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Harley-Davidson dealer Praha, on the outskirts of Prague, is preparing for Harley-Davidson's 115th anniversary celebration.
Mike De Sisti, Journal of Milwaukee Sentinel
Prague's Jiri Rredrag Schon rides his Harley-Davidson motorcycle near the Holesovice fairgrounds (Photo: Mike De Sisti / Milwaukee Sentinel newspaper)
PRAGUE – The castle walls of this city will soon echo the sound of thousands of Harley-Davidson motorcycles rolling in the narrow cobblestone streets.
Normally, the capital of the Czech Republic is known for its medieval architecture, not for motorcycles. The epicenter of Harley-Davidson Inc.'s 115th anniversary celebration in Europe
Tens of thousands of 70 countries come here for the European version of the Harley-Davidson party in Milwaukee. 4,000 cyclists at a time will circulate in the streets, including some cobblestones, in this city of 1.3 million people
The rally of the weekend, preceded by a concert of the Rolling Stones of Wednesday night, takes place while Harley-Davidson is honored the EU has imposed a 31% tariff on motorcycles manufactured in the United States, which has prompted the company to relocate part of the production in the United States and triggered a series of tweets of President Donald Trump
[1] 9459039] RELATED: Donald Trump Threatens Harley-Davidson With Increases taxes as he prepares to visit Wisconsin
Pourquo i Prague?
Well, oddly enough, he owns the world's oldest Harley-Davidson rider club, celebrating his 90th birthday.
Prague is easily accessible from the rest of Europe. It has a trendy and colorful Old World atmosphere that includes the world's largest castle and a bridge tower where, in 1621, the leaders cut off from the coup leaders were billed as a warning against a new insurrection.
Czechs prefer Harleys
Nearly 50% of Czechs favor the Harley-Davidson brand and want to ride a Harley at least once, according to a television report from Prague.
Rural areas are well suited For the motorcycle, unlike in Germany, there is no highway where speeds regularly go to 120 km / h
"Once as you exit the highways, you see the real country … even the small villages have very tall buildings, churches on the heights "said Graham Feld, a motorcycle adventure writer from Bulgaria.
"Your pace slows down."
The Harley-Davidson flagship event in Europe unfolds as the company winks at the youngest including skate parks , freestyle motocross and martial arts in the entertainment mix 19659010] Harley aims to attract a younger clientele in Europe, as well as in the United States, to replace motorcyclists progressively aging out of the motorcycle. [19659010] About 16% of the company's motorcycle sales are made in Europe, but only "There is more room to grow, but there is more entrenched competition," said analyst Sharon Zackfia with William Blair & Co.
Harley-Davidson does not sell a lot of bikes in the Czech Republic, but most of the participants will be from other countries.
The Harley dealer in Prague rented bikes to people from as far away as Australia, including three bicycles to Milwaukeeans.
"This is the biggest Harley event we have ever had in the Czech Republic," said Dan Odehnal, sales director of the dealership.
Gary and Wendy Radmer from Slinger make many visits to a Harley Heritage Classic leased in 2018.
This week they visited the countryside of the Czech Republic in search of castles – there are more than 2 000 – and they visited the "Bone Church", a small chapel decorated with the bones of about 40 000 people.
Radmer, a consultant for We Energies, turned 60 this year and said that attending the Harley event in Prague was on his bucket list.
He even has a Czech flag tattooed on his arm. Prague – history, culture, landscape. There could not be a better place to have the 115th, "he said.
Many Wisconsinans would feel at home here.
Czechs drink a lot of beer, consuming an average of 43 gallons per person per year. 19659010] For much of the 1800s, Wisconsin led the nation in the number of Czech immigrants. More than a century ago, it was said that there was no Czecho-American home that had not heard of Milwaukee, Racine or Manitowoc.
The Harley-Davidson Club Prague is the oldest Harley rider group in the world.
The club's idea stems from a wedding in 1927 when 60 Harley riders accompany the groom, a famous motorcycle racer, to the altar.
Motorcycle acrobatics become one of the club's specialties.
club members met in secret, in restaurants and on hikes. They sometimes hid their bikes, separating them so that they would not be confiscated by German troops.
After the Communists seized power in 1948, club members had to slow down again and meet illegally. They only made small groups to avoid attracting the attention of the government's secret police
. At one point, the club was forced to merge with a paramilitary organization overseen by the Czech army. The meetings included activities such as throwing grenades and shooting at the target.
Despite many previous government efforts to eliminate the Harley-Davidson Club Prague, he survived and prospered.
In 2013, at the celebration of Harley-Davidson's 110th birthday in Rome, members met Willie G. Davidson, the grandson of the company's co-founder William A. Davidson
"It was a big and nice surprise," notes the club on its website. $ 25 million in the Prague economy.
"It's what I call the jump in. It's a giant and culturally diverse family from all over the world," Radmer said.
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