Posted on 06/30/2018 12:20:58 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Edited on 06/30/2018 12:57:16 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Shortly following the dramatic announcement that Harley-Davidson is shifting some of its production overseas, its top domestic competitor is reminding us that its engines are built with American hands in the Heartland. Granted, Harley-Davidson builds engines in the U.S. too, but it seems like the timing of this video from Indian is hardly a coincidence.
The video below shows factory workers proudly doing their jobs at the Osceola, Wisconsin engine assembly plant. The plant recently built its 100,000th Indian Motorcycle engine and one worker expresses the “pride, craftsmanship, and honor” that goes into building every engine. Along with some testimonials, we get some cool footage of Indian bikes in action.
As we’ve clarified a few times now, Harley-Davidson motorcycles sold in the U.S. will still all be built in the U.S. The overseas manufacturing H-D is doing is only for bikes sold in foreign markets. That being said, Indian builds all of its bikes here at home with the bikes themselves being assembled in Spirit Lake, Iowa which gives many of its riders and employees a sense of pride.
However, Indian Motorcycle can get away with having all of its manufacturing here because it’s still a much smaller brand than Harley-Davidson and has less of an international presence.
H-D is still a very American brand, but with the recent news of outsourcing rubbing many of the bikemaker's loyalists the wrong way, Indian Motorcycle decided to give riders a friendly reminder of the brand’s commitment to American manufacturing. Die-hard Harley-Davidson fans might be looking at other options for American motorcycles and Indian will gladly sell them an alternative that riders might end up liking even more.
No. I will never fly any flag in front of my home besides an American flag, a Buckeye flag (RE my alma matter Ohio State), or one that honors our POWs.
What a ridiculous question.
That doesn’t change my point: American made is American made and creates American jobs. Don’t care about the associated corporate logo.
PS I should have included Victory motorcycles in my list. An oversight.
Dang it, I meant Triumph...
Well, from what I read, the bikes that will be sold in the US are still going to be built in the US. The bikes sold overseas will not be built overseas, instead of built in the US.
At least, that’s what I gathered from the article.
With all due respect (not mocking) to a fellow Freeper, just wrong: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marysville_Motorcycle_Plant
In June 2009, the Marysville Motorcycle Plant ceased production after almost 30 years, as Honda consolidated global production of specific large motorcycles at a new factory in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan.
I suppose I could have mentioned that in my earlier post to you. Anyway, I have nothing against Honda. They make great products. I currently have three Honda motorcycles and one Harley.
Don’t buy any cars then. They are all made from parts from around the world, and some are assembled here.
See my point?
It’s stupid to single out and hate on Harley Davidson.
Thanks for the update! I moved from Ohio about 10 years ago and apparently didn’t keep up. Mea Culpa!
“But can you make the Indian sound as obnoxious as a Harley?”
A “V” twin can be one of the nicest sounding man made noises there is. The trouble is that the “look at me” wants all the attention it can get even if it’s negative, so they run barely or completely unmuffled. I have a Ducati 900SS SP which is a 90° “V” (HD is 70°) so the cadence is slightly different. I have carbon fiber bodied mufflers that do a good job of keeping the sound at an acceptable level. Also, the exhaust is an ingenious two into one into two design that allows both cylinders to use both mufflers with no reversion. Even my wife, who cares nothing about motors, likes the sound. My touring bike is a BMW with the even firing boxer motor, in my opinion the best motorcycle engine ever built from a practical standpoint. Even with a nice aftermarket exhaust system it sounds about as sexy as the shop air compressor.
Yep. It’s a Harley thing.
Harley engines are 45 degree. (Except for the V-Rod, which has a 60 deg engine)
What makes Harley engines sound so unique compared to other twins is that the crankshafts are single pin. Most twins have staggered crank pins to fire cylinders evenly at 360 degrees apart. On a Harley, they fire at intervals of 315 degrees and 405 degrees.
Obviously Harley could make a staggered pin crank shaft. This is old tech to be sure. But it’s the sound. That’s why Honda started to copy the sound with their VTX1300 engine. They went backwards in tech to copy Harley.
Another Japanese manufacturer has topped producing overhead cams on big cruisers and went to overhead valve and pushrods to similarly copy Harley. Yamaha “Star” cruisers and their successors for example.
Thanks for the correction. I knew HD used a 45° V I just slipped. Aprilla uses a 70°. My Ducati is also a single throw crank, but the rods are side by side, not the HD “knife and fork” setup.
Well I just learned something today. I didn’t think you were correct with the single pin Ducati crank... but you were. So I looked at a picture of a Honda RC51 crank. I actually have one of those bikes. Never knew it had a single pin crank as well. Weird how smooth Ducatis and RC51s sound when they fire at 270 and 450 degree intervals.
The RC51 was a very nice and underrated bike. I don’t know sales numbers but they seem rare. How stock is yours? I would imagine they sound very good with the right exhaust.
Mechanically stock other than slip-ons. I think it’s rated at 125hp, which is more than I could handle.
Cosmetically, the original paint really hid the nice lines of the bike. Way too busy. So I had it painted Ferrari red.
Looks beautiful! I have the exact same opinion of the original paint but did not want to offend. What are the mufflers? They look like the GPR on my BMW.
Thanks! It wasn’t until I saw one online in a solid color that I seriously considered one. The 916/996/748’s that went by sounded sweet, but were too expensive. The RC51’s that went by sounded nice as well... but that hideous paint!
My slip-ons are Moriwaki’s. Definitely better than stock, but still a bit too quiet for my tastes.
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