i believe smaller production is beneficial,no huge sales spike alha HD,no huge sales crash.keeping the company privately owned can be a good thing,no greedy shareholders to satisfy.personally i quite enjoy the fact that when i ride i'm on a bike that no one around me has.last Sunday i rode with 7 other bikes down to the Devil's Staircase Hillclimbs,all HD riders.when we were inside eating breakfast a small crowd of 6 or 7 people gathered around to look at the bikes and the one everybody kept staring at was my Speedmaster,i must admit i enjoyed it.just imagine how all of the dedicated HD riders felt when they got invaded by RUBS,i'd like that to never happen to us.