Harley Aims V-Rod at Young Riders

Harley-Davidson Motor Co., the Milwaukee-based maker of motorcycles with outlaw appeal, is taking aim with a new line of bikes at the younger, more technology-conscious buyers wooed by Japan’s motorcycle makers.

The Harley, to be introduced at the company’s annual dealers meeting in Los Angeles on Monday, uses a derivative of a high-tech, liquid-cooled twin-cylinder racing engine developed by Harley and Germany’s Porsche Engineering for the Superbike race series.

Called the V-Rod, the chrome, aluminum and steel bike is the first in what Harley officials say will be an entire line of “performance custom motorcycles.” Harley last introduced a line--the Buell--a decade ago.

The company “recognizes that its traditional customer base is aging and that it has got to start competing for a younger audience, an audience that’s now on the upper end of the Japanese motorcycle market,” said Don Brown, an Irvine-based motorcycle industry analyst. “This is a major departure for them.”

The V-Rod, expected to be priced at $16,995, will cost almost two-thirds more than most of the bigger Japanese cruiser and performance motorcycles.

Harley long has been the uncontested market leader in big cruiser bikes and even without the V-Rod is expected to capture a 62% share this year--about 100,000 sales--Brown said.

But the company is aiming at a market niche that so far has eluded it--well-to-do 35- to 44-year-old motorcycle enthusiasts who can afford an expensive model but who have never been attracted to the traditional low-tech Harley-Davidson with its air-cooled motor and harsh suspension.

There are about 22 million males in that age group, and about 50,000 are considered potential motorcycle buyers. So far, they’ve bought Japanese bikes such as the Yamaha Road Star Warrior and Honda VTX and Gold Wing models, or European performance bikes from BMW and Italy’s Ducati.

The V-Rod doesn’t look much like a traditional Harley nor much like the typical Japanese cruiser that borrowed heavily from Harley-Davidson and Indian motorcycle styling.

“This is Harley’s first motorcycle that doesn’t cater to its traditional customer base” of over-45 enthusiasts, Brown said. “It is Harley’s best shot to date at broadening its customer base.”

But the company will have to introduce more models in the V-Rod line at lower and lower prices to be truly competitive. “You can buy a really, really good machine from a Japanese manufacturer for about half the price,” Brown said.

Harley-Davidson’s second-quarter profit, announced Wednesday, beat Wall Street forecasts with net income up 27% to $115.6 million. Harley stock closed at $49.75, up $3.46, on the New York Stock Exchange.