🏍️ Harley-Davidson: Tattoo’d on 700,000 Biceps | 46

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Jack, if you absolutely just had to have a brand logo tattooed on your body, what would it be?

Where would it be?

A tattoo.

Answered like a guy who doesn't have any, I gotta point out.

Brand tattoo.

I thought you would do calf tat.

Yeah.

You were gonna get Ben on one calf and Jerry on the other calf.

And like together, it's like a Ben and Jerry situation on both legs.

That would be on point.

It would work.

It would work.

What about you, dude?

Oh, you mean, if I did, but I already did, Jack.

Would you do?

You ready?

One sec.

I just gotta, I just gotta take off my shirt.

What do you

all right?

What do you see on this left bicep?

That's the logo of this podcast.

Yeah, it is.

The best idea yet.

Yeah, yeah.

She struggled with the font at first, and I'm not going to lie.

There were some tears involved, but

the show is going to last forever.

She said this thing will, too.

Wait, is that real?

It is.

Oh, my goodness.

I know.

And Jack, you know what?

It was a two-for-one special that day.

So there's another surprise I got coming at you later in the episode.

Yetis, did you know that one of the most tattooed logos in history is not this podcast?

It's Harley Davidson.

That's right.

An estimated 700,000 of those tattoos worldwide.

Today's subject signifies freedom, rebellion, and life on the open road more than any other.

It's the dawn of a new era at Harley-Davidson.

Together we dream, and united,

we ride.

Harley Davidson, the nearly $3 billion publicly traded motorcycle company with an attitude that screams, you can look, but you can't touch.

Don't you dare.

It's one of the rare products to hit all five five senses.

From the sound of thunder to the heat of that chassis to the taste of freedom.

Harley even tried to trademark the sound of its engine.

And of all the viral products we've covered on this show so far, none carry as deep a brand commitment as the Harley.

For what other brand would you drop 25K, strap on some other chaps in 100 degree heat, and just sit on it all day long?

Riders are as loyal to the Screaming Eagle logo as they are to their own mothers.

Jack, how about the motorcycle clubs?

You got the Mongols, the Warlocks, and the Hell's Angels, each of them operating like little fiefdoms with deeper backstories than Game of Thrones.

Beyond the bike, beyond the community, you buy a Harley for the tension-packed values it stands for.

It's part machine, but it's part art.

Open roads, but closed clubs.

Rebellion from the rules, but strict rules around the brand.

Harley hates posers, and yet it sells over $200 million of merch every year.

But it didn't start out that way, did it, my friend?

In this episode, we'll hear how the founders, three Davidson Brothers and one Harley, got inspired by a vaudeville show to strap a motor to a bicycle.

And we'll tell you why the best brand insights don't come from the focus groups, they come from the fringes.

Will Gen Z's hips ever hug a Harley?

Who knows?

We call it the Midlife Crisis Strategy, and we'll tell you if it's working.

Oh, and don't worry, by the way, by the end of this episode, you'll know your shovel head from your knucklehead.

Nick, I'm gonna go put on my custom chaps, but it's nothing compared to your tattoo.

Yeah, I gotta put my shirt back on, Jack, and I think I gotta ice this thing.

It's pretty fresh.

Yetis, here is why Harley-Davidson is the best idea yet.

From Wondery and T-Boy, I'm Nick Martell, and I'm Jack Kravici Kramer.

And this is the best idea yet.

The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with, and the bold risk takers who made them go viral.

What if I told you that the crime of the century is happening right now?

From coast to coast, people are fleeing flames, wind, and water.

Nature is telling us, I can't take this anymore.

These are the stories we need to be telling about our changing planet.

Stories of scams, murders, and cover-ups, and the things we're doing to either protect the Earth or destroy it.

This is Lawless Planet.

Follow Lawless Planet on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts.

It's your man, Nick Cannon.

I'm here to bring you my new podcast, Nick Cannon at Night.

Every week, I'm bringing out some of my celebrity friends and the best experts in the business to answer your most intimate relationship questions.

So don't be shy.

Join the conversation and head over to YouTube to watch Nick Cannon at Night or subscribe on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcast.

Laughter, cheers, and loud ragtime tunes ring out from a marquee-lit theater on a cold Wisconsin night in Milwaukee.

On stage, a chorus line of dancers parts, a curtain opens, and out bursts the star of the show, the flamboyant Broadway star, Anna Held.

She's dressed in a large-brimmed hat, a feather boa, with an oversized peacock tail strapped right to her back.

