There has been an overall decline in sales of motorcycles in US due to economic downturn. Close to me some dealers have closed and disappeared - even those who had many years of experience and expertise. The ones that are open have had a very rough year or two.
US being such a large land mass, only bikes that go on highways have a chance to sell in a significant numbers. That leaves RE out of the major players league. The number of REs in US should be compared to Japanese or European or other Asian bikes that are non-highway bikes such as Yamaha Virago, Honda Rebel, Suzuki TR 250 or similar bikes. That will give some idea as to how is RE doing in US. If those bikes are sold in numbers similar to RE, that indicates that the geography is limiting factor. Anybody has annual sales figure for any of these smaller bikes in US ?
Expecting RE to compete with highway hogging bikes is like comparing apples to oranges. In its current form RE does not have much chance to compete with other bikes sold in US, unless it becomes slightly bigger bike.
RE want to sell their bikes to other countries - as they recently entered S. America. They would like to expand to places where they have not traditionaly sold bikes - provided they can make enough to meet local demand in India.
US market for RE will remain the way it has been - a niche market.