Sorry John - Gold Wings are now made in Japan.

Honda closed their Gold Wing plant in Marysville, Ohio July 30th, 2009. All Gold Wings – along with just about every other two-wheeler from Honda – are currently imported from Japan. The plant was huge - 330,000 square-feet and assembled the Gold Wing since 1981. It was the first Honda manufacturing facility in America and a million Honda Gold Wing motorcycles were made on that assembly line. Honda employed a lot of Americans, but alas – Honda could not justify the wages and benefits associated with assembly of the bikes in this country so moved back to Japan. Its business, i.e., loyalty is to their parent company.

Harley builds Softail and Touring models in York PA. Sportsters, Dynas and V-Rods models are built in Kansas City Missouri. Harley’s corporate offices are in Milwaukee as are two engine plants. Harley manufactures accessories such as sidecars and custom items in a factory in Tomahawk, Wisconsin.

Some of Harley’s minor components are made overseas (mostly electronics). Everything else is made and assembled in the United States.
According to Harley’s media folks,

“Harley-Davidson has announced the build of a second assembly plant ever outside the United States in India. The "complete knock down" plant or CKD is expected to be up and running in the northern Indian state of Haryana in first half of 2011. Parts made in America will be put together for the Indian market in Haryana. India is the second fastest growing two-wheeler market in the world behind China. More than 10 million two-wheelers were sold in India in the 2009-2010 fiscal year. Beyond the obvious market potential there is another major reason Harley-Davidson is building an assembly plant in India -- to bring down India's import duties which right now are so high Indian consumers pay double for fully assembled imported vehicles. Exporting just the parts to India lowers the import duty tariffs by around 80 percent.”

Interestingly enough – I always “hear about” how Harley’s are “always in the shop” – never had the problem with mine and I ride with a lot of guys that must be lucky too because their bikes always seem to run just fine – some put on 25K miles a year – must just take good care of them in terms of oil changes and keeping things maintained.. Interestingly enough, last big ride I took where there was a broken bike happened to be a BMW that just quit.

Love what you ride – it’s really true what is said regarding Harley’s, “if I have to explain, you wouldn’t understand.” I know guys with just about every kind of bike there is, but I’m a Harley guy because nothing has every come close to the sound, feel and all encompassing experience that Harley is for me. And I've never met a finer bunch of men and women - they'll just do anything for another rider. Just sayin…

Regards All,
Glenn