2023-04-16 13:35:00
I don’t need anyone in a Harley-Davidson. I don’t recognize anyone in Harley-Davidson anymore. I press the choke. And here I am leaving the earth. Maybe I’ll go to Heaven.” Immortalized at…full blast by Brigitte Bardot to highly suggestive music and lyrics by Serge Gainsbourg, the famous Yankee motorcycle with feminine curves entered legend at breakneck speed.
In free exhaust the beast rumbles like an old trawl. These two cylinders placed at 45°, forming a “V”, and this, since the very first motorcycle, are in fact that the pistons do not operate at equal intervals. They generate a sound that aficionados compare to the hooves of a horse on cobblestones, or, more colorfully, they nickname it “potato-potato”.
It has become such an element of identity that the Milwaukee brand tried to patent it in 1996. The competition tried to imitate, but never equalled. Like Honda, attacked by Harley at the time on this ground. Alas, the American company lost its case.
The collective unconscious
The sound is still a real brand asset. Harley is all the more aware of this today that he has gone electric.
But let’s go back. To this image well anchored in the collective unconscious of the mechanical knight all dressed in leather, legs outstretched and elbows raised, the posterior well wedged in his bowl seat, taking on a distant and formidable air at the same time. It’s the tattooed, scarified type, with piercings, big bacchantes, half-sphere helmet and aviator goggles.
Whatever the social origins, pronounced belly (due to overconsumption of beer) or steel abs rolling under the jersey, these studded knights strive to stick, to merge, to be one with their motorbike.
Starting with the great Marlon Brando in The wild team which popularizes the image of the “rebel” in black perfecto and white T-shirt. Metaphor of good and evil. We are in 1953. At the same time, Elvis will not be long in rushing to “Supercycle”, in Memphis, to afford his rock-machine. Without knowing it, The King, banana in the wind, would become the brand’s most prestigious ambassador!
How the “Harley Myth” Was Born
Johnny on the handlebars
Sixteen years later, for the needs of “Easy Rider”, Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson take up the torch. Or the handlebars, it’s up to you!
And still a few years later, which rode, the rounded torso, Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator II ? Yes… a powerful “Fat boy” from HD. Fat boy who also collects George Clooney.
In France, Johnny Hallyday will advertise the famous bike for free (!). Remember David Lanskythis detective series broadcast in 1988, and which in its time, gave us chills – not to say vibrations!
This same Johnny that we will find a summer later on the handlebars of the cult gun during his ultra-mediatized crossing of the United States with a group of unshaven friends. Except Adeline of course. The girlfriend at the time…
You had to see him, the Belgian-French cowboy, weather-beaten skin, blue eyes that never left the road, ring in his ear, bandanas around his neck, wick, jeans ready to give up the ghost and genuine crocodile cowboy boots proudly draw the “freeways” and other “Interstates”.
Women, an essential driver of growth
In 2004, it was Amélie Mauresmo, the tenniswoman, who rode the machine by declaring: “With the money I won, I bought myself a Harley”. The powerful sports car on the most expensive of the “kilometer devourers”. Quite a symbol.
Gone are the days when these ladies remained confined to the rank of mere passengers. Nicknamed “backpacks” or “accessory” for ages, women have even become an essential growth driver for the brand! For them, the range has also expanded considerably. From the Sportster, spartan but renowned for its accelerations in an infernal din, to the V-Rod via the disconcerting VRSC, the sensual Dyna Glide, the enduring Touring, and the sublime Softail, the best-selling in the United States, very popular for trips across the country.
It must be said that the machine trails behind it are a lot of stainless clichés. This motorcycle is the concentrate of the history of the American Way of life, the great outdoors, freedom, life in Levi’s, jukeboxes, gleaming bar counters, Coke, cans of Budweiser and the corpses of Jack Daniel’s. This motorcycle is above all the story of a country without a past which, for a long time, will seek one.
A global fan club, the “Harley Owners Group”
Still, the great find to retain Harley-women are the accessories. Between 25 and 50% of the price of their large displacement. A way to make their beast unique. While male customers bet on mechanical transformations, ladies bet more often on aesthetics. For the bike, but also for itself. For that matter. As proof: HD branded thongs have never sold so well.
The other brilliant idea that the new leaders of Harley-Davidson had was to create a world club of fans, the famous HOG (Harley Owners Group), a perfect company to combine the house spirit: the individuality celebrated within the community. At a very steady pace; the HOG and its international offshoots thus organize gigantic fiestas – with grilled merguez sausages, flowing beer, hardcore concerts, pretty girls and sometimes tattooed gentlemen fidgeting in leather thongs and studded on customized tanks. All the paraphernalia to get off to a quick start…
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