Harley truth

[Vegasrandall]

Harley miles are like dog years

[darrylri]

Harley, Harley made of tin
Ride it out, push it in

(The other side used to reply:
Want some grief? Get a Chief
Want some more? Get a Four)

[luxlogs]

Bout Sums it up.

[Julio A.]

Are they really that bad?  

[montmil]

Are they really that bad?  

No, not really. For me, it's the faux lifestyle projected by so many of the fair weather HD peeps.

Years ago, my wife accepted my motorcycles but clearly and firmly stated, "We are not going to dress like trash".

Monte [smiley=beehive.gif]

[Dizerens5]

Some years ago the "smaller" HD was available here in European form (low handlebar, big tank, big headlight....) and had a reasonable price ticket. Also had got away from the AMF bad reputation. I nearly bought one but in the end did not, simply because I did not want to associated, even distantly, with the HD image of pot-gutted tattooed knife-wielding thugs dressed in a homo-erotic mix of leather and chains! Maybe they aren't all like that?

[GDeane]

Having owned 16 motorcycles in my life, I've come to appreciate all makes and recognize the pros and cons of each.  I think we will all agree Harley-Davidson marketing is genius.  They've turned riding a motorcycle into a lifestyle, riders into Bikers and motorcycles into Harley's.  Now, that brings me to my point.  These "Bikers" usually have attitudes I can't deal with.  M-F they are our co-workers.  The weekend comes and they are transformed into Bad Ass Bikers.  I actually had to break ties with a group of guys because of this attitude.  

[montmil]

Along the lines of HD's brilliant marketing strategies, John Bloor and his new Hinckley Triumph company studied the HD plan and adopted a closely modified strategy of their own. It's working...

Every time my wife and I visit a Triumph dealership, SWWBO makes a bee-line to the clothing offerings. I have to admit, the Triumph-branded quality is there (as planned by Bloor) along with matching prices. Our closets with BMW-labeled clothing are filling with the same items but now with Triumph labels. Not a bad thing. Ya gotta wear something other than HD wife beater undershirts and latigo chaps.

BTW, there's a poor sod in town riding his beater Honda with stretched forks and a sissy bar while wearing full HD-branded regalia. Too funny.

Monte

[msbuck]

"Would you fly in a plane Harley made?"

[Blackjack]

I've got a Harley....



What can I tell you?

I like four stroke twins....

[montmil]

"Would you fly in a plane Harley made?"

Ha! I fly in airplanes that I've made.

Bit of aviation & HD history...

Back in the 1920s, a Swedish immigrant gentleman by the name of Bernard Pietenpol designed and constructed his first homebuilt aircraft.

Powered by a lightly modified Harley-Davidson V-twin, the little single-seater would not fly out of ground effect. Bernie nicknamed this plane the Hardly-Ableson. Later, his 1929 design tandem-seat Pietenpol, powered by a modified Ford Model T 4-cylinder, became one of the most constructed homebuilt aircraft of the era.

I built and flew my Pietenpol with a self-built VW engine.

Monte

[Bob_Roller]

I think that when Harley got away from the AMF era, the quality of the bikes went up notably, they weren't just making as many units as they could, at the expense of quality control .

As far as today's Harley's, they are on par quality and reliability wise with the rest of the motorcycle manufacturers .

[Lucky_Lou]

Years ago, my wife accepted my motorcycles but clearly and firmly stated, "We are not going to dress like trash".

Monte [smiley=beehive.gif]
[/quote]
Ditto when my wife started to show an interest in reenacting i thought it would be short lived but to my surprise she loves it i get to go cowboying while she has a ball with the Victorian (expensive) ladies outfits.
As for Harleys i am occasionally drawn to the dark side but you can never say never, to date i have never riden one but spend plenty of time claiming free coffee and burgers at the open days sitting on them chatting to my favourite sales lady.
Lou

[Semper Gumby]

I'd love to own a V-twin.  But The Guzzi just doesn't do it for me.  Besides I have a BMW R65.  The old BSA's are just way too expensive.  The Harley I test rode had too small a fuel tank, the front rotors were warped and the bike was just too heavy.  On a slight incline it almost rolled off the sidestand because I didn't leave it in gear.  Oh and there was no center stand!!!!

The Ducatti is just too uncomfortable for me to ride.  I thought Yamaha was going to make the beautiful XS-V1 but it didn't happen.

(sigh)




Another beautiful bike I can't have.  The Dick Mann BSA Y13 750cc...



There was a Harley I wanted years ago.  I saw it in Cycle World about 1978ish.  Somebody took an XR dirt racing frame and put a big bore motor on it at about 1100cc, alloy wheels, tripple disks and a small headlamp.  They claimed it would go 170 mph and I was in lust.  Of course this bike was light, simple, nible and very very fast.  Harley despite its long racing heritage will not even consider such a machine.  The XR1200 street trackers that they make now are just so big and clunky looking that I find myself just walking away.  The only real part of Harley that I would consider would be one of Eric Buells machines and Harley just amputated them.  Unfortunately there is nothing Harley about a late model Buell.

My buddy Fast Ron Mass and his Buell 1125R liquid-cooled v-twin (purpose built Rotax motor) - the fastest motorcycle I have ever ridden.



Unfortunately I'm too tall for the Buell.

[Ed Miller]

I'm still drooling over that BSA V twin....  I wonder why Triumph never (to my knowledge) made one.  They had a write up in one of my old The Classic Motorcycle magazines about the BSA.  

I would have better luck acquiring an Indian.