Back in the late 80s/early 90s, I think that sneering French waiter attitude was actual corporate policy for sales staff at HD. Now that they once again have a bike that there's some actual buzz about, they sound like they've reverted right back to that. That attitude isn't a bug, it's a feature of HD's snobbery. Over the last few years as they were wallowing in sales figures that were half of what they were in 2006, and none of their new models like the 500 were generating any real interest, it was all about rebranding and inclusiveness and bringing in new riders. Now that the Pan Am has people actually talking about HD again, it's right back to the days right after the employee buyout, when Harley created their phony baloney image of the American rebel. Walk into an HD dealership circa 1988 and you'd experience that same snobbery noted in the above posts, of a salesman trying to determine if you were worthy of a Harley.
I had an HD during their boom years, and I have to be honest, I had really positive experiences at their dealerships when I needed something done. But I also remember shopping for a Harley back around 1988, and the experiences of Checkswrecks and Mak10 at those dealerships were pretty consistent with mine.
