Business Segments And Foreign Operations (Segment Information By Geographical Locations) (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Sep. 30, 2012	Jul. 01, 2012	Apr. 01, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Sep. 25, 2011	Jun. 26, 2011	Mar. 27, 2011	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Motorcycles and related products	$ 1,010,900	$ 1,089,300	$ 1,569,000	$ 1,273,400	$ 1,026,800	$ 1,232,700	$ 1,339,700	$ 1,063,000	$ 4,942,582,000	$ 4,662,264,000	$ 4,176,627,000
Revenue from Financial Services									637,924,000	649,449,000	682,709,000
Disclosure on Geographic Areas, Long-Lived Assets Total	881,652,000				881,660,000				881,652,000	881,660,000	904,653,000
United States [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Motorcycles and related products									3,363,640,000	3,155,608,000	2,818,032,000
Revenue from Financial Services									607,909,000	619,214,000	652,849,000
Disclosure on Geographic Areas, Long-Lived Assets in Entity's Country of Domicile	825,509,000				822,089,000				825,509,000	822,089,000	842,461,000
Europe [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Motorcycles and related products									710,861,000	781,432,000	699,492,000
Revenue from Financial Services									5,483,000	4,471,000	3,497,000
Japan [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Motorcycles and related products									244,907,000	229,427,000	234,247,000
Canada [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Motorcycles and related products									186,550,000	154,314,000	157,606,000
Revenue from Financial Services									24,532,000	25,764,000	26,363,000
Australia [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Motorcycles and related products									186,674,000	141,392,000	136,172,000
Other Foreign Countries [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Motorcycles and related products									249,950,000	200,091,000	131,078,000
International [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Disclosure on Geographic Areas, Long-Lived Assets in Foreign Countries	$ 56,143,000				$ 59,571,000				$ 56,143,000	$ 59,571,000	$ 62,192,000