But she's upstaged by the very thing that's transporting her across the stage: a bizarre tricycle with a puttering engine.

The audience laughs, the show moves on, but two guys in the back row are transfixed.

Because while everyone else saw a punchline on wheels, these guys saw the future of freedom and the open road.

It's 1901 and these two men are William S.

Harley and Arthur Davidson.

They're both 20 years old and they grew up on the same street in Milwaukee and they're both obsessed with bicycles.

They also both work at the same manufacturing company.

Will Harley is a draftsman drawing up designs for mechanical parts and Art Davidson is a pattern maker building molds for casting metal components.

So Jack, our two buddies leave the theater, throw their legs over their bicycles, and face the long, cold, wobbly ride home.

And as they do, they just can't stop talking about that motorized tricycle from the show.

They've just never seen anything like it before.

And then Will hits the brakes, skits to a stop, and he says,

we should build one.

But instead of three wheels, it should have two.

A motorized bicycle.

At this time, in 1901, transportation in America is transforming.

Railroads are crisscrossing the country.

The Wright brothers over in Ohio fits bicycles by day so they can build the first airplane by night.

And up in Detroit, Henry Ford is hard at work on what will be his first mass market transportation machine.

Yeah, basically the horse is getting disrupted.

So when it comes to ways of getting from A to B, invention is in the air.

And now, Will and Art have caught the black.

Now, there are already a handful of factories making motorized bicycles or motor cycles in the United States, but they're underpowered.

The engine is more like an add-on.

You still need to pedal, especially uphill.

Willinar wants something faster, more reliable, and simply put, enjoyable.

So they start building their own machine from scratch.

These two 20-year-olds have a shoestring budget, so they improvise.

They even use a recycled tomato can for the carburetor.

Carburetors are the engine chambers where gas and air mix together.

You don't need to be a mechanic to know that using a tin can is a, how would you put it, a non-standard modification.

Technically, their motor runs, but barely.

Like every other motorcycle out there, this bike cannot get uphills.

So to get any further, Art and Will need help.

Luckily, Art knows just the person, his brother, Walter.

Walter Davidson's been working on the railroad all the live-long day.

He's a machinist and he's out in Kansas building precision parts for locomotives.

He also happens to be a self-taught electrician and he used to race bicycles.

Walter has exactly the skills that Art and Will need.

So when Walter comes home for a family visit, he follows Will and Art into the backyard for the big unveil.

Art cranks the pedals and the engine sputters to life.

To Art, this is his beautiful bait.

But to Walter, well, Walter just rolls his eyes.

Look at this weak little Frankenbike held together with pipe dreams and tin cans.

But then Walter takes a closer look at the design drawings and he whips out a pencil.

He goes, eh, maybe we lose the whole tomato can.

And that 116cc sized motor?

Yeah, let's triple that.

You want it to go uphills, right?

We got to add power.

So within a few weeks, they get a version two.

It's bigger, it's stronger, and it's got way more soul.

Now, there's only one way to see if it all works together.

Someone has got to take this puppy for a test drive.

Now we should point out that homemade engine is a few loose bolts away from being a homemade explosive device, but that doesn't worry Walter.

He hops on the bike and takes off down a rutted path.

Will and Art wait anxiously, half expecting to hear a huge crash.

But after a few minutes, the throaty chug of the engine, their engine, it breaks the silence.

The bike is still in one piece, and Walter is still in the saddle, grinning like a madman.

Reality check, the bike isn't moving up much more than a jogging pace, but it's fast enough to give Walt a rush of excitement.

Walter pulls up, heart pounding, eyes wild.

He turns to his brother and he says, we gotta add more power.

Arthur just shakes his head.

Too dangerous, too loud.

But Walter just smiles wider.

That's exactly what this thing needs.

Soon, another Davidson brother, also called William, pitches in to help.

And for anyone keeping track, we've now got three Davidsons, Art, Walt, and William, and one Harley.

Also, William.

And at the moment, just one bike.

That's it.

But they're just getting started.

In 1903, Harley and the Davidsons build just three motorcycles.

That's it.

But they do make their first sale to a local resident.

It's not huge, but it's a start.

They're officially a business, no longer amateur tinkerers.

By 1906, they build 50 bikes

and move into a proper factory in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which is still Harley-Davidson HQ to this day.

And as they grow, they keep refining.

They build custom frames strong enough to hold the growing motors, which are gaining horsepower with each and every iteration.

