Why do Harley People pay too much for stuff?

True story. My friend owns a silk screen shop and was working on a quote for a customer. He had 2 separate quotes, one for any color shirt other then black and a more expensive quote for black. I asked why the black shirts were more expensive and he answered "Harley Davidson". As it happens, t-shirt suppliers charge more for black shirts because all of the official Harley merchandise is printed on black and they order a crap load of shirts per year. Kind of crazy how an entire apparel market is altered because of HD. Just goes to show how strong the brand is.
 
I used to be in a band and we did some merch w/ suppliers like that. I don't remember black being and more expensive than other colors. I do remember they would run out of black though... I mean, it is basically the uniform for metal/hardcore bands.
 
First I heard of it was a few months ago. Might be a recent thing. Might also only be certain brands.
 
djelliott said:
True story. My friend owns a silk screen shop and was working on a quote for a customer. He had 2 separate quotes, one for any color shirt other then black and a more expensive quote for black. I asked why the black shirts were more expensive and he answered "Harley Davidson". As it happens, t-shirt suppliers charge more for black shirts because all of the official Harley merchandise is printed on black and they order a crap load of shirts per year. Kind of crazy how an entire apparel market is altered because of HD. Just goes to show how strong the brand is.
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It's a lot harder to overprint solid colors on black. When I did it, I usually did two print strokes (print, flash cure, print again) with plastisol ink only. It also takes a lot more dye to make black textiles that don't look faded after the prewash. The HD demand may play a part in it, but really black is already the highest demand color for screen printing and embroidery, and it also happens to require the most work.
 
I can't hate on the Harley company, they are marketing geniuses, and after all they do the same stuff NBA does, appreciate product value by branding them.
It is just too bad that there isn't another brand that they have to compete with
 
djelliott said:
True story. My friend owns a silk screen shop and was working on a quote for a customer. He had 2 separate quotes, one for any color shirt other then black and a more expensive quote for black. I asked why the black shirts were more expensive and he answered "Harley Davidson". As it happens, t-shirt suppliers charge more for black shirts because all of the official Harley merchandise is printed on black and they order a crap load of shirts per year. Kind of crazy how an entire apparel market is altered because of HD. Just goes to show how strong the brand is.
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They're not the only ones. Everyday consumers like you and I have our choices made for us just because big corporations buy a certain way. There are around sixty varieties or potato (around the world) that are popular for consumption. Thanks to large consumers like McDonald's, large suppliers like Oreida only pay large farmers to grow three or four types. Unless you go to a farmer's market, you choices are usually limited to Russet, Yukon Gold, White, and Rose potatoes.

It happens everywhere, the people who spend the most money get the make the decisions for the rest of us.
 
I agree it is more the person not the bike. I'm not a fan of any Harley made in the last several decades but there are a few Harley riders who are very cool guys that ride harleys because it is the bike of their preference, not because of an image they are trying to portray. Which is what i believe is all many are worried about. I am a big fan of full on sportbikes (gxrs, r1's etc) and there are a lot of DA's who go out and buy a brand new liter size crotch rocket as their first bike because they think it will make them look/be cool. Bottom line is ride what you like and be true to yourself. Unless of course you really are just a jack ass, then I guess you should try to act like someone your not.
 
XR1200X is the first Harley in years I have said, I would like to own that bike. It is still too expensive for me but that bike is nice.
 
I rode an xr1200... It seemed nice, but I was riding it during one of those "demo days" so I was never actually able to hit the speed limit. Last year there was a promotion where they were selling brand new ones for $7,800. Not an awful deal, but still too much for me.
 
$7800? Where they from the previous model year? Because new 2012s are going for $11800. I have yet to pay more than $1200 for a bike, so needless to say, that's way out of my league. But $7800 makes it direct competition for a new Triumph Bonnie... and very tempting if I ever find myself earning twice what I make now. Unlikely as that may be...
 
Yeah, they were the left over year... the funny thing was they had used ones on the floor that cost more.
 
Yeah, they charge you more for the "Road Worn Look" :-). Same as distressed jeans and reliced guitars.

For people who want the been there done that look without actually having done so.

Chito said:
Yeah, they were the left over year... the funny thing was they had used ones on the floor that cost more.
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Sonreir said:
It happens everywhere, the people who spend the most money get the make the decisions for the rest of us.
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And truth be told, this premise is what makes 99% of us get out of bed and go to work in the morning.



But, I keep telling my wife that since I haven't made any decisions of those kinds of decisions, I just haven't spent enough! ...logging on to e-bay! ;D
 
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