Wow that's very innovative for HD. Why don't they put some of that innovation effort into their actual drivetrain? I loved my Buell's look and ride, but I mistrusted it's horrid 50-year-old Baker transmission which went on to completely fail at ~6,000 miles, necessitating me to disassemble the entire engine to split the crankcase so I could repair it. After seeing its guts, I no longer wanted it. It ignores a half century of innovation in motorcycle design producing a machine that I vote most likely to unexpectedly leave me on the side of the road.
I'll throw out a guess that part of it is the character of the bike being tied to the drivetrain.
Even outside Buell, which was a bit of a neither-fish-nor-foul anomaly, they've had the odd innovative model here and there--the V-Rod comes to mind. And I've seen some interesting things in their ABS systems and some other components. But I think the most successful models have been very conservative about their drivetrain as it's part of their signature sound/feel.
My hope is that Polaris' recent critical success with the Indian Scout (which I bought over HD--far better bang for buck than a Sportster) gives the segment a kick in the ass.
The continued anomaly of the Buell is partly the V-Rod's fault. The V-Rod engine was originally supposed to be for the Buell line to address the issue until the mothership got interested in it. They added too much weight and too high a deck height for Buell chassis, so the project was wrestled away from Buell to make a bike that, in the end, HD couldn't really sell anyway.
Interesting--I had no idea that the V-Rod engine was originally destined for Buell. That makes lots of sense.
Buell had some great innovative designs too, but you could tell that was all Erik and not the motor company. I wasn't surprised when the split happened.
What many don't know about the shuttering of Buell is that it happened while HD was in the process of receiving over a billion in TARP money. This information was kept secret for over a year. Harley had something like ~6000 employees at the time. Buell operated on ~100. It seemed like a ludicrous move; like it had to be political.
If you're looking for innovative motorcycling, gotta look at a sportbike. HDs are for people who love cruisers, a genre defined by rat bikes and self-made bikes, but for people with money. (Not knocking on rat bikes, though, those things are awesome)