And new ignitions mean starting the engines gets easier each and every time.

By 1908, they produce 450 bikes a year and hit two big milestones.

First, a Chicago man named Carl H.

Lang establishes the first Harley-Davidson dealership.

And this is a big deal because of what he does at the dealership.

He sets up a motorcycle club for his customers.

The idea is to get together to cruise around the city, go off on weekend trips, and bond over the bikes.

This is the birth of the Harley-Davidson community.

And it's basically the heart of the company's success for the next century.

Now, the second milestone of 1908 is a race that Walter Davidson enters.

It's a grueling 170 mile endurance run all the way from the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York down through the city and then you hang a left and go all the way around Long Island.

The upper part of this course winds through mountainous terrain that one reporter called the most strenuous test of motorcycles which has ever been made.

But that little machine takes every bump, every climb, every mile, and it wins.

And with this win,

Davidson goes from regional curiosity to national fame.

But 1908 also brings a challenge.

A major challenge.

Yeah.

Because remember how Henry Ford had been working hard on his own project up in Detroit?

Well, 1908 is the year that he launches the Model T automobile.

And America falls hard for full wheels.

The Model T is marketed as safe, comfortable, family-friendly.

Meanwhile, a motorcycle kind of looks like a death wish with handlebars and no room for a kiddo.

And I think it's the reason my mom made my dad sell his Harley right before I was born.

My mom made my dad sell his bike right after I was born, too.

Are you kidding?

Either way, Harley and the Davidsons need a new angle because of competition from the Model T.

They need a new message for a new kind of rider because if they don't shift gears soon, they're going to crash and burn.

Today's show is brought to you by Amazon Small Business.

Nick and I are obsessed with this hot, crispy chili oil called Boon.

Yeah, it's great.

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It's your man, Nick Cannon, and I'm here to bring you my new podcast, Nick Cannon at Night.

I've heard y'all been needing some advice in the love department.

So who better to help than yours truly?

Nah, I'm serious.

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A dozen riders cling to the screaming bikes as they whip around bends so steep they're nearly vertical.

The circular track they're racing on isn't made from asphalt, but entirely out of a million wooden boards, which is why it's known as a toothpick track.

But it has another more sinister nickname.

Welcome to the murder drone.

The murder drone.

Technically, it's actually called the motor drone, but after a few too many fatal crashes, including spectators being taken out by flying bikes, the nickname, oh, it sticks.

After a few laps, you're dodging oil slicks, flaming bike racks, and fallen riders.

The daredevils who raced in the murder drone were total lunatics.

And also, absolute legends of their age.

And Harley-Davidson has its very own team competing, competing, which they call the Wrecking Crew.

I mean, Jack, this reminds me of the strategy that we'll see from Ferrari a couple decades later.

Compete in popular sports to win the love and respect of fans before parlaying that fame into marketability and consumer sales.

And Harley's latest bike, the Model 7D, is dominating the murder drone.

Every win boosts Harley's reputation, like Maximus Decimus Buridius crushing skulls in the Coliseum.

Are you not entertained by that torque?

And every engineering breakthrough made to survive these brutal tracks helps make harley's tougher faster and better built than ever we call this r d and m research and development and marketing introduced in 1911 this 7d bike is faster than any harley davidson before topping out at around 60 miles per hour.

Now, you may not be impressed by that top speed by today's standards, but keep in mind, the Model T car was only going 45 miles per hour tops.

At Harley's speed boost, it's thanks to a major new innovation, a new, more powerful V-Twin two-cylinder engine.

It's called a V-Twin because the cylinders are arranged in a V-shape, and twin because there are two cylinders.

And one of the hallmarks of a V-Twin engine is that classic deep throaty throttle sound that makes you think of a Harley Davidson.

Rebellious Type fell in love with the Harley from their performance at the murder drums and the powerful roar of the V-Twin engine.

It's this moment that the modern Harley brand identity really takes form.

And Harley prices this 7D bike at $300, around $10,000 in today's money, or just about what you'd spend on the cheapest Harley model in 2025.

And Harley's manufacturing 5,000 of them in this very first year.

By 1912, there are over 200 Harley dealers in the U.S.

But Nick, guess who was one of the biggest and earliest and most surprising bulk buyers of motorcycles?

Who was it?

Who was it?

Police departments.

Because with more motorists on the road, there's more traffic violations, and motorbikes have the speed and nimbleness to dodge traffic and pursue perps.

Jack, no better customer than one with a fresh annual budget.

