How many Harley Davidson owners here?

[Harley Man]

I have had about 80 bikes in 40 years of riding and I now have 2 Harleys a 1999 1200 Sportster sport which is slow compared to any other 1200 as it will only do 125mph, but it handles fine and looks and sounds great and has been very reliable the only downside is it vibrates a lot but my GF says this is not nessesarily a bad thing . I also have a 1994 Dynaglide which is slower but much better to ride all day as it has a rubber mounted engine.

If you are thinking of buying a Harley Sportster my advice is dont buy a 4 speed model as the gearboxes are a bit weak, and dont buy an 883 they are pretty gutless the 1200 weighs the same and is a much nicer bike to ride.

I pay £290 a year fully comp insurance for 2 Harleys and 6 old triumphs.

Dave

 

[BULLITTBOSS]

I have had many harleys,all big engine models 1340 evo and 1450 twin cam,the original 1340 in soft tail guise would vibrate at any speed over 70 the dyno engine rubber mounted engines were much smoother althougth the later 1450 and now 1550 twin cam engines were counterbalanced to stop vibration.
great bikes,never had any problems with any,brakes were a bit poor especially on the soft tail custom and deuce,never had oil leaks,never failed to start and were very reliable.
if you want speed dont look at a harley as they are cruisers happily cruise all day at 80,will do 110 or perhaps a little more without any effort but not made for these speeds, the v rod was a different model and on par with the jap bikes for acceleration although top speed around 140.
the only harleys to avoid i think were the horrible hugger 883 small engine bikes which were a real bone shaker although quite nippy.
Harleys as common as muck now so i got rid of mine now BMW rider i am afraid,which although i am not a bmw fan in cars,must confess this does exactly what it says on the tin and very impressive!
Richard

 

[iscaboy]

Thats gorgeous that Guzzi - perhaps still a bit "agri" but gorgeous all the same - reminds me of that special who's name I forget now - MGS01 or something?? I can't remember - it'll come back to me.

(quick google).. Yes - the MGS
http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/photos/2009models/2009-MotoGuzzi-MGS-01CORSAa.jpg

you'll enjoy this then, no me btw

YouTube - ‪Guzzi 1100 Sport i at Cadwell Park Track Day‬‎

 

[prprandall51]

I'm feeling a little left out here, so I have decided to post a pic of my current shed:

It's a Raleigh Budgie and it totally hard. Some people bang on about Chippers and Choppers but fankly they are for gays and wussies. The budgie is the boy. The Budgie was the last proper Raleigh ever to leave the factory.

I've been doing some mods on it (check out the sissy bar - but no sissies get to sit on my seat) and I'm going to take the decals off next coz they are just tat from the factory to bling it up for the owners out there.

I know it looks clean and that makes me an owner but, believe me, the only cleaning this bike gets is done by my bitch (my older sister, Jessica, Age 10 and 3/4 - she does it in return for a packet of Spangles).

And check out the tyres on those stabilisers. Believe me, I ride this bike so hard that there is never a time when either one or the other of those isn't hard on the deck. No chicken strips on them.

It's blindingly fast. I have done a 4 minute lap of the 'Ring* on this - and that's going straight out onto the track after riding all the way there non-stop from home. I don't even stop for the toilet - that's for girls.

* The 'Ring: The shortened name for a demon loop of tarmac that goes right the war round the whole playground - including the roundabout and the slide.

 

[BTB 500]

Roads are full of Harleys round here today, converging on Bisley? Must be something on.

 

[BTB 500]

My son Max wants a Harley when he grows up. This is the nearest he's got so far.

Raleigh Budgie? Pah!

 

[Alfie]

delicate point this and I don't mean to offend anyone, but in the UK they are very much a 'gay icon' - nothing wrong with this, but you need to know it and bear it in mind if you are british and not gay.

from a motorcycling point of view - i.e. performance, handling, reliability etc they are utter junk - better compared to farm machinery really. The latest Liquid cooled ones are better - sweet engines with a fair bit of go in them - at least until the first roundabout and then you are carving lovely grooves into the tarmac with the pegs and exhaust.

