HD Nova

[PGK]

it all sounds well and good except for the liquid cooled part.

and the "Harley Davidson" part

[hate]
Interesting to note that the primary opposition came from Willie G. Davidson, the bloke who brought us the commercial success story that was the XLCR. Could it have 'saved' HD? Maybe. Could it have turned them into a technology player? Certainly not. It's another example of HD being 10-20 years behind the curve in every aspect of technology.

In the article the Nova is presented as part of a ten-year plan for HD, which would have put the Nova 10-15 years behind the rising tide of high-tech Japanese machines that started with the CB750. By the late 1970's water cooling was nothing new to the Japanese. Fuel injection wasn't but a few years off. Not to mention, if the Nova had been produced, it most likely would have been much more expensive than a comparable Japanese bike--purchase price and service cost was a big reason that people bought UJM's over Harleys, irrespective of performance.

Even today, Harley has only recently made ABS an option on certain models (HD has equipped police bikes with ABS), more than 20 years after it first hit the motorcycle market. It's only been in the last 10 years, under tightening emissions standards, that HD has made fuel-injection available across its lineup. In fact, they were so steadfast in their use of carburetors that California models received such a drastically different state of tune that put them up to 20 horsepower down on 49 state models. The company is a technological joke, their engineers are accountants in lab coats with a copy of ms paint and a ruler, they only implement technology they can coat in chrome and sell as a Screamin' Eagle accessory item.

I think the simple truth is that HD never had a chance of introducing the Nova, the fact that it made it so far into prototyping and testing is a miracle. People who bought HD's, then as now, didn't want technology, they wanted chrome and they wanted to buy 'murican. And the people who bought UJM's, then as now, wanted reliability as much as they wanted to escape the stigma that came from owning an American motorcycle. They wanted/want something fast, high-tech and with a racing pedigree, not to mention something that was/is blindingly fast and agile. Which, to be fair, the Nova was not. It was a boulevard cruiser and a touring bike, with all of the chrome of the shovelheads and ironheads of its day, just with a more complicated motor. The modular motor idea was ahead of its time perhaps, but Triumph has shown that a multi-cylinder modular motor is a recipe for disaster, or at least lackluster performance.

At best, the Nova would have proven to be a disaster for HD, putting it way in the hole and not helping them gain any major market share, while at the same time alienating their customer base.
[/hate]

But they sure did make a shit ton of money in the last 30 years. Once they freed themselves from the shackles of AMF, they proceeded to cash in on their image, their history, and the very fact that they were 'murican and would chrome anything made of metal and even some things that weren't, and later on would put the HD logo and brand on anything that would sell, from cookie jars to ladies undergarments. The Nova was an interesting footnote, but really, who gives a shit about technology when you can spend the better part of 30 years selling the same garbage for more than MSRP (In most HD dealers, employee discount is MSRP, not dealer cost plus as would be expected). Not only that, but while you're at it, why not trot out some early 1920's technology in the form of the springer front end and sell it for more than the comparatively advanced crude telescopic forked models. Yes, HD has made a killing, so really, who cares about technology? They have shown that you really don't need it to make money.