In 1917, the U.S.

enters World War I, and companies brace for impact.

And as you've heard from previous episodes of this show, World War I means means materials will be rationed, factories will be repurposed, and civilian sales could dry up.

Harley Davidson sees something else.

They see opportunity.

Because if they can convince the Army that motorcycles belong on the battlefield, then maybe Harley Davidson could actually come out stronger on the other side.

Somewhere in northern France, a U.S.

Army scout blasts across a crater battlefield on an olive-green olive-green Army-issue motorcycle.

Suddenly, from the tree line ahead comes the flash of enemy gunfire.

The scout's training instantly kicks in.

He pulls his bike into an extreme slide.

He's basically executing a controlled fall to the ground.

As the bullets continue to zing around him, he pulls out a grenade, pulls out the pin, and lobs it toward the tree line.

The explosion throws up a screen of earth and rocks, an improvised smokescreen.

The scout then leaps back onto his bike, guns the engine, and speeds right back toward the friendly lines to deliver his intel on the enemy's position.

His bike is one of the more than 20,000 that Harley-Davidson supplies to the U.S.

Army for use in World War I.

If we suppose $300 per bike, that would be $6 million in cycle sales for Harley to the U.S.

Army, worth more than $150 million in today's money.

That'll more than just keep you in business.

That'll transform you into a freedom-fighting brand.

Yeah, just ask Jeep.

But bikes aren't the only thing that Harley-Davidson lends to the war effort.

Harley offers to provide free maintenance training for all the military mechanics.

Here's what Harley-Davidson is thinking.

All of those soldiers who get trained up on riding and repairing Harley-Davidson bikes, they're going to come home as loyal Harley-Davidson riders.

Because once you've ridden a Harley through the literal hell of war and back, you are loyal to that machine.

So Harley-Davidson offers free education to the U.S.

Army to train mechanics to help win the war.

But this is the key.

Harley is also indoctrinating that first generation of hardcore Harley fans.

During World War I, the company also launches The Enthusiast, a magazine for service members overseas.

Part tech tips, part home front updates, part emotional lifeline.

Harley just jumped into the media industry like the condey nast of horsepower.

And it's working.

It's building a community, Jack.

Soldiers start riding in from the front lines, sharing stories of their trusty Harley-Davidsons and their plans to hit the open road when they can return home from the war and see their wives.

And when the war ends, Harley-Davidson is ready to welcome them with open saddlebags.

And we see it in the numbers.

By 1920, Harley-Davidson is building around 30,000 bikes a year and selling through more than 2,000 dealerships in 67 different countries.

As the roaring 20s roar, Harley-Davidson makes a strategic shift.

It starts to consider aesthetics in addition to performance.

They streamline the body and add their now iconic teardrop-shaped gas tank.

For the first time, Harley doesn't just care about how it rides, but how it looks doing it.

Fashion is catching up to function.

Add it all up, and by the late 1920s, Harley-Davidson is the biggest motorcycle maker in the world.

Harley has created, dominated and run away with an entirely new industry, beloved by veterans, embraced by cops and stylish enough to make a dance and flapper do a double take.

When the Great Depression hits, William Harley doesn't want to hunker down.

In fact, he wants to double down on Harley-Davidson's growing image for speed, style, and attitude.

So he sets his engineering team to work on something audacious, an all-new model that will define the look, sound, and the soul of Harley-Davidson for generations.

The sand of Daytona Beach isn't your typical Florida suns-out, guns-out beach scene with bottles of Hawaiian Tropic.

This Atlantic Ocean sand is empty and packed hard.

The sky's wide open and the tide is out.

And that roar you hear, it isn't the ocean.

It's motorcycle racing champion Joe Petrolli gunning his Harley-Davidson along the beach.

The crowd leans forward as Joe rockets past in a blur.

The speedometer on his bike clocks 80, 90, 100.

When Joe Petrolli flies across the finish line, he clocks 136 miles per hour.

It is a new land speed record set in 1937 and it will stand for the next 11 years.

For Joe, it's a career high.

For Harley-Davidson, it's the kind of publicity that money can't buy.

The bike Joe's riding is a modified version of the newest Harley-Davidson called the Model EL, better known by its nickname, the Knucklehead, because of how the pistons on the top of the engine make it look like a clenched fist.

This machine, it has a new frame, a new engine, and it's double the horsepower of anything they've made before.

In fact, every one of the huge Harley Cruisers traces its DNA right back to the Knucklehead on this beach in Florida.

