Letter To Willie G., No.2

UP FRONT

Letter to Willie G., No.2

David Edwards

Willie G. Davidson Harley-Davidson \Motor Company Inc. 3700) W. Juneau Ave. Milwaukee, Wisconsin

DEAR WILLIE, LAST TIME I WROTE YOU via this column, it was about the need for an American-made sportbike. Three years later, your VRI000 Superbike stands ready to win and The Motor Company's money has helped rid Buell of its kitbike image,on the way to giving sport riders a legitimate V-Twin alternative to Ducati.

I claim no great soothsaying skills. But I do listen to what riders are saying, I read the letters they send to this maga ,ine and I monitor, in this age of the In formation Superhighway, what they're voicing on the online computer ser vices. You know what I hear these days?

The company that bears your name has some serious problems.

Oh, not with quality control or prod uct planning or anything like that. \o, it's more of an attitude problem.

Item: Harley-Davidson recently pe titioned the Federal Trade Commission to lift a 40-year-old ruling that pro hibits the company from forcing deal ers to sell only Fiarleys and authorized 1-larley parts and accessories. I know, I know. your lawyers claim this was merely "house cleaning," getting rid of sonic "old baggage." and that even if the petition is granted. current dealer contracts and state anti-trust laws will prohibit Harley from dictating what its dealers can and cannot sell.

Still, the overtones were ominous, es pecially since dealers were not notified beforehand (in fact, a quarter of them were out of the country on a companysponsored trip at the time of the filing). `I've always felt the factory has been fair to dealers," said Chuck Cooke, president of the Northern Cali fornia I larlev-Davidson Dealers' As sociation. "But this caught all of us off-guard. you'll find dealers all over the country who are upset about this. We're not sure what it means."

Item: A memo came across my desk last week from the United States Dcpartment of Commerce. Patent and Traden~ark Office, announcing that I larley-[[)av idson has filed for a trade mark on "the sound of applicant's mo torcycles. produced by V-Twin common crankpin motorcycle engines when the goods are in use."

Huh? I suppose I understand the need to trademark the words `I-Iog" and "Haw~" but the sound a motor makes? C'mon.

I also understand that once a trade mark is issued, there are legal con cerns. that a company has to be seen as protecting its "property." But there's some heavy-handedness at work here that frankly isn't very becoming. The editor of Enthusiast, your company's in-house organ. wonders in a recent column wh. after enforcing H-D's many trademarks. "we don't get to ride off on our Harleys into the sunset. In stead, we have to field calls and letters from customers who think we're really the bad guys."

A few paragraphs down, he unwit tingly answers his own question: "Once we become aware of trademark infringement, we must try to stop it. Always. Without a second thought. No exceptions. Really. Have I made my self clear on this point?" Crystal. Unfortunately.

That's why Harley-Davidson is threat ening small independent shops like the I log Farm in upstate New York with legal action. That's why Scooters. a biker-theme restaurant in Arizona pat terned after New York's Harley-David son Cafe. was forced to close down and alter its decor. That's why renowned artists are being hit with cease-and-de sist orders for including the H-D logo in their pieces-or being told they can't paintsculpt `unauthorized" images of Harley-Davidsons altogether.

Legally, you have the right to do these things. perhaps, but does that niake it right?

Item: The Faithful, a too-cute term we in the mainstream motorcycle press use to describe hard-core Harley types, are growing restless.

sure you've seen Iron Horse, the New York-based magazine that bills it self as `~Thc Voice of the Alternative Biker." Yes, it runs sleazy phone-sex ads and has all the production values of a bank holdup note, but you have to appreciate the passion these guys put onto the printed page.

Last year, the magazine started a `F1ip Your Patch" campaign, urging riders to sew their bar-and-shield jack et patches on upside-down as a signal that Harley-Davidson is in distress, losing touch with the riders who sup ported the company before the inva sion of the Rich Urban Biker.

"It's a shame that the image of the Harley-Davidson has been so diluted by its introduction into the American Pop Icon Hall of Fame," wrote Associ ate Editor Scott Wong in the June issue. `Harleys were definitely more meaningful when they were iconoclas tic, rather than canonized as icons."

Now, you may choose to discount the Horse as a radical-fringe rabblerouser out to sell more issues. Fine. your privilege. Maybe an incident that happened to a Virginia firefighter will hold some sway, though. I met him via the computer chat room on Crc/c Jior/il Online. He goes by FIREBIK ER as his screen name, lists his hob bies as "keeping my `52 Pan on the road, and my wife off my back," and says that "Ride hard or stay home" are good words to live by. Seems he re cently rode his cherished old Panhead to one of your newly redesigned deal erships. where he was summarily asked to not park out front-because his hike leaked oil! FIREBIKER says he may never again frequent a fran chised Harley shop. Can't say I blame him. Can you?

Some viI1 say that all this is inevitable. That Harley-Davidson, The Little \lotor Company That Could, has grown up and is now Big Business.

I would suggest that it `s further proof-as if any was needed-that not all Big Business is good business.