If you want one to pose on you could consider one I guess as long as you can live with the image - other candidates for this might be a ducati monster.

if you want a bike you can ride, ride hard, put away, forget and make sure it starts the next time then you really need to go japanese. I have zx6r at the minute which, actually really isn;t comfortable if im honest, but it is a very involving high-performance ride even if it is "just a 600".

An in-between would be something like a triumph speed-triple or the smaller capacity street triple - both are cool looking (imo) and still high-performing and reliable.

Very well put. I distinctly recall in my earlier days of biking that if you had a Harley you were considered Gay! I doubt its true, but there is a certain stigma associated with the marque. Just something to bear in mind.

Not withstanding the above, if the Harley style is what you like (gay or not)then go for it. The Japanese 'lookalikes' really dont cut it.

Personally I'd buy a Ducati or a BMW if was going back to biking. Done the fireblade thing........

 

[prprandall51]

That looks pretty awesome for a kid, actually! It also looks like it would be very tempting for an adult after too many beers at the bar-b-q.

 

[Mactech]

I've been biking for over forty years and never understood the Harley thing
I've ridden a fair few and a couple of Buells, but they just don't appeal.
Love V-Twins, (I have a Aprilia Tuono Factory) but from this century
To me, I ride a bike for fun and to get somewhere quickly. If I want to go at a more leisurley pace and in comfort.....then I take the car.

But then I don't drink coffee either

 

[Ted]

Brilliant prprandall51! Loved it.

PS My bikes better than yours.

PS is it pronounced 'Rally, or .......... Rarley"

 

[wemorgan]

My son Max wants a Harley when he grows up. This is the nearest he's got so far.

Raleigh Budgie? Pah!

There's no doubt he's a rider as he needs to wear a mouth guard to stop his teeth falling out.

 

[BTB 500]

That looks pretty awesome for a kid, actually! It also looks like it would be very tempting for an adult after too many beers at the bar-b-q.

It was at an airshow in Germany last year, they had quad bike rides for bigger kids ... the little ones got a go on that as a consolation!

 

[BTB 500]

There's no doubt he's a rider as he needs to wear a mouth guard to stop his teeth falling out.

LOL that's to stop the flies going in

 

[flango]

Absolutely agree 110% with Mactech

 

[prprandall51]

Ok, let's get this "gay" thing sorted out.

I ride a Harley and every Harley owner you meet will tell you that Japanese "pocket rockets" are ridden by gays. (I would love to see anyone accuse some of those guys of batting for the other side!)

I used to own a Ducati and thus congregated with other Italian bike owners (usually at the parts counter queuing to buy something by Magnetti Mirelli) and the general consensus was that Harleys and Japanese bikes were ridden by gays.

Then I had a Suzuki and learned from my discussions with fellow owners that Italian bikes (and Harleys) were - yes, you've guessed it - ridden by gays.

Now I have a BMW and it appears that all along I have been misled. I am now reliably informed that owners of Italian, Japanese and American bikes are gays.

I have concluded over the years that bikers usually only have a high opinion of whatever happens to be in their garage at that moment in time.

 

[jasonyw]

I am not gay but what wrong with gays? Even the government accepted them in the 21st century.

Welcome to the 21st century, wake up we are not in the '60s.

 

[flango]

Ok, let's get this "gay" thing sorted out.

I agree

Nuff said, Picture paints a thousand words

 

[Mactech]

I agree

Nuff said, Picture paints a thousand words

All if they need somewhere to live try:

Comparethequeerflat.com

 

[prprandall51]

I have seen photos of this event before. Basically, bikers ride past a "Judge" who decided if they look macho or not. He uses a megaphone to announce the results to the participants:

 

[flango]

I have seen photos of this event before. Basically, bikers ride past a "Judge" who decided if they look macho or not. He uses a megaphone to announce the results to the participants:

And presumably if ever the judge went on mastermind his specialist subject would be " The bleedin obvious"