandana with wrap-around shades.
Packing a paunch
The leather jackets will also hide a fair acreage of paunch because the age of the average Harley-Davidson owner is 46, eight years older than the average rider of a Japanese or German bike.
It will be predominantly male, though the wave upon wave of chrome roaring back to the celebrations, with that unique "potato, potato, potato" throb from the v-shaped engines, will be peppered by some female riders.
By the early 1980s, it was about to go the way of many American manufacturing companies.
A failure to invest and innovate was pushing it into oblivion.
Quality was an issue.
It was saved by its strong brand loyalty plus good, old-fashioned protectionism against Japanese imports from President Ronald Reagan.
In 1981, 13 Harley executives bought the company they worked for.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3171859.stm
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