The record-breaking run by Joe Petralli gets people talking about Harley-Davidson like it's the fifth Kardashian.

Totally.

And those conversations kickstart sales.

And just in time, because a few years later, the world goes to war again.

Three of the four original founders are gone and only Art Davidson is left.

But by this point, Harley-Davidson is a major manufacturer with the capability to build more than 88,000 motorcycles for American troops and their allies.

And just like in world war one harley davidson trains u.s army mechanics to keep the bikes running so when tens of thousands of harley riding gis come home from the second world war the trust harley earned on the battlefields translates to loyalty in the marketplace and those veterans put what they learned in the field into practice on their new rides to make them their own they modify the frames they chop off parts and they add new ones to achieve a unique look this is exactly where the word chopper comes from, like chopped down bikes that were built to go faster and look more badass.

You can also spawn countless custom reality shows like American Chopper filling up the entire Discovery Channel lineup.

Now, some of Harley Davidson's engineers can't stand seeing customers chopping up their carefully designed bikes, but there's one person who thinks this is awesome.

And he's not even on the payroll, Nick.

He's actually still in high school.

Jack, are you talking about Willie G.

Davidson?

Willie G.

Yeah, the grandson of co-founder William Davidson.

Okay, we've lost count of how many Williams and Davidsons are involved now.

So like I said, let's just call this guy Willie G.

And Jack, when young Willie G sees these wild homemade choppers out in the world, he gets it.

To him, these aren't scrap heap monstrosities.

They're love letters by some of the most devoted Harley riders out there.

And these riders are forming clubs where they ride, swap stories, and live out the freedom they fought for overseas.

That original idea to foster a community around Harley-Davidson, we are seeing it right here in full bloom.

Unfortunately, though, it's about to produce some bad seeds.

In 1947, the American Motorcyclist Association hosts a rally in Hollister, California.

It's a quiet little town an hour and a half south of San Francisco, so this should be a chill weekend for motorcycle enthusiasts to meet up and trade some road stories.

Except over 4,000 bikers show up.

They drink, they party, they race, and they repeat.

By the time the dust settles, the town looks like it's been hit by a leather tornado.

The newspapers call it the Hollister Riot, and America starts taking on a new impression of bikers as lawless hooligans.

Eight months later, the Hell's Angels are officially founded in California, and it becomes the world's most powerful, decentralized fraternity in history.

A lot of them are ex-military, and they even take their name from a World War II Air Force bombing unit, Hell's Angels.

With that shared veteran background, they build their own code.

Brotherhood, loyalty, no rules but their own.

Hollywood takes notice.

In 1953, Marlon Brando stars in The Wild One as a brooding anti-hero in a leather jacket slouched on a motorcycle.

Elvis Presley spends his first big paycheck on buying a Harley-Davidson.

Young men across America and beyond, they start dreaming of the open road, the wind, and the attitude because of what they're seeing on the screen.

In 1969, Easy Rider hits theaters, following a pair of rebels with Harley Choppers on a cross-country counter-culture odyssey.

All of these movies cement Harley's image as the ride of the outlaw.

It is great for street cred, but get this, this, it's actually not great for sales.

For every kid dreaming of rebellion and driving a Harley, there's a parent crossing Harley off the shopping list.

Meanwhile, there's also a new challenge that is roaring down the road: cheaper, faster, smoother bikes built in Japan.

Harley's got to step it up or they'll be left in the dust.

How hard is it to kill a planet?

Maybe all it takes is a little drilling, some mining, and a whole lot of carbon pumped into the atmosphere.

When you see what's left, it starts to look like a crime scene.

Are we really safe?

Is our water safe?

You destroyed our town.

And crimes like that, they don't just happen.

We call things accidents.

There is no accident.

This was 100%

preventable.

They're the result of choices by people.

Ruthless oil tycoons, corrupt politicians, even organized crime.

These are the stories we need to be telling about our changing planet.

Stories of scams, murders, and cover-ups that are about us and the things we're doing to either protect the Earth or destroy it.

Follow Lawless Planet on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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On Boxing Day 2018, 20-year-old Joy Morgan was last seen at her church, Israel United in Christ, or IUIC.

I just went on my Snapchat and I just see her face plastered everywhere.

This is the missing sister, the true story of a woman betrayed by those she trusted most.

IUIC is my family and like the best family that I've ever had.

But IUIC isn't like most churches.

This is a devilish cult.

You know when you get that feeling like you just, I don't want to be here.

