Streetwise: Most American men want a Harley

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | Friday, April 23, 2004 | Lauren Rudd

[Melas]

Really, though. I always think to myself: "Well, you just keep dreaming about that Harley that you might own someday, if you can scrape up their asking price. Meanwhile I'll keep on riding my bike that'll do everything a Harley will and then some, and costs about half as much." Not that I couldn't afford a Harley if that's what I really wanted, but the CDN$10,000 plus that I saved is money I can find other uses for.

I think mentioned this before, but I'm a true Sportster afficianado. It's by far my favorite bike. I paid $8500 for the one I'm riding now, and that included a mess of chrome, and taxes paid. (Taxes paid in the Harley world is high flow air cleaner, high flow pipes, and rejetting the carburator/download new settings to the EFI)

[Melas]

I don't have a problem with Harley's, in short. I do get oh so very tired, however, of those that have a compulsion to give me crap along the lines of "when you gonna get a real bike" stuff.

Bro, I understand completely. We get tired of those who have a compulsion to slam the reliability and performance of HD's. It's always stuff that's an and out fabrication like "A Harley can't sustain 75mph" or some other utter nonsense.

[Melas]

All I know for sure, based on my experiences since I started riding in the late 1960's is the Jap bikes are reliable, the Harley's aren't. Its not really debatable imho.

Aha, now I know why and how you got this idea that Harleys are so unreliable. You were riding when they sucked bad.

I had an ironhead sportster that while it ran like a champ, and never let me down, was a dedicated oil user. It liked oil, and liked it a lot. I don't think I ever changed the oil in it, because there was never a need. The oil never really got old.

However, Harley turned a corner with the evolution engine, and then the twin cam. I do virtually no maintenance on a bike. I change the oil regularly, and that's really about it. Or rather I have it changed. I'm lazy and have more money than time at this stage of my life.

We should ride some time. You probably wouldn't care for my sled, but you'd have to admit that it runs well, doesn't leak oil, and gets me everywhere I want to go.

[Melas]

Dude, you so didn't get the humor in the "theory". Duh. I rode my scoot through Kansas at those speed. The "theory" was a joke about not admitting to speeding, lol

[-YYZ-]

"I think mentioned this before, but I'm a true Sportster afficianado. It's by far my favorite bike. I paid $8500 for the one I'm riding now, and that included a mess of chrome, and taxes paid. (Taxes paid in the Harley world is high flow air cleaner, high flow pipes, and rejetting the carburator/download new settings to the EFI)"

More power to ya, bud. My point wasn't so much that hogs are very expensive, although the big twins do start at around CDN$20,000, which is $11,000 more than I paid for my bike 4 months after the first owner bought it, with 4,000 km on it (there is an upside to the depreciation, you see). It's more that some idiot who can't even scrape up the money for a Sporty is telling me that anything but a Harley is crap, when they could lay out a few thousand bucks and buy themselves a functional used bike and actually be out riding, which I think we've agreed is what it's really all about.

I've actually always thought the Sporty was rather good looking, but I don't think I could live with the vibration that comes with them if you rev them for power. So if I was to buy a Harley, a big twin would be the way to go. The Dyna T-Sport is pretty sweet, I think.

Hell, if things were different and used Sportys were the cheap bikes and Jap bikes were expensive, I'd be riding a Harley rather than dreaming about some other bike, if you know what I mean.

[-YYZ-]

I know a guy who's put nearly 300,000 km on his Evo big twin over the last 4 years. The engine seems to be good for about 100,000 km before it needs some freshening, which is about half (or less) what some liquid cooled Japanese bikes can do. Still, it's worth rebuilding a Harley engine when it gets tired, which is not true of many Japanese bikes. Taking the higher purchase price, cost of rebuilds, and high resale value into account, it's something of a toss up as to which has a lower total cost of ownership over that kind of mileage. Anyway, he hasn't ever had a breakdown other than, as you say, flat tires. I'd have to agree that Harley reliability is comparable to anything else these days. You want something high maintenance and unreliable, buy a Ducati!

