Someone explain the Harley Davidson experience

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Sidecar Bob
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Re: Someone explain the Harley Davidson experience

#46

Post by Sidecar Bob »

I have tried Harleys a few times but was never particularly impressed, even when my basis of comparison was my '78 GS400.

I think I've told this here before but it fits into this conversation:
I used to be in a non-brand-specific club. When we left somewhere, it was our usual policy to leave as a group and go somewhere for coffee & tire kicking before we all headed off in separate directions. One time in '97 we were at something near my place so they asked me to lead the group to a local coffee shop. I was at the front left on Mr.H and Ice (the Road Captain) was on my right on his 6 month old Fat Boy.

I should mention at this point that Mr.Honda is an '83 GoldWing with '79 engine. I had put him together a few months earlier from the wreck of my GL1000 sidecar machine (a car turned left across my path) and a GL1100 that had been left sitting in a hedge for 6 years. I had almost no money at the time so I did everything myself and bought as few parts as possible (I think the SS braided brake lines were the single most expensive item). All told, including buying my write off from the insurance company, buying the '83, all parts and even the title transfer I spent just under $1100.

Shortly after we left we stopped at a red light. When the light turned green I pulled away, accelerating normally to a bit over the speed limit and then looked over to grin at Ice, but he wasn't there. I looked in my mirrors and saw headlights way behind me so I slowed down and waited for the group to catch up, wondering if something was wrong. They caught up and, when we pulled into the coffee shop a minute or so later, Ice jumped off his Harley and started looking all over my 'Wing as if he was seeing something completely alien. "What have you got in there?" he asked.

"A '79 GL1000 engine."

"No, I mean what have you done to it? Crank? Cams? Carbs? "

"Its stock. As far as I know, it's never been apart."

"Oh." he said. He was almost in tears as he told me about all of the work he'd had done to his Harley to improve its performance. He had spent as much having his engine "built" (Harleyspeak for taken apart and re-assembled the way the factory should have done in the first place) as I had spent on my whole bike, not to mention the hot cams, better carbs, aftermarket pipes and so on ad nauseam that he had invested in to make his bike pull away better.

And now he finds out that it can't keep up with a 14 year old Honda with an 18 year old, bone stock engine.

I didn't have the heart to tell him I had just pulled away normally and I wasn't really trying to leave him behind.

BTW, RE: "BUT, if Bubba's bike was next to either of my wings, nobody ever looked at the wings."
While I was in that club I had an '82 Dnepr for about a year. Some of those guys had put a lot of time & money into their Harleys and they were really nice but when we went somewhere it was the Dnepr that people looked at....
Mr. Honda ('83 GL1100/Dnepr) summer How a motorcycle evolves thread
The Famous Eccles ('84 CX650EI/VeloUral) winter Never Ending Build (CX500forum)
Click: Colour schematics for all GL1000 & GL1100 and GL1200 standard models plus instructions on how to download the full size version
"A guy with two sidecars can't be all bad." - Cookie
Another guy with two sidecars..... Hmmmm... must be something to that....
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Gashog
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Re: Someone explain the Harley Davidson experience

#47

Post by Gashog »

Glad I got my "Harley" boots on. It's getting deep. haha
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Re: Someone explain the Harley Davidson experience

#48

Post by rcmatt007 »

Gashog