I want to get out.

It's like that feeling of, like, I want to go hang out.

I'm Charlie Brentcoast Cuff, and after years of investigating Joy's case, I need to know what really happened to Joy.

Binge all episodes of The Missing Sister exclusively and ad-free right now on Wondery Plus.

Start your free trial of Wondery Plus on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or in the Wondery app.

Grab a lucky strike and a shot at Jim Beam because by the 1960s, the Harley outlaw image is at full throttle.

But Jack, where does that leave the good folks whose idea of rebellion is wearing Birkenstocks instead of biker boots to the office?

The reality is that some people just want a cheaper way to get to work,

especially with traffic clogging up city streets.

With the rise of the car in the suburbs, the commute has become a noun in America and not a fun one.

And that's the gap Japanese bike maker Honda sees.

Now, Honda's only been making motorbikes for like 20 years at this point.

So Harley, yeah, they got a head start.

But in terms of sales, Honda's been yanking on the accelerator.

In fact, they've overtaken Harley as the world's biggest motorbike manufacturer.

When Honda arrives in America in 1959, motorbike sales in the U.S.

are around 60,000, while sales in Japan are more like 600,000.

So Honda has locked in the Asian market, and now they're gunning for the U.S.

And Honda takes a counterintuitive approach in this new country that prioritizes size, America.

Bigger, maybe isn't better.

Honda bikes, they're way smaller, they're way cheaper, and they're way more reliable than Harley's.

And Honda capitalizes on this in their marketing.

Because while Harley is selling grit, danger, and size, Honda is selling selling the opposite image, simple, safe, and small.

Suddenly, motorcycles aren't for outlaws and non-conformists.

They're for college kids and commuters.

In 1960, Honda sells around 3,000 motorbikes in the U.S., but by 1969, they're selling more than 300,000 per year.

Okay, how about our buddies over at Harley?

They're selling just 27,000.

Harley is getting outsold 10 to one by Honda, and they become financially desperate.

So in 1969, Harley Harley accepts a buyout from AMF, the American Machine and Foundry Company.

AMF is the company famous for making bowling balls and bowling pins.

You may have played in one of their bowling spots.

And once they're in control of Harley, AMF tries streamlining the company with layoffs, cost cuts, and assembly line speedups.

Classic private equity moves.

Quality falls into the gutter and Harley-Davidson gets a bad reputation, even among its diehard fans.

But before you give up on Harley, in the middle of all of this, one person still believes Willie G.

Davidson.

Willie G?

The last time we saw him, he was graduating high school and heading off to college.

Well, now Willie G is back at the family firm and he's got full bike.

This guy's got the bandana, the beard, and the chaps.

Oh, and even though the company has been taken over by AMF, Willie G is still a vice president overseeing design.

Now, Willie G wants Harley Davidson to lean into its chopper culture.

To him, that represents the true essence of Harley-Davidson.

Rebellion, self-reliance, individualism, something that the company has just lost along the way.

So Willie G pitches something radical.

What if Harley-Davidson builds custom-style bikes straight from the Harley factory?

Okay.

Instead of making customers chop up their Harleys, let's chop them up for them.

It's the bike equivalent of pre-torn jeans.

Yeah, it worked for Levi's.

May as well work for Harley.

So in 1971, Harley-Davidson rolls out the Super Glyde.

The Super Glyde.

Later, they come out with the Lowrider.

These bikes are sleeker, leaner, meaner, straight from the Outlaw Playbook.

Willie is helping Harley reclaim its soul.

But there is another problem.

Oh boy.

These bikes look apart, but they're still plagued with quality issues thanks to AMF's obsession with cost cuts.

So behind the scenes, Willie G is frustrated.

And by 1981, the company that built its name on Grit and Guts is just weeks away from shutting its doors forever.

Jack, our boy Willie G, he just can't take it anymore.

So he gets together with 12 senior executives, people who share his love for the company, the bikes, and the image his family built.

And they take a huge gamble that they're the ones who can turn it around.

So in 1981, they buy the company back from AMF for 80 million bucks, getting most of the money from loans.

So this, this is a classic leveraged buyout.

And with Willie G in the saddle, they try to shift the battlefield.

Instead of trying to out-engineer the Japanese, Harley doubles down on what they are selling.

Identity.

As their new slogan puts it, American by birth, rebel by choice.

Instead of turning into the competition, they opt to be the biggest version and loudest version of themselves as possible.

And they make some other strategic moves too.

