BMW Motorrad is SO boring…

[TEWKS]

Every now and again I’ll get an email from BMW asking me to come down to the local dealership and marvel at the latest and greatest whale foreskin riding suit. Or, the ever exciting oil viscosity demonstration! 

 

Harley sends me this! 

 

[Rinkydink]

Yes, but they’ll make you wear ass-less chaps

[TEWKS]

Nope, there’s no way I could pull that off. 

[Hosstage]

Don'take me post a pic of me wearing them. Hint: they definitely take the emphasis off my face...

[Hosstage]

And I can attest to the party atmosphere that can happen at the HD dealers. One open house involved dollar beers, a tractor pull but with Harleys, and of course the ever popular impromptu burnouts across the parking lot. Just your typical Harley Saturday!

[fourteenfour]

my three closest Harley dealers, I think there may be seven or more in metro Atlanta, seem to always have something each month where there is free food and music going on.

 

my local BMW dealer does do cook outs and demo days and can get a respectable showing but the numbers are never near the same.

[Hosstage]

BMW Riders are about safety and atgatt and making good decisions. So I've heard...

Harley riders encourage bad decisions, which leads to a whole lot of fun and entertainment, and an occasional trip to hospital.

So worth it!

[TEWKS]

I will say this and obviously the numbers sway it this way but one warm day and who’s out riding around here? Harley riders! Gotta give them some cred for that. 

 

 

[roadscholar]

4 hours ago, fourteenfour said:

my three closest Harley dealers, I think there may be seven or more in metro Atlanta, seem to always have something each month where there is free food and music going on.

 

my local BMW dealer does do cook outs and demo days and can get a respectable showing but the numbers are never near the same.

 

Because Harley sells 10 times as many motorcycles in the US as BMW, 30% market share vs 3%.

 

 

[fourteenfour]

3 hours ago, Hosstage said:

BMW Riders are about safety and atgatt and making good decisions. So I've heard...

Harley riders encourage bad decisions, which leads to a whole lot of fun and entertainment, and an occasional trip to hospital.

So worth it!

 

Kind of like Protestant Heaven vs Catholic Heaven? 

 

1 hour ago, roadscholar said:

 

Because Harley sells 10 times as many motorcycles in the US as BMW, 30% market share vs 3%.

 

 

 

after seeing each brand try to compete in a market the other brand is successful in its easy to tell which brand knows how to do it; hint it wasn't BMW

 

[Scott9999]

1 hour ago, fourteenfour said:

 

Kind of like Protestant Heaven vs Catholic Heaven? 

 

after seeing each brand try to compete in a market the other brand is successful in its easy to tell which brand knows how to do it; hint it wasn't BMW

 

That's a Germanic thingy, IMHO.   

 

Early in my IT career, I got pipelined into supporting software developed by large European company with a small US market share.   This was in the late 1990's, in the days when Microsoft, Oracle, and many others where fighting for market dominance in the same way the young internet companies were trying to dominate in their own niches.   I went to the software company's annual convention, and one of the owner/founders spoke at length about the future of their company, and future products.  He made the astounding statement that he was comfortable remaining a niche product the USA, as well as the rest of the world.  While the market leaders in the USA were climbing over each other to double growth each year, this guy said something to the effect "We like to make a quality product, our way, and in our good time.  We don't want to grow too large, too fast, or to lose contact with our key customers.  1% or 2% growth a year is just fine ....".   I don't recall exactly what he said, but my mouth had to be hanging open.  I thought to myself, "OMG, my whole career is invested in their f**king software products, and they're about to go the way of the dinosaurs.  No, they're TRYING to go extinct, and they don't even care!"   

 

From that moment on, I was totally focused on breaking out of the pipeline in which the company(s) I'd worked for had put me in.   I took a pay cut, worked years to re-learn new skills and make them marketable, i.e. I was intent on doing whatever it took to break away from that company, because I knew that their products were "career enders".  Funny thing is, I'll still get inquiries from head hunters begging me to take a contract to support this Company's software, 20 years after I walked away, because they can simply find no one else nationally or internationally who can do it.  State governments (the sharp market leaders that THEY are 🙄🙄🙄) have remained invested in this software running key systems, but no one except a few Europeans are competent to maintain it.   

