The Big Dog has gone home

[Twolane]

http://moneywatch.bnet.com/economic-news/news/bank-forecloses-on-kan-based-big-dog-motorcycles/6214586/

[Dennis The Menace]

Yepp, they are done now.

[codyshop]

I'm rather surprised they lasted this long.   

[dakota224]

adios   

[PoorUB]

I believe we will see a bunch of these custom bike builders die. The ecomomy is not that great, and the custom market has pretty much died. The only ones that will survive are the small shops that never did build more that a few bikes a year. It is pretty hard for a manufacturer to go from a high of 5,000 bikes in a year, to darned near none.
If it was not for the TV show the idiots at OCC would be long gone too. The old man goes crazy and builds his huge world headquarters building, then the market dies. I wonder how long they will hang in there.
A few minutes on Google shows that OCC is planning on building a new building, right next door to the three year old world headquarters bulding, then let GE foreclose on the building, and start a "new" company, building motorcycles!

[mrmike]

Good riddance, I have two friends that bought them about four years ago, nothing but problems with the damn things and they probably only have about 5000 miles on them.

Both guys probably put an additional 2000 to 4000 dollars into them to straighten them out, over the 33,000 they paid.

I have no idea why a company like S&S with their good reputation allows others to build their motors.


Mike

[codyshop]

I have no idea why a company like S&S with their good reputation allows others to build their motors.

Mike

As long as S&S sells the parts seperately to the public, people will assemble them. 

[harleyjt]

Frankly, I have no use for them.  I knew a guy here locally that had one and everytime he rode it, something else broke and fell off.  Add to that the fact he had some kind of major electrical issue with it and had to trailer it 200 miles to Nashville where they had a dealer who finally fixed it.  POS in my opinion.
jt

[chopper]

Huh
  Evidently shoulda stayed on the porch..   

[CraigArizona85248]

I only personally know one guy who owned a Big Dog.  Broke down on him when riding it home the day he bought it, then again after they said they fixed it.  Then it was recalled and sent back to the factory for a problem with a frame weld.  He was without the bike for 4 months when then happened.  Just shows the importance of testing when building production bikes.  None of the custom shops test the way a really manufacturer like Harley-Davidson does.  My 62 year old panhead is a hell of a lot more reliable then the custom stuff.

-Craig

[gryphon]

At least a lot more reliable than the mass produced custom(?) stuff.  Hard to actually say custom when some companies cranking them out.

[slik rik]

theres been some big dog stuff being sold on e-gay now for a couple of years, allways looked like overstock leftover crap, should see some decent stuff come up now after the auction

wish I was closer probably some decent deals on equipment

[gryphon]

When they auctioned off the remaining stock from AIH the market got flooded with cool engine stuff. Not that I wished them any harm but Hopefully we'll see the same with Big Dog inventory. I need a set of 4 1/8" bore S&S cases.

[Jim Bronson]

The current era of customs (true or mass produced) seems to be over. I live in an area where there's zillions of bikes, and I seldom see one. I think I've seen only one or two Rockers since they first came out. The only use for them seemed to be to show them off at watering holes and barbecues on weekends. There was a Captain America replica somewhere around here, but I never see it anymore.

[Kansas]

A good friend is the Service Manager at the local Harley dealer and he mentioned that they are happy to work on Dogs or similar bikes.  He said they were a pretty good source for cash flow and that the electrical systems were really troublesome.

[beaureed445]

I spoke to the sales mgr at our local Big Dog dealership.  He said that he offered to buy 10 or 12 bikes from them, but they said no, because the bank owns them now.  He also mentioned that Big Dog plans to continue making parts, but not build bikes.

[sundog1258]

Yepp, they are done now.

been seeing them selling rollers on ebay for a few months. They said "due to requests" they were selling rollling chassis. Guess the requests were from the bank, not the customers,
Still hate too see anyone go down.
Phil

[threadkiller]

At least a lot more reliable than the mass produced custom(?) stuff.  Hard to actually say custom when some companies cranking them out.

IMO the best of the aftermarket chopper clones in spite of the the electrical flaws. FWIW, BD used voltage sensitive electronics/controls which was the main cause of their electrical problems/failures. This was due to the hiring of an electrical "genius" from the aviation industry. BUT! now H-D has gone and done the very same thing on the 2011 models! Time will tell if H-D has done it better than BD? TK.

[hogpipes1]

Indian will be next   as i see it , az dealer here has 09 & 10 sitting around , special order only for the 11 models . why stock em if you can't sell em.

[gryphon]

Well lets face it. Over the last couple of decades the majority of all big twin type bikes sold went to people who were caught up in the fashion trend. Few of them had any real love for riding. A few times each year they would band together in groups and go for a slow ride blocking traffic and pissing people off. Few of them had any desire to ride alone because they wouldn't be seen by their peers. They called themselves "Bikers". Well the fashion trend was drawing to a close even before the economy took it's hit. Checkbook choppers were only a small segment of the craze and just don't have the economic base to sustain them through hard times. That, coupled with their waning popularity, pretty much spelled their doom. Most guys that are really into choppers build their own.

[tmwmoose]

Well lets face it. Over the last couple of decades the majority of all big twin type bikes sold went to people who were caught up in the fashion trend. Few of them had any real love for riding. A few times each year they would band together in groups and go for a slow ride blocking traffic and pissing people off. Few of them had any desire to ride alone because they wouldn't be seen by their peers. They called themselves "Bikers". Well the fashion trend was drawing to a close even before the economy took it's hit. Checkbook choppers were only a small segment of the craze and just don't have the economic base to sustain them through hard times. That, coupled with their waning popularity, pretty much spelled their doom. Most guys that are really into choppers build their own.

Very well put