[Melas]

I think the smaller Harley engines are the best. I was watching a rerun yesterday of Motorcycle Madness with that badass Jesse James and his Harley buddies. He just completed his $60,000 bike that he and his buddies are gonna ride to Sturgis...man! 40 miles out of town, his seat falls off, 100 miles out his engine throws a rocker bolt (?, Indian Larrys bike has a carb breakdown, Grusome Daves magneto takes a shit. All of this on a two day ride. What a joke.

For starters, those aren't Harley's and neither are Orange County Choppers. Thunder Mountain Choppers uses a Harley engine, the TwinCam 88B, but they're the only ones I think. WCC and OCC use Revtech and S&S engines.

When Reagan bailed Harley out (they should have gone the way of AMC), he must have told them to start marketing something other than their bikes (POSs), so they marketed Harley underwear and socks. Thats what keeps this company afloat.

Oh BS. Reagan didn't bail Harley out. The Japanese were DUMPING bikes (and a whole lot of other stuff) on the American market, and a tariff was placed on Jap bikes over 700cc. Do yourself a favor and familiarize yourself with the rampant dumping of all kinds of products on the American market by Japanese Koretsu.

[excalibur1701]

Loud pipes are annoying and only means they are compensating for lack of "volume" elsewhere for the rider. You tell me how hearing your d*mn pipes blocks away is advantageous for the rider?

Loud pipes don't save lives, but defensive riding will. I placed a call to our police department, and he assured me they will soon be cracking down on unwarranted noise caused by Harleys, and any other transportation modes that have extreme noise.

[Bikers4Bush]

No offense taken, that report looks a little old. I think the year I saw was 1981.

[Badeye]

Bottom line is I'd rather have a beer with a biker, no matter what they are riding, then those wed to four wheels and a cage....(grin)

[Badeye]

"We should ride some time. You probably wouldn't care for my sled, but you'd have to admit that it runs well, doesn't leak oil, and gets me everywhere I want to go."

I'd like that. I'm in Southern Ohio (the Appalachian Zone). and the riding round these parts is GREAT. As long as you take care to avoid those large, generally green, monster machines that are used in the fields throughout the area....LOL!

btw, I like the look of most Harley's, I don't disparage anyone's "sled". To each his own. I just know I've got a nice ride, with no mechanical issues to speak of, for about a third of what the comparable Harley would have cost me.

My wife has made it clear she doesn't mind if we get another bike, or two (she can ride as well). She wants a fully blown touring bike, however, a Goldwing type.

Hell, I'm only 45.....not going there yet!

[elbucko]

You lose! lol

No I don't. I don't have any tattoo's and I don't have a "Duck". But I do have a Harley. I consider myself a winner in that context. Someday, when your testicles drop, you too can ride a Harley.

Regards, Buck.

[MarkL]

No I don't. I don't have any tattoo's and I don't have a "Duck". But I do have a Harley. I consider myself a winner in that context.

Someday, when your testicles drop, you too can ride a Harley

Pretty pathetic...

Mark

[FateAmenableToChange]

Harley's need TLC.....and I don't have time for that.

That's why I ended up selling my Kimber 1911 and buying a glock 23 - I love the 1911 and think it's probably the best pistol ever invented in terms of shooting enjoyment. But even a high-quality pistol like the Kimber jams up at matches unless you baby it, and I just don't have time to learn gunsmithing. No one understands why I did the trade until I analogize it to the difference between Harley's and Yamahas.

[Badeye]

"No one understands why I did the trade until I analogize it to the difference between Harley's and Yamahas."

Obviously I do understand. I'll probably use a variation of your analogy, thanks!

[elbucko]

Pretty pathetic...

A Ducati? they're OK, but I wouldn't go as far as to call them "pathetic"....;^)

[spunkets]

Thanks for expanding on the moth.

" i wish there was something i wanted as badly as he wanted to fry himself"

It's Freedom here. Without it, there is no life, just someone else's.