They actually pull back on the number of bikes they produce to focus on the quality issues, but it's a struggle.

You see, they got 70 million bucks in debt from the buyout.

The country is in a recession.

And just one year in the early 80s, they rack up losses of more than $50 million.

That's going to break your tailpipe right there.

So to get out of the hole, they go public on the New York Stock Exchange under the best ticker symbol yet that they still have today.

Oh, this is so good.

H-O-G-Hog.

But Willie G knows that it's not just about the financials.

To make Harley-Davidson truly roar again, it needs to tap into its tribe.

So in 1983, he launches the Harley Owners Group, H-O-G Hog, turning loyal customers into a two-wheeled army of brand ambassadors.

And then 1990 comes around.

Do you know what that means, Nick?

Actually, Jack, I can't remember.

We were just two years old.

Good point.

The 90s are when the first baby boomers, our parents, hit middle age.

Interesting.

And with that age, the midlife crisis checks out.

So when Arnold Schwarzenegger rides a Harley down the LA River in Terminator 2, it's like a siren call to the tens of thousands of boomers, including both of our fathers, and sales spike.

The bikes are iconic again, loud, proud, and back in style.

Harley-Davidson was saved by Midlife Crisis Marketing.

While the brand was going through its own midlife crisis, so were your parents.

Perfect timing.

And we see it in the numbers.

By 1996, demand is so high, there's an 18-month wait list for some models.

Willie G and his team, they've turned around a dying brand by making it mean something again.

In fact, this one detail says it all.

The company gets so confident, they actually try to trademark their engine sound.

Potato, potato, potato, potato, potato.

Although they dropped the attempt when competitors argued that their engines were equally loud and rumbling.

We cover Harley-Davidson's stock on our daily show, The Best One Yet, especially when Harley reports quarterly earnings.

And for five of the last 10 years, sales shrank.

Yeah, interestingly, the brand has doubled down on boomers, but those retirees have been hanging up their helmets, literally and figuratively.

As one former Harley-Davidson exec put it, Nick, what we sell is the ability for a 43-year-old accountant to dress in black leather, ride through small towns, and have people be afraid of him.

I can't believe he actually said that.

That is so honest.

It hurts.

And while doubling down on boomers, Harley has basically ignored millennials.

And that is part of the recent struggles.

The bikes are still big, loud, and built like tanks, but they come with a price tag to match.

Harley can start at around $22,000 for a cruising model.

Compare that to the $12,000 for a Triumph or just $8,500 for a Honda.

And if you're a 30-year-old expecting a family, that high-end Harley cruiser, that's going to cost you more than a Ford SUV.

And it doesn't have much space for your diaper runs.

But Nick, while the bike side has been struggling recently, the brand has become so powerful, Harley is mining it like gold.

Get this, in 2022, Harley sold $270 million of merch and gear.

We're talking jackets and tops, tumblers and koozies.

If you can stick a Screaming Eagle logo on it in orange, Harley's selling it for green.

And the margins on merch, by the way, are better than on bikes.

Great point.

That $45 Harley Davidson hat is a profit puppy.

And to sprinkle on a little more context here, that merch division of Harley, it is bigger than Brandy Melville and all birds.

So yeah, maybe you aren't in the market for a full hog yet, but you'll probably buy that tank top.

But maybe Harley is thinking at an even higher level than any of us even realize.

You look at Harley ignoring millennials and you you think that might be a strategic mistake.

But maybe Harley just knows that one day you're going to turn into your parents.

You're going to mow your lawn, fly down to Florida and have a little midlife crisis of your own.

I mean, Jack, you used to make fun of your dad's new balance sneakers.

Look what you got on your feet right now.

Yeah.

So when you're ready, Harley will be ready for you too.

This is the graybeard strategy, though it applies to the non-bearded as well.

You see, Harley doesn't have to bother selling cheap bikes to 28-year-olds or going viral on TikTok to please Gen Z because once you hit the age of 45, something just clicks.

And what you really crave is an open road and a leather outfit.

Maybe even a brand tattoo for that full crisis package.

And that feeling is what Harley is really selling.

So Jack, now that you've heard the story of Harley-Davidson and we've both mentally prepared for our pending midlife crisis while podcasting on a couple of roadhogs, what is your takeaway?

Don't fear the fringe, embrace it.

In the 1960s, 1970s, Harley's purists hated the chopper movement.

Riders were stripping down bikes, chopping off parts, welding on new ones, and Frankensteining together wild machines that looked nothing like what came off the factory floor.

