. . . it will be hard after they have resisted change for so long.
Harley thinks that they can shape what American motorcycling should be, based on their image of what they wish it were.
One of the things they should not think it should be is the purview of well-to-do people (and those who will do anything for the privilege.)
Unfortunately they operate as if they didn't know.
This is not what motorcycling is about, and certainly not in the face of economic hard times.
When Harley decided to get into the less-expensive markets they used foreign manufacturers and just rebadged their products.
What Harley should have done is what every American car manufacturer has done.
They sell a whole lot of inexpensive models in order to offer the attractive luxury models to the upper market. The economies of mass marketing would not otherwise allow such a limited number of Fine Cars to be built at any kind of a reasonable price.
If instead of trying to engineer the V-Rod to be the Porsche of V-Twin motorcycles, Harley-Davidson should have taken a socially-responsible stance of producing the American Motorcycle version of the 2CV.
An adaptable inexpensive reliable utilitarian vehicle which is Affordable to the masses and with engineering that outclasses anything else available.
Instead HD was blinded by their ego and wasted of ton of money trying to improve the engineering of a physically encumbered century-old design, that the customers of that bike didn't really want changed at all.
The glory of Harley-Davidson is that you could mix and match so many parts from so many years because it didn't change much. People love that!
That design was already serving a Market it was designed for quite well, and the only thing Harley needed to do to improve the v twins was to build them more efficiently.