Originally Posted By: Propflux01
If you review your HD/AMF history, AMF wanted a way out of HD. AMF HD's were junk, no doubt about that at all. In Fact, EVERYTHING AMF made was junk, from bicycles to Bowling equipment, however it was those who wanted the HD of yesteryear that took control of HD from AMF and made it what it is today. HD never made a MC to compete with a crotch rocket (a new type bike in the early 80's)and never made one to compete with the inline 4's that the big Japanese 4 were making. It was the METRICS that decided to emulate and copy the 'cruiser' style that HD had already been building. And for the touring models, HD already had the Electra glide out years before the big 4 realized that folks were buying Vetter fairings for their bikes for the touring folk. it was only then that Honda produced the GW, with the other 3 soon to follow.
Also, if you remember, Honda's advertisement was "You meet the nicest people on a Honda". How is that advertising and its related success and different than HD's advertisements of a 'bad boy' image that you so deplore?
AS for competition, ANY product that has competition will strive to remain on top. Japanese cars did this to the big 3 American motor companies. Metrics continually strive to surpass HD in their products. But as sales and opinions have determined, they still have not done it, and how many years has the Japanese 4 been producing V-Twin cruisers? Hmmm...
Hey! my AMF Sunfish was a great sailboat.
That being said, there is a huge variance in quality among the small sailboats from AMF.
To be fair, Kawasaki introduced the KZ900 LTD before Harley Davidson released the Low Rider. Both had pullback bars and stepped seats. They were the first "cruisers". Emulating what owners and customizers had been doing. Kawasaki beat Harley Davidson to it.
No argument on the Electra Glide. How many years were the Gold Wings naked before they got a factory fairing? Harley may have been the innovator there. I don't think BMW had an RT model until the late '70s.
No way a stock 1208cc Shovelhead is going to outrun a stock 903cc Z1
My point was that the '80s metric cruisers were very good mechanically. Better than the Harley Davidsons. They were an odd looking lot but they were good machines.