Harley Davidson

[sanoke]

Originally Posted by CrazyDave

I think he should get this

That would keep him from flying over the deer when he hits them!

[Susan07]

Originally Posted by sanoke

So you leaning towards anything in particular yet? Inquiring minds want to know.

Probably about what I had. The Aero was a great bike for me. I seldom have a rider and if I do...it's just a short distance. As far as long trips the Aero(750) is fine. I like liquid cooled engines. I think they have a tendency to last longer. Honda's start and run. I've always had great luck with them. If I want a different look...I may look at the Phantom. Basically the same bike with a different look. Two things I'm looking at are getting rid of the spokes(so I can use a plug kit) and fuel injection. Never had a bike with fuel injection so I'm not familiar with it at all. I'm old so...I have a tendency to stay with the familiar. (Except where women come into play) ...

[Susan07]

Originally Posted by CrazyDave

I think he should get this

That ain't no motorcycle fool!

[rmw]

Yesterday was a pretty day so after church jumped on the bike to do a bit of riding and to make a quick stop at the local Wallyworld superstore. As I was pulling in I saw a fellow over by the automotice service area sitting on the ground next to his Glide, so I rode over to see if I could help. When I got closer I saw he was changing his oil.

Longer story short, the fellow was from Georgia and had been touring for 5 years on his Ultra which had 179,000 miles on it. I asked if he had had any problems with the bike and he said that he had gone through a couple of sets of defective tires, numerous burned out lights, a chain tensioner around 75k miles, a broke starter switch at 130k and a busted rear shock at 150k after going across the trans-Alaska Hwy and two batteries along with the head bearings which he couldn't remember when that was.

He was heading north to pick up and ride Route 66 to California. The rermarkable part is the guy was 74 years old. I offered him a home cooked meal but he said he wanted to be in Springfield IL that night, about a 250 mile ride.

[CrazyDave]

Originally Posted by rmw

Yesterday was a pretty day so after church jumped on the bike to do a bit of riding and to make a quick stop at the local Wallyworld superstore. As I was pulling in I saw a fellow over by the automotice service area sitting on the ground next to his Glide, so I rode over to see if I could help. When I got closer I saw he was changing his oil.

Longer story short, the fellow was from Georgia and had been touring for 5 years on his Ultra which had 179,000 miles on it. I asked if he had had any problems with the bike and he said that he had gone through a couple of sets of defective tires, numerous burned out lights, a chain tensioner around 75k miles, a broke starter switch at 130k and a busted rear shock at 150k after going across the trans-Alaska Hwy and two batteries along with the head bearings which he couldn't remember when that was.

He was heading north to pick up and ride Route 66 to California. The rermarkable part is the guy was 74 years old. I offered him a home cooked meal but he said he wanted to be in Springfield IL that night, about a 250 mile ride.

Some would say the last of a dying breed
( irregardless of brand ridden btw )

I say I see many younger riders coming up to fill the ranks..old school is not dead, just dressed differently

[chevybill]

Originally Posted by spicoli512

How can you tell whether or not they are over-rated if you've never ridden one? When you have an opportunity to get up close and personal, possibly even ride a Harley there is a lot to appreciate. I'm not saying everyone has to own one and I'm not even saying they are worth the purchase price.

Statements like this are just as wrong as an H-D T-shirt wearing fan-boy knocking a metric without every sitting on one. Reverse elitism IMO.

I do agree with you that it is annoying walking into a dealership and not getting a responsive rep. I have had bad and great experiences at HD dealerships in CA and the US. Although I think this is a GOOD problem to have, I bet a lot of non-biking folks come into H-D dealerships pretending to be in the market. Its hard to know who's a serious buyer and I think this is why H-D is stingy on test-rides and quickly negotiating prices.

I spent about 2 hours in the dealership, they ran a credit report and talked about all the entire dealership offerings other than the motorcycle itself.
The only way I could have been anymore serious would have been to actually purchase a bike. This dealer would not move one dollar off the price they stared with.

