[muslims=borg]

What a shame. Are people really that Harley obsessed that Indian couldn't stay afloat? I figured if anyone could have competed with H-D it would have been Indian.

[Peace will be here soon]

"Are people really that Harley obsessed that Indian couldn't stay afloat?"

---

Yes ! They are !

[JoeSixPack1]

They were competing just fine. Dealers were opening all across the country with gusto.

The problem was financial mismanagement from the top. Not competition.

IOW they just blew it.

[Argus]

If California's casino tribes are smart, they'll buy the company.

[Revolting cat!]

So all those Indians on H1B visas are going home to Bombay?

[Bonaparte]

"...if anyone could have competed with H-D it would have been..."

The Vincent

[r9etb]

Are people really that Harley obsessed that Indian couldn't stay afloat?

Well, they sold 3500 bikes to dealers last year. If you figure they got about $10k per bike, that works out to earnings of about $100k per each of the 380 employees they laid off. Considering salaries, floor space, equipment, etc., they were clearly losing money.

[Duke809]

Before it was Indian, it was Calfornia Motorcycle Company

My bud owns one of the first Indian dealers in the PA/NJ/DE area. According to him, one of the main problems with the Iron Redskin is that you can't use HD/HD Clone aftermarket parts, even though the original bikes had 88 cube S&S motors and Andrews tranny's

Stuff like brackets, seats, pegs, floorbards and that stuff was drilled a quarter inch off standard, so you had to go through a Indian dealer to get any kind of stuff like that. That turned a lot of would be buyers off.

The new Chief, with the 100 cube proprietary motor is a piece of junk. The motor itself doesn't have the power of a 88 cube Twinkie motor, and it isn't even as reliable as a well built Shovelhead. I've rode the Chief and it is uncomfortable, handles like crap and sounds like it is going to blow up at any minute, kinda like a Iron Sporty. Your're looking at 25 grand plus for a Chief. If you really wanted one, for that kind of money, you could get a real Indian, one with a flathead, 3 speed, left hand throttle and right hand spark advance. Matter of fact, my bud has a 47 Chief in the showroom, semi-restored and running. The owner will take 20 grand for it. He still has a 2001 Chief with 40 miles or so on it and he can't give it away.

Fortunately for him, he is the third largest Big Dog dealer in the US and he can't keep the bikes on the floor.

His shop is the Chrome Palace in Cherry Hill NJ, and his website is The Chrome Palace

[Hank Rearden]

Yeah, too bad. As a Harley owner, I like to see competition for them.

Their "new direction" will no doubt be T-shirt and fake-biker leather jacket catalogs.

[jonefab]

Native American, I mean Indian

[biblewonk]

It's the name, it's too un-american. And there is no way to take share away from Harley unless you offer a really nice v twin for half the money.

[chemicalman]

Shame they going out of business. Really liked the T3 Specil Edition they have. Too much money for something I'd like to ride everyday.