Sunday, September 4, 2016

Related imageIt is finally cooling down but the days are still long and beautiful. A great time for a ride with the wind on you in your Harley Davidson bike. A true American experience on a distinctly American bike. Not true. In Shanghai, China the ultra- rich are going wild on their weekend club adventures. People from all over the world love their Harleys because it invokes freedom and self-expression. American executives living in China love belonging to a Harley riding club because sitting  on the machine and riding  it makes you feel a little like home.
Play the song called Born to be Wild as you rev up that deep popping engine and you are good to go. Except in China they love the Terminator experience  grow the pony tails and wear the leather jackets with the Harley logo on back but at a price few can afford. A good ride is to depart east of Shanghai along China’s east coast and then head west to the Chinese countryside for about a 90 mile ride. The best part of riding is that each weekend you get to leave your e-mails and text mess ageing and just go. Not thinking about work could be priceless to most people that live anywhere but in China the Harley experience is expensive.
A dealership in China would probably only sell about 300 bikes per year. The big gasoline powered motorcycles are banned in 200 cities in China for a range of reasons including pollution concerns. I think they are just a bit Anti-American since they still have large polluting old factories everywhere. Then there is the $100,000 dollar price tag there. Import taxes triple the cost and then you still have to buy it and register the bike. Just the license plate in Shanghai can be $15,000 because the registrations are limited to a certain amount issued.  Something tells me the government there just doesn’t want to see too many of these on their roads. So, the bike goes into the you gotta be rich category of toys a big boy can have.
The thrill is worth it for all owners of a Harley Davidson bike owners in China.  So, get on your Harley this fall and make American roads roar with the sounds of good old American made bikes. 

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