Harley Davidson

[StormingHonda]

Don't get me started on how sh1t they are

Oh go on, get it off yer chest

I wouldnt say my Sportster is sh1t, infact its got to be my favourite bike I have owned.

I've had the 883 sportster and it was ferking sh1t
Tank done wombles all miles and metal they use (sorry cheese) is crap
Standard exhausts rotted within a year so I I got some v&h pipes for its.
Was the f.i one not carb model
Rubber mounted motor was like ridding a washing machine on full chat. Worse bike I ever brought

Most people buy the 883 because they couldnt afford the 1200, then do a conversion later on, I went straight for the 1200, the 883 felt like a Virago power wise.
mine does 90- 100 miles per tank, and cot £13 from reserve.
Most people ditch the standard cans when they do a stage 1 tune on them more or less when they get the bike.
mines bolted straight onto frame, its shake city, part of the charm

[thumperslaw]

Yep had old 1200 sporster after that and still sheeeet

Hate them

[StormingHonda]

Yep had old 1200 sporster after that and still sheeeet

Hate them

The longest I have kept a bike for before my sportster was 2 years, I'm now into the 4th year of ownership of my sportster which I couldnt imagine selling.

couldnt of been that bad to buy the 1200, but I suppose horses for courses, I love em.

[lumpyv]

[quote="Virt"][quote="StormingHonda"][quote="lloydiecbr"]
As far as I'm aware that shouldn't be any huge schisms in biking. I love that wherever I go on my bike, if I see another biker there's always the friendly nod at each other to acknowledge everything.


probably not if they are on a nearly new Harley and they have only had a licence 3 or 4 years. they may well have a lot of genuine HD kit on and one of those silly hats.

not all of them of course.



and before I get put right these two rode ilf,s.

[adyf]

Dont normally care for cruisers but was in bike shop in York other day looking at nowt in particular,but out of corner my eye saw a matt black harley xr1200 had proper suspension brakes performance bits etc,it looked smart,réal long low and mean,the harley to own?

[geodude]

Just a polite ''Not my cup of Tea'' but you don't have that option so I can't vote.

ditto

[BigVeeGrin]

Just a polite ''Not my cup of Tea'' but you don't have that option so I can't vote.

ditto

Same here, never been near one, never been taken by the image they convey, and we all ride whatever for whatever so I'm cool about however anyone wants to get their bike fix, like lloydie says.

[Kev L]

Do like the look of these. Saw one at the Excel show a couple of years ago and they look the part. -

http://www.hogbitz.com/for_sale.html

[lumpyv]

Do like the look of these. Saw one at the Excel show a couple of years ago and they look the part. -

http://www.hogbitz.com/for_sale.html

the black one puts you in mind of a vincent ?

[AMCQ46]

I always liked the buell as it gave a bit more of a sporty edge to the HD, and he had some wacky ideas.

[Kev L]

My thought exactly when I saw it in the flesh. A lot cheaper than you can get an original for!

[MacKrell17]

Well....... Had the 883 sportster for 3 weeks. It was pants. custard suspension with blamange brakes. So I swapped this ith my buddy who loved his Harleys. Only on a temp basis but it meant I had a 1200 sportster to test. I found this one worse. Basically if you have the nuts (knowing you can't stop quickly) then I reckon the 883 is quicker than the 1200!
So I ditched both for a cbr600. A few years later I tried a massive piece of iron.... I think a heritage softail. I dropped this at the petrol station and it took 3 of us to lift it up. Did a hundred quid of paint damage (also cracked a block paviour at the petrol station). Later learnt that this was nothing compared to the cost of smashed fairings on a Honda.
My Harley riding buddy used the bike mainly to pull girls. The heritage could snap knicker elastic at 500 paces on the kings road.... I have no idea why but twenty year old girls would hitch their skirts up to climb on board for a ride home on summer evenings. They wouldn't jump on a cbr.... I guess the Harley seemed safer.

So.... What do I think about Harleys. Well at the moment I reckon they are not for me. When I take the bike out I want to be involved and work the machine. Give it 25 - 30 years (if I live that long and bikes still exist) then I may want something more relaxed, it won't matter if it doesn't go round corners like a blade because I won't be able to even if I'm on a blade!

As for build quality and noise and performance.... Well I think they will always be pants out of the box. Guys with Harleys usually dispute this but then mist of them have a rake of after market parts and various states of tunning kit. On the otherhand I have noticed a few of the guys on this forum have made some minor adjustments to their machines to improve the standard package.

Each to their own!

[Kev L]

+1 on that mate. Everyone to their own. Harleys suit different people at different points in their lives. Of four of my mates who had them in the 90's one had an 883 sportster, which was his daily commuter. This had a screaming eagle carb kit, pipes, brakes, all sorts to make it do what he wanted, sadly it never really did so it became his second bike. But he never got rid of it.
Another lad bought a 1200 sportster new on an H plate and tore it apart putting a new front end on with billet yokes and a front wheel the same size as the rear, large 2 part tank and new paintwork. He kept that for years but always had another bike for riding generally.
The third lad bought a 1340 something or other and just loved it, but he was a late starter biker and loved the Harley thing.
The fourth lad boght a Fatboy from Warrs. I followed him back to North London on it and it never ceases to amaze me how he completed that journey without burying the front end in the back of a motor as he spent so much time looking at his refelction in shop windows His commute to work was only Baker St to Tottenham Court Rd but he sold the bike with 500 miles on it back to Warrs at a huge loss after a month, and went to buy a BMW GS.
Like I said the Harley needs to be the right bike at the right point in your life. Don't know when that time will be in mine but it's nice to know that alternatives exist to give you that ability to get a two wheel buzz.

[StormingHonda]

Harleys are quite litterly strangled out the box, they need atleast a stage one and aftermarket pipes to let them breathe properly.

To be onest a lot of the things people moan about on them I like, the reason I like this is because its old school, a hark back to days of biking gone, I like the feel of the engine and I like the faults of the Harley, the bike feel alive to me and not sedate in terms of feedback like 99% of bikes, this is one of the reasons I like the storm, was because out of all the Hondas you actually know you haven an engine on the bike and not a sewing machine.

[firestorm1997]

My Harley riding buddy used the bike mainly to pull girls. The heritage could snap knicker elastic at 500 paces on the kings road.... I have no idea why but twenty year old girls would hitch their skirts up to climb on board for a ride home on summer evenings. They wouldn't jump on a cbr.... I guess the Harley seemed safer.

A mate once told me he could get his mrs so excited whilst she wa on the back of his bike, just by holding it at the 3000rpm mark..These girls must have already had the pleasure of sitting on a V Twin at 3000rpm..