Inside the company, a lot of engineers saw that as an insult.

But Willie G saw riders who were so passionate, they couldn't wait to put their own spin on the brand.

So that's when he came up with the factory customs that looked like garage-built choppers, but they came with a Harley logo and a Harley reliable warranty.

That move to embrace the choppers turned Harley around.

The fringe of the Harley community showed the future of the brand.

Don't fear the fringe, embrace it.

What about you, Nick?

What's your takeaway?

Education is the best investment you can make from both sides of the coin.

Harley sold a ton of bikes to the U.S.

military during both world wars.

The key was that Harley tossed in free maintenance and repair training.

You see, that was a huge investment that paid big dividends.

Why?

Well, when Harley trained thousands of U.S.

service members on the ins and outs of their motorcycles, it turned them into evangelists of the brand.

Plus, the bikes used in that war were operating better thanks to Harley's investment in repair education.

The result was that thousands of Americans who fought in those wars came home with an image of Harley, not just as part of the war effort, but as reliable machines.

And it was those servicemen who became customers for Harley during peacetime.

We're all told that you should invest in your education.

We've heard that a million times from our parents.

But now we're seeing it from the other side of the coin.

Companies can invest in educating their potential customers because that pays dividends too in future sales.

Okay, Jack, before we go, it is time for our absolute favorite part of the show, the best facts yet.

These are the hero stats the facts and the surprises that we discovered in our research but couldn't fit in the story all right jack for the first fact i've been dying to know this where does the term hog for harley davidson actually come from one of the stars of harley's early racing team the wrecking crew was a guy named ray weishar nicknamed the kansas cyclone But the real crowd pleaser was his pet piglet, Johnny.

Because after every win in the murder drone, Ray would scoop up Johnny, plop him on the gas tank, and take him for a victory lap.

And then they would reward Johnny, the little piglet, by letting him guzzle a can of soda.

Johnny the pig became the team's mascot and the origin for Harley-Davidson's nickname, Hog.

It's kind of adorable.

Sounds like a little circus act.

All right, I got another one for you.

Here we go.

In our research, we actually came across a whole bunch of weird and, I want to say, wonderful Harley-Davidson side businesses.

Like, did you know that at one point, Harley-Davidson made snowmobiles and golf carts and even wine?

But Jack, our favorite part has to be that 1990s line of Harley perfumes with scents including territory, black fire, but unsurprisingly, they bombed.

Turns out people who are happy to have the Harley logo as a permanent tattoo, they're not dabbing Oda Harley behind their ears.

Yeah, oh, speaking of tattoos, Jack, remember I told you I got the two-for-one deal on the on the bicep tat?

Yeah.

Okay.

What's the other?

Oh, well, it's on my back.

You ready ready for this?

One sec.

Yes.

What is this, a tramp stamp?

Don't pause the pod.

One sec, it's almost ready.

This one's still wet.

All right.

We're going to have to keep this PG, Nick.

This is a family show.

And that is why Harley-Davidson is the best idea yet.

Coming up on the next episode of The Best Idea Yet, how a bankrupt Baltimore baseball team was transported to New York City to become the most dominant and most divisive brand in sports history.

From Pinstripes to PowerPlace, we're stepping up to the plate with the story of the Yankees.

And don't forget to rate and review the show.

Jack and I love reading all your reviews.

And five stars, that actually helps us grow the pod in the rankings.

And tap to follow the show so you can get the best idea yet every single Tuesday.

Follow the best idea yet on the Wondery app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.

The best idea yet is a production of Wondery, hosted by me, Nick Martel, and me, Jack Kurvici-Kramer.

Our senior producers are Matt Beagle and Chris Gauthier.

Peter Arcuni is our additional senior producer.

Our senior managing producer is Nick Ryan, and Taylor Sniffin is our managing producer.

Our producer is H.

Conley.

Research by Brent Corson.

This episode was written and produced by Adam Skeus.

We use many sources in our research, including the Discovery Channel miniseries, Harley and the Davidsons.

Sound design and mixing by C.J.

Drummeler.

Fact-checking by Brian Pocknin.

Music supervision by Scott Velazquez and Jolena Garcia for Freeson Sync.

Our theme song is Got That Feeling Again by Blackalack.

Executive Producers for Nick and Jack Studios are me, Nick Martel, and me, Jack Ravici-Kramer.

Executive producers for Wondery are Jenny Lauer-Beckman, Aaron O'Flaherty, and Marshall Louie.

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