Did my usual run through Wrigleyville during my jog last night and can't believe I didn't notice this sooner. Opening at the corner of Sheffield and Addison in the monstrosity across from Wrigley is a Harley Davidson showroom!

Hey, don't criticize. Don't you realize the Ricketts' INVESTED IN THE COMMUNITY!

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

America's statement of "If you can't bring the Cubs to Rosemont, bring Rosemont to the Cubs," has never been truer.

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incorrect attribution

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Maybe it was America's sig then. That is definitely a gd line, and I should have done better.

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This is all about HD, not the Ricketts or Wrigleyville gentrification.

The motorcycle industry as a whole (new bike sales, which HD controls over 50% of) has been freefalling the last 3 years. Pretty difficult to make younger generation working folk aware of bikes when your dealers are off in the suburbs.

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Seems like a HD showroom is 15 years too late.

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Elections have consequences.

None of this younger generation in Wrigleyville is anywhere near Harley's target market. It's probably a ploy to sell bikes to drunk suburban dad's walking out after a game at Wrigley.

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Guys with big beards and tons of tattoos used to ride Harley's. Now they ride electric scooters.

Or MacFM

that's the whole point...I might understand HD's motivation just a little bit here. Yes...it is 20 years too late, but this is not an HD problem. Every motorcycle manufacturer is feeling it. The entire new bike market has been freefalling the last 3 years.

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I think younger guys like those really fast cafe style Harley’s. Ducati?

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Elections have consequences.

They're gonna make a killing on T-Shirt sales alone.

When I was overseas, I had buddies back home begging for Harley Tees from foreign soil.

Harley shirts from iconic places are a hot ticket.

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"This is Chicago, my friend. Anything can happen."

That’s true. They are like souvenir spoons to biker types.

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Elections have consequences.

It may be many years late, but those fast bikes are coming. You guys described the traditional HD customer....the store in Wrigleyville is about getting newer bikes in front of a new audience....huge investment in creating new riders with an understanding that they are very different from the traditional customer.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonfogel ... 850dc4721f

https://www.harley-davidson.com/us/en/m ... icles.html

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there won't be one person under 45 who willingly walks into the place. maybe some young people from antioch or kenosha but they're 15-20 years behind the times there so it makes sense.

Can't argue with you....way late on this one, but doing nothing is also not an option. The fact is, the market itself has shrunk and that's not stopping. HD is investing in building new riders that's the only way to solve it....get new people into motorcycling. It's a long-term answer and will take years. There are a ton of motorcycles within the city limits of Chicago and there isn't a single dealership selling motorcycles. My experience has been that those who live in the city, tend to not leave...the world comes to them....no dealership means no one seeing the bikes. This is attempt to solve that one small aspect of the problem.

There are other problems / challenges and other things being done to address it. My point in all of this is that this is H-D driving this with a very clear objective that has nothing to do with your traditional biker or your traditional Harley.

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Idk about you lot, but when I go up to Miller Park I always notice that Harley Davidson tower-showroom along the highway so this feels like the Brewersization of the Cubs! Next thing you know they're gonna have $1 "Kasper Seats" right next to a speaker in a corner of the ballpark. this way you can really feel the music like the beloved #BestInTheBiz Voice of the Cubs™®© does every year when he takes the stage at the Metro and puts the "Man" in "Renaissance Man."

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Keep on, keepin' on, sini....

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