 

That's the German model, from my experience.   They aren't real big on capitalism, marketing, and growth.  They've got their own way of doing things, they believe in it, and are quite happy to let Harley lead the pack.

[Hosstage]

52 minutes ago, Scott9999 said:

That's the German model, from my experience.   They aren't real big on capitalism, marketing, and growth.

Well, there was that one guy....

[Skywagon]

Microfocus or SAP

[Dave_in_TX]

55 minutes ago, Skywagon said:

Microfocus or SAP

Sounds like SAP to me.

[Dave_in_TX]

6 hours ago, TEWKS said:

I will say this and obviously the numbers sway it this way but one warm day and who’s out riding around here? Harley riders! Gotta give them some cred for that. 

 

 

Apparently, it's a different breed of rider up there. When what passes for  cold weather here in central Texas occurs, it's the beemer riders who are out riding while most of the Harley riders are staying warm at home.

[Rockosmith]

Some BMW riders ride in the cold.

[TEWKS]

Dave is that the road up to Wayah Bald? 

[Rockosmith]

No Pat, it is GA 136 going up Burnt Mountain.

[TEWKS]

Thanks Dave, looked similar in my broken memory.  

[roadscholar]

14 minutes ago, TEWKS said:

Thanks Dave, looked similar in my broken memory.  

 

It was a good guess, looks very similar.. I don’t know if they close it in Winter though.

[Scott9999]

3 hours ago, Skywagon said:

Microfocus or SAP

Well, no reason to be coy about it.

 

I DID in fact support Focus (which is what it was called, before they added the "Micro" - kinda dates me, right?) as my first programming language, quickly followed up by COBOL, CICS, Assembler ... stuff I never much used, and the slot EDS put me into (against my will) called "Natural" and "Adabas" by a company called Software AG.  Never got into SAP.   While I worked on various Microsoft products on and off, my primary pivot point was to Oracle technology, their databases, PL/SQL, and eventually to their (initial) ERP systems, eBusiness Suite.   I've done everything from server builds to some Web work, designing (i.e. participating in) 60 IBM configured data centers for EDS & the US Navy, and of course, software development.  Have imbibed with most operating systems.  Knowledgeable expert in everything, master of ~~~ nothing much. 😏   My two most repetitive gigs were "Hey, we have a project two years behind that we can't bring in; can you come and fix this and that in 30 days, and make it work for us", or similar, "Hey, we've just fired our fourth consultant and lost two employees over a year, doing such and such, but no one seems to know how to do this or fix that.  Can you come in and make it all work in 30 to 60 days?   By the way, expenses for this engagement is capped, and the rate is about 1/2 of your regular rate, but because your old, experienced, probably desperate, and well, mostly old, we know you'll grab this OPPORTUNITY up, right away!!".  (I don't sound jaded, do I?  🙃😁)

 

That's my brag sheet.  In reality, I'm technically worthless, all my various skills adding up to early retirement mostly 'cause my competition were all foreign born, 28 years, multiple Ph'D's, with 15 years experience including published papers, etc., and worked for 1/3 of the American market compensation.  In IT, "cheap" and youth on a resume beats "experience" just about every time.  🤣

 

I took a year off to relocate to Idaho and build a house, which turned into two years, which is a century in IT time.  I started to prepare to come back, re-certifying and all that stuff, but eventually said "WTH?  Why bother with all this hassle, for crappy gigs.  I'll just retire."   So, now about once a month, I think "Man, I'm bored, and the money is out there somewhere, maybe I'll dip my toe in, fire up my servers, load some software, and start re-certifying .....".   😒😖  Then I go back and find another project to do on the house, or maybe, I buy a 2018 BMW RT to work on.  😁  The thought of un-retiring and returning to work is very motivational!

[Scott9999]

1 hour ago, Rockosmith said:

Some BMW riders ride in the cold.

It's been in the 40's here for a week, and trust me, even with ice on the ground, it's been tempting.

[Ponch]

If HD sold directly to the customer like the apple store I might have bought one, but whenever I go into a HD dealer I feel like an atheist that accidentally walked into a Pentecostal service.