Wild Conjecture: Harley-Davidson Bronx 975

You’ve got to give The Motor Company credit. They are throwing tons of new models against the wall hoping something sticks. The Milwaukee Wrecking Crew is producing a slew of modern products, only one of them called the 975 Bronx.

To my admittedly untrained eye the engine looks similar to the new liquid-cooled V-twin used in Harley’s (also new) Pan American ADV bike. The Bronx will have less displacement but I’m sure it will still have enough power to unravel a man-bun at full throttle.

The Bronx styling is ok, kind of a standard-ish, street fighter thing. It looks good to me. The big pulley on the back wheel is probably for a belt drive. I guess I could do some Internet research and find out more hard facts about the Bronx but facts don’t matter, performance numbers don’t matter, and styling doesn’t matter with this effort.

What matters is Harley-Davison’s maybe-too-late arrival and the amount of money they are spending to play catch up in the broad, non-cruiser categories. There are so many market segments now: ADV-big, ADV-small, Scrambler, Streetfighter, Sport bike, Sport Tourer, Race replica and the list goes on.

I get that Harley is trying to outlast their dying customer base. It’s a smart thing to do but exactly how much cash do these guys have to burn? The Bronx is not available for a few years yet they have to have the equipment to build the thing, right?

I’m worried about H-D. I like to poke fun at them but I cheer on their to-date-futile attempt to make a competitive flat tracker out of the long and portly Street 750 engine. I don’t want to see Harley fail. Yet they keep cranking out new models nilly-willy, seemingly without asking anyone if it’s a good idea or waiting to see if any of them are going to be popular. At the rate they are going Harley will have their promised 100 new models done by next June.

Will Harley dealerships will be able to adapt to the flood of new technology being shipped to them from the factory? The customers for these new, modern bikes will be nothing like the old guys wanting a big Hog because they can finally afford it. Harley will be competing on price, performance and quality, three areas that they never had to concern themselves with in the past.

Throughout its history Harley-Davidson has always moved forward slowly, fearfully even.  Innovations like disc brakes or fuel injection take decades to become part of their story. It was almost comically conservative: The first liquid-cooled Hogs were only half liquid-cooled! This conservative approach has served them well: They sell a lot of motorcycles to guys who think like me. Any one of these new models would be a shock to H-D’s system: The Livewire, The V-Rod, the Streets both 500 and 750. When is the last time you’ve heard anything about the Street 500? Does H-D even make it anymore? It’s like they don’t have time to promote each new model and let it find some kind of stability in the marketplace.

I love that somebody at Harley is shoving stacks of chips onto the ever-contracting motorcycle industry crap table. It means that the humans are still in charge. I hope they have the money to sustain this betting strategy because H-D needs to win. They need to succeed. The motorcycle landscape would be a much duller place without those clumsy bastards barging around America’s roadways.

7 thoughts on “Wild Conjecture: Harley-Davidson Bronx 975”

  1. Let’s see, Harley introduced “The Street” to bring them into the 1980’s. Is this they attempt to break into the 1990’s?

  2. Good belly laugh this AM reading this! I’m sitting in mid Wisconsin, home of the hog and home to many loyalist HD riders. What I hear from my HD riding neighbor(s) is the total shock from the promised high resale has now sinking like a lead balloon.
    Just a take quick glance at the local Craig’s list MC for sale…over 50% HD I would say as high as 65% of the total bikes for sale. Price’s can be any where form $$$$ over book to “come and get it! The wife wants out! My loss is your gain”. With the amount of used inventory vs lack of interest in new models the boy’s at HD have their work cut out. Best of luck to them!

  3. I heard a lesson in “Harley” think. A few years ago my father-in-law owned a tricked out sportster. He wanted to get it serviced or some such and went to a private “Harley” shop. Folks there told him they didn’t work on “little” bikes. Kinda says it all. They really need (and I applaud their attempts) to change their “full dresser” / large road twin “exclusively” culture. It is certainly overdue IMHO. This bike looks cool sooooo….maybe? 😉

  4. Harley is in a tough spot. Their uber loyal, high brand value customer base is ageing out a lot like Cadillac’s did about 25 years ago. Cadillac has to some degree successfully reinvented themselves but it is very unlike what it once was and to the unhappiness of the traditional customer, Harley may have to do the same. If they can bring on the new models and still keep the older, traditional bikes that would be ideal but it remains to be seen if they can support both. But without a doubt, some change is coming.

  5. Their marketing was so strong. The rebel, loud pipe, bandana thing sold well. I’m stunned they can build such a modern, good looking bike. Now if they could price it around $8K…

  6. Great looking bike,,, except that radiator hanging out there. Too bad they couldn’t hide it underneath like they did on Nova project.

    Don’t see it being any where near $8k though. I’m guessing $12k-$13k

    “Unravel a man bun”.
    Ha, that’s great.

  7. Joe on another post you had talked about a 1974 Yamaha 350rd in purple. It would not allow me to comment on it so I thought I would comment here. I bought a house and included with the sell was everything on the property. In the garage hidden behind stuff was a purple Yamaha 350rd all original with only 00010.8 miles. I would have posted a picture in the comments if it would have let me.

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