Like a bunch of overweight middle aged guys riding around in their 'gang' with 5 other bald guys in leather vests is anything less than a hobby? I have no problem with Harleys if that's what you want to ride but please don't expect anyone to take you seriously about anything, they're just toys... 700lb 50hp toys. Harley really isn't anything more than a giant advertising firm who decided to make their own sub-standard product to advertise, and they did an awesome job of it. The only thing that really confuses me is if they managed to make such a massive image over something so behind on technology, I feel like they could've taken over the world with something like Buell, but there's too much personal bias within the company to want to do it with anything aside from a cruiser.
I would've thought that even if Harley didn't want to deal with the whole Buell line anymore, it wouldn't hurt them just to put out one model of the xb12s, badge it as a harley and put a couple shiney things on it. They already had all the tools to do it, and even if they didn't ever update the model, it still would've been more technologically advanced than any Harley cruiser that came out in the next 75 years. All they had to do was stop trying to compete with the rest of the sportbike market, and focus it towards the crowd that still likes harleys, but actually ride somewhere that it's useful to have a light nimble bike.
