Seattle Motorcycle Unit Selects Harley-Davidson Electra Glide
The Pope blessed a couple of motorcycle tanks earlier in the month in prep for next years 110th Anniversary ride in Rome and now the Seattle Police department has selected a new ride.
Does it get any better for the motor company?!
As background, the primary duties of the Seattle Motorcycle Unit are traffic complaint enforcement, high congestion traffic control and enforcement, accident reduction enforcement, escorts, and special event traffic control.
Motorcycle officers are assigned to geographic districts throughout the city on a daily rotation. The use of traffic districts is intended to give the motorcycle officers a more thorough knowledge of the traffic problems in the varied City neighborhoods and to provide consistent traffic enforcement citywide.
There were five motorcycles evaluated by the unit: the Kawasaki Concours, the Honda ST1300PA, the Harley-Davidson Electra Glide, the Victory Commander and the Harley-Davidson Road King. Thirty-one officers helped narrow down the selection by riding each one of the five motorcycles for one week and evaluating them. The department chose to stay with Harley-Davidson, but switched from the Road King to the Electra Glide.
Analysts project that quarterly revenue for the motor company will fall 19% year-over-year and this new purchase can only help earnings.
Photo courtesy of Harley-Davidson, Electra Glide
My purchase of my Harley this year helped with HD’s earnings as well.
I’m glad that SPD chose to purchase HD motorcycles for their solo bike patrol unit. Not only does this keep HD people employed but all of the suppliers for their parts and components as well. There is also something about the sound and look of the Road King and Electra Glide that gives a very commanding presence which may be another reason for choosing HD.
Now, with that said, when is HD going to start making their apparel and accessories here in the US? Everything I’ve seen on the racks there are made in China or Indonesia. I was told, “It’s cheaper to make things there,” and if its is, why aren’t HD leathers cheaper? They’re certainly not passing the savings down to people like us. Well, more than it being cheap, I think HD purchases their apparel from overseas suppliers because the profit margins are higher. Sadly, it all comes down to the dollar and not how many jobs we create here at home in the US.