Is it April 1st already?

Say it ain't so..

I'm gonna ride my 860 tonight and blip the throttle at stop lights as a sign of solidarity and welcome to my newfound bretheren.

Going out to the garage right now to install some safety pipes.

Now what in in zombie jesus name....

Those dummies killed buell good. Why should they get another chance at sport bikes?

I wonder if HD could own Ducati and not berkeley them up?

I'm sure that this being even the remotest of possibilities has Ducati lovers furious.

Nick (Bo) Comstock wrote: I wonder if HD could own Ducati and not berkeley them up? I'm sure that this being even the remotest of possibilities has Ducati lovers furious.

I sure know that KTM fans were relieved when their potential acquisition by HD fell through.

Nick (Bo) Comstock wrote: I wonder if HD could own Ducati and not berkeley them up?

Nope

Look what they did to MV

"Less than two years after buying an Italian motorcycle manufacturer for $109 million, Harley-Davidson Inc. essentially paid the previous owners to take it back.

Harley recently returned MV Agusta to its Italian owners for 3 euros, or about $3.98, a company spokesman confirmed Monday."

Well, if HD is smart they would leave Ducati to do what they do best building sport/race bikes and just use them as an easy way to push HD into overseas market through Ducati network. Win-win if they do that. But you're most likely right, HD will ruin Ducati. Or scavenge Duc tech into HD which would ruin HD. Desmo-Harley anyone?

I won't sell my current Duc, but I won't be buying a new one from HD either.

They haven't learned a thing from buying back Aermacchi...er, MV Agusta.

Nick (Bo) Comstock wrote: I'm sure that this being even the remotest of possibilities has Ducati lovers furious.

I just think it's berkeleying stupid.

HD won't be able to leave well enough alone and will simply turn Ducati into a caricature of itself, just like they did with their own brand.

Looks like I'm gonna be a fag after all.

Just heard the deal was done. Everyone ready for their Ducaley-davidson?

Fake news.

In reply to Trans_Maro:

That's what Trump says too

I like this. The dealer network for Harley's around here is fantastic and the Ducati dealers are terrible and every stereotype about motorcycle dealers that you can imagine all rolled into one.

So the time to buy a Duc is after they start distributing through the HD dealership but before they re-engineer them, huh? I'm not a bike guy, but there are several Ducs that make me want to learn to ride.

wearymicrobe wrote: I like this. The dealer network for Harley's around here is fantastic and the Ducati dealers are terrible and every stereotype about motorcycle dealers that you can imagine all rolled into one.

Because HD dealers did such a good job selling Buell

Will this mean I can go into a HD "shop" and get a Ducati t-shirt, Ducati coffee mug, and a Ducati beer cooler?

Eh VW is currently having a brand fire sale to pay their fines. I'm not surprised HD snapped them up as there aren't too many buyers for a brand like that, unless it was purchased by an investment group. I'd argue HD is the better of the two in that case.

Ducati riders, when I lived in SoCal, were riding stereotypes. Even more so than the HD groups.

I can't wait to see the 400lb "Chrome Consultant" who smells like an ashtray, standing behind the counter, trying to pronounce "Desmosedici".

Nothing official yet, they're still in talks.

Perhaps this is what Nick was referring to: Fake news

Picked up by another real-ish website: Still fake.

I've heard rumours that Polaris is thinking about it as well but that's just the internet talking.

Polaris. Now that would be interesting.

Trans_Maro wrote: I've heard rumours that Polaris is thinking about it as well but that's just the internet talking.

Polaris has been making some acquisitions in the last few years (things like electric vehicles), but considering they're taking a big writeoff for closing down Victory motorcycles I can't imagine them spending 1.5 billion dollars on Ducati right now.

Exactly, I think it's just internet chatter.

The parent company of Royal Enfield was also considering the purchase a while back but things have gone quiet since the news from The Motor Company.