Comments on: Ducati Considering Harley Davidson Merger?

By: Mike Rodgers

Mike Rodgers — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:21:55 +0000

I’ve been riding bikes for 36 years , Ducatis for the last four and don’t understand why Ducati and Harley would want to merge.

I have many friends that ride both brands but we never ride together, there is very little commonality there.The only thing they share is that they are both twins and one is a “V” , the other an “L”.

As to the comment that half the Ducati riders own Harleys I personnally don’t know any.

By: Frank R

Frank R — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 01:52:14 +0000

Interesting posts. My eighth bike, a Victory Vegas Jackpot, gets more looks and smokes any Harley. I am looking for an ST3 now for a weekend tripper. My Vegas is great for trips within a couple of hours. I loathe the idea of purchasing anything Japanese, so (Having an Italian Heritage anyway) the Ducati is logical for me.

I didn’t know of the possible merger with HD and the demise of the ST3. That seals it – I’ll grab a 2007 ST3.

BTW – I must agree with most posters. A Ducati/HD merger would only benefit HD (utilizing Ducati’s technology). The Ducati brand may suffer. Sure, I know of the business model – I’m a business man too. But bikes are not shoes, computers or even cars. They are bikes – the last vestige of freedom for many of us. The idea of two very divergent companies, philosophies, and brands merging would be bad.

I think of what happened when Compaq bought DEC. DEC had the ALPHA chip – arguably one of the best chips ever made – smoking any Intel or Motorola. Compaq discontinued it they killed a great technology.

I am afraid of just that again.

Frank

By: BiZ

BiZ — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 01:45:04 +0000

Some of you are missing the point. Harley would have access to more European dealerships. That means they get to sell more product. And Ducati would now have Harley’s huge buying power to buy their raw materials for them at a much cheaper cost. That means higher profit margins for Ducati. ‘Nuff said.

By: Sean

Sean — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 09:09:34 +0000

Perhaps the finished bike will look like this: http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/397/hdwhyglidetq8.jpg

Apologies for the poor photoshop, I’m off work and school with whiplash after a “Sorry mate, I didn’t see you!” incident with a VW, so I’m not entirely with it.

By: Chris Barber

Chris Barber — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 23:45:01 +0000

Perhaps it will look like this: http://home.earthlink.net/~desmohd/index.html

I’ll have this done in two weeks, I’m sorry my website is so out of date.