Working on what my vision of Milwaukee would be in 2071, and I was wondering which, if any of the Megas owns Harley-Davidson.

If I had to Guess it would be Ares.

My guess would be Saeder-Krupp, who got it as part of a package deal when they acquired Messershmidt-Kawasaki, with Kawasaki having bought Harley Davidson in 2015 to save the company from bankruptcy, again.

Would explain the resurgance of Indian. I'm sure that there's plenty of people out there who wouldn't wnat to ride any bike that has even the slightest connection to Lofwyr.

S-K would make sense, as for years, Milwaukee had a very large ethnic German population.

I could totally see Harleys with a chrome dragon head over the front wheel.

Which would look bad ass.

If you're into chrome dragon heads, sure.

-paws

I'm guessing Ares. Damian Knight could be seen as defending na american icon And more believable no fragging way is he letting someone get an industrial plant set that close to his main base at Detroit. He'd buy out HD just for defensiveness.

I think by canon Harley-Davidson, Inc. is currently independent of megacorporate ownership; or at least it isn't a direct subsidiary or wholly-owned corp.

Which actually would make things in Beer City a LOT more interesting for shadowrunners. With a Brand with a history like H-D's, Damn near all the Big 10 would want it, and I could see each of the Big 10 so busy fighting each other over Harley, that nobody really has a clear chance Gobble up Harley Davidson


Funny. That was going to be my Vision for the Green Bay Packers. Still Community owned, but with the AAAs fighting over who gets to buy the storied franchies.

That was sort of my justification for having Knight Errant Police Milwaukee, with the exception of the campus of Wisconsin State Univerity (Formerly UW-Milwaukee), which was snapped up by Lone Star.

Best. Campaign. Idea. Ever.

I have not seen anything listing Harley-Davidson as a subsidiary of another corp (only two mentions that I have found are SR3 and Rigger 3).

Thank you.

I'm actually a student here, (I'm posting from campus right now, no less) and there has been talk, as recently as a couple of months ago, about changing the name. The SA has been pushing for University of Milwaukee, though.

Even though HD has a long American history and good sales record I don't see any of the megacorps (with the exception of Ares, Cross (when they existed), and maybe S-K) wanting it. The reason I say this is that HD, like other independent motorcycle companies, works best when they are independent. They can produce unique models that can succeed or fail on their own merits and megacorps are better off making production deals to mass produce proven model designs.

I can see a lot of the shadow activity being around getting exclusive production deals of the latest "hot" item (runs between Ares and S-K most likely and most of the runs would be what the other person is offering so they can best it).

Isn't HD the Brand of Bikes that should come with their own Tool/Repair-Kit?

I doubt that H-D would have enough production capacity or innovative product to warrant a takeover by any of the megacorps either.

All you have to do to compete in that market is produce a big, heavy, slow, unwieldy, over-chromed cruiser and market it to 50-something dentists and doctors.

And with Chicago coming back online after the containment wall came down, I would think that Milwaukee is going to be taking a backseat to Chicago in the Lake Michigan-area 'running community.

My resoning behind this was that in my vision of Wisconsin in the year 2070, Madision has become a hotbed for rads, particularly anti corp, eco rads, anarchists, etc (Basically becoming to the UCAS what San Fran is to us today). These rad groups have been a constant thorn in the side for the Megas. (Sabotaging research projects, interfering with corp lecturers, luring UW students on corp scolarships over to "the dark side", etc) So the corps dumped a whole bunch of nuyen into UW-Milwaukee to build a competing institution in a slightly more corp-friendly environment.

For all of you who might be interested, I've written an outline of my vision of Milwaukee in 2070. I'll get around to posting it when I've finished it. I've only a few more things to round out.

That sounds like a pretty good investment for the corps. I wish somebody would dump a whole bunch of money into this place. I've always wanted more material on Milwaukee, so please do post yours when it's ready. I'd like to see it.

I'd like to address a few of the statements in this thread.
1)If you are in to H-D you are in to BA chrome dragon heads, so much so that regardless of who owns HD(if anyone) there is probably a Dunkelzahn commemorative edition.
2)Best. Campaign. Idea. Ever.: Seconded
3)There is never too much chrome. You start chroming the chrome after a while, then you upgrade to betaware and chrome more...oh wait..you know what? I say it still applies as an analogy.

Hey, one of my PC's (I have yet to play) is a troll, with chromer dermal sheating, a chrome bike (a Harley of course), crome savette gaudians, and he plays lead guitar in a Death Speed metal band (think Slayer-but with all trolls).

While I could see both sides, Harley-Davidson is the best brand logo in the world.

Everyone knows what it is, and what it represents.
They have put it on patches, shirts, mugs, etc.

Having that brand under a mega would be a MAJOR Coup.
Saeder, Ares and NeoNET I see as the 3 who would most actively pursue them. I would also see them give them almost complete autonomy (like 80% for Saeder and 95% for Ares and NeoNET).
Of them I personally believe Ares would win out, just because of their moto, they are based in Detriot and support the US automakers.

Remember a lot of small brands are under the Mega Corps and the general populace may never know about it. Referencing Corporate Download, Apple Computers is still around (as a subsidiary of Ares).

While I think we can all agree Harley is one of the most recognizable logos/corporate entities out there, I wouldn't say it's the best (or the company wouldn't be struggling right now).

Remember HD's biggest competition if Honda which is owned by a mega, so for marketing they can bring a lot more pressure to bear- a Honda Shadow (RL) looks like an HD, is more reliable and only a fraction of the cost. yeah HD has the cool vibe and the great sound but more people can aford to buy and maintain a Honda. HD can't survive just on being the classic vehical while it's competition gobbles up the casual buyer- which is what is happening now. and why HD goes through massive swings in profit and loss.

Cool, I'm very interested. Wisconsin-born, and lived in the Milwaukee area for almost all of my adult life until moving to Seattle 2 1/2 years ago.

Here's the link for that.

Milwaukee thread