RALEIGH -- Motorcycle racing hall-of-famer Ray Price is about to violate an phonetic formula of respect at his Harley-Davidson salon in Raleigh. His dealership, one of the largest in the country, will shortly sell unfamiliar bikes to one side the all-American Harleys that have gleamed here given 1982.
Next month, Ray Price Harley-Davidson will embrace the initial conveyance of English-bred Triumph bikes, the continental classical innate in 1902, a year prior to the Harley rumbled on Americas soil. Today, Triumphs embody the renouned "crotch rocket" sports pattern that Harley-Davidson doesnt disdain to imitate. Price sees the assertive character as his snack to a younger, hipper market.
The strong Harley, a threat of chrome and leather, can take a heck of a beating, but the Great Recession is putting this unapproachable highway sow to the test. The Harley house not long ago reported the initial quarterly loss given 1993, and Prices operation is down by about a third, from 65 people in make use of a couple of years ago to 46 today. During the mercantile tailspin, motorcycle sales in this nation have plummeted by 43 percent.
Before revelation Triumph in to his empire, Price checked with business to see how they"d react. They gave him the go-ahead.
"The British motorcycle is some-more supposed by Harley riders than Japanese brands," Price pronounced at his salon on Thursday. "Right now, we wish to dilemma as most of the marketplace as we can."
Price, 72, is a homegrown fable in the cycling world. The Johnston County local was a speed devil who flew along draw towards strips on 600-horsepower machines powered with a high-performance fuel well known as liquid dynamite. He raced bikes from 1966 until 2003, when an collision forced him to retire.
He overshot the finish line at 218 mph in a Las Vegas speedway draw towards race. The pile-up cost him the make use of his left arm.
He still rides, but right away he gets around in a three-wheeler. He does it by putting his bad palm in to a Velcro-lined glove and attaching the glove to the handlebar.
Triumph has five dealers in this state, the closest ones in Fayetteville and Greensboro.
Prices emporium will be the initial Harley play in the state to sell the Triumph.
Thats OK by Howard Arrington, the executive of the Harley Owners Group section of Raleigh.
"I grew up with friends who had Triumphs," Arrington said. "The dual [brands] have regularly been supposed by each other."
Price pronounced the corporate bureau acquiesced to his decision.
"Harley-Davidson routinely tries to forestall dealers from consistent an additional brand," pronounced Rick Campbell, editor and publishing house of Motorcycle Industry repository in Nevada. "Harley [pushed] dealers to set up monoliths, high value, high prominence locations ... that has backfired to a little degree."
Now Prices racing teams will contest on Triumphs. One of the teams star riders: Jordan Richardson, Prices 24-year-old grandson.
john.murawski or 919-829-8932
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