Seriously... Harley's for Haiti?!?!

Harley-Davidson is shipping 28 motorcycles (Buel & HD brands) to help relief efforts in Haiti.

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While the intent is admirable, the optics are terrible. Here's a comment I found on a popular blog:

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If they really want to do something for Haiti they would create a special version (custom paint, maybe some extra chrome) of one of their most popular sellers, make 50 of them, and give them to Haitian relief charities to raffle off. That way they would leverage the value of the bikes 20- or 30-fold and a nice chunk of cash would be on it’s way to help them out.(courtesy - Cyril Huze Blog)

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The bikes will be sent to the Dominican Republic, where the company's dealer network will forward them to the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti.

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Harley officials say "their bikes can give a higher degree of maneuverability and access than other vehicles". However the question remains, how helpful will 28 brand new HD's really be?

Here's another comment:

This is STUPID. Lets give them some brand new bikes (28 of them ) while their roads are torn to hell, debris is everywhere and most likely the shit is just going to be stolen/stripped the second they get the bikes….Sounds like just another publicity stunt by yet ANOTHER company to sound like they are compassionate for what has happened to Haiti.(Courtesy - Cyril Huze Blog)

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With all due respect to the people and country of Haiti, and given the sensitivity of the subject, this may be the only need for a H-D in Haiti right now.

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Ace ♠