The reason I say they are over rated is due to the fact they ask almost double the price for all their bikes from a sportster all the way up to the luxury glides. When H-D bikes are reviewed by the professional magazines , they do not say H- D bikes are worth double and this is what I am basing the over rated statement on. I like H - D bikes, but I am not willing to pay double price for only average technology. Near perfect paint and chrome does not mean double price in my opinion.

[Coolride]

I liked mine, sold it a month ago in just one day on Craigslist. My next one will be a Dyna,Fatboy, or Night Train, just not sure yet.

[afishinado]

Originally Posted by chevybill

The reason I say they are over rated is due to the fact they ask almost double the price for all their bikes from a sportster all the way up to the luxury glides. When H-D bikes are reviewed by the professional magazines , they do not say H- D bikes are worth double and this is what I am basing the over rated statement on. I like H - D bikes, but I am not willing to pay double price for only average technology. Near perfect paint and chrome does not mean double price in my opinion.

Where are you getting double the price from? Did I miss that somewhere? Only in the boom years were they able to get over MSRP that I know of, even then you could buy at MSRP, just had to wait a year for the bike. We were just in a dealership last weekend and my GF was sitting on a brand new Dyna Switchback (a new model BTW). The salesman knows me (or who I am I should say) and without hesitation or my asking gave me the MSRP as the out the door number. It isn't 2005 at Harley stores anymore either.

[Ex Parte]

Originally Posted by rmw

Yesterday was a pretty day so after church jumped on the bike to do a bit of riding and to make a quick stop at the local Wallyworld superstore. As I was pulling in I saw a fellow over by the automotice service area sitting on the ground next to his Glide, so I rode over to see if I could help. When I got closer I saw he was changing his oil.

Longer story short, the fellow was from Georgia and had been touring for 5 years on his Ultra which had 179,000 miles on it. I asked if he had had any problems with the bike and he said that he had gone through a couple of sets of defective tires, numerous burned out lights, a chain tensioner around 75k miles, a broke starter switch at 130k and a busted rear shock at 150k after going across the trans-Alaska Hwy and two batteries along with the head bearings which he couldn't remember when that was.

He was heading north to pick up and ride Route 66 to California. The rermarkable part is the guy was 74 years old. I offered him a home cooked meal but he said he wanted to be in Springfield IL that night, about a 250 mile ride.

Good story. Good on the 74y/o. Checking off his bucket list.

[rmw]

Originally Posted by chevybill

The reason I say they are over rated is due to the fact they ask almost double the price for all their bikes from a sportster all the way up to the luxury glides. When H-D bikes are reviewed by the professional magazines , they do not say H- D bikes are worth double and this is what I am basing the over rated statement on. I like H - D bikes, but I am not willing to pay double price for only average technology. Near perfect paint and chrome does not mean double price in my opinion.

I'm not sure either where you are getting double the price from. A Honda 1300 is $12,150 and a Harley 1200 is $10,299 which is the closest match and a Fury is well over $13k A Wide Glide is a lot more bike than a 1300 Honda and it's $14,899 not even a fair comparison yet hardly double. A Gold Wing is $23,890 and a Yama Royal Star is $20,190 and a HD Ultra is $21,499. A Yama Stratoliner is $16,590 and a HD Road King is $17,499.

If by average technology you mean an air-cooled engine then someone needs to tell Yamaha about their average technology as well. There is absolutely nothing wrong with air cooled engines and since I have several thousand hours flying air cooled engined aircraft I've trusted my life on them. As for the rest of the technology on HD bikes, top notch EFI, Bembo brakes, ABS, accurate fuel gauge, digital ODO with remaining range, self cancelling turn signals, 4 way flashers, keyless ignition, wireless security system, cruise control and the majority of those goodies are available on most models.

I really don't care that people like or dislike Harley, could care less but I think if someone is citing reasons why they don't like them there should be a degree of intellectual honesty to at least keep the reasoning semi factual and not go all ad absurdium with inaccurate statements. Let's at least keep the pro or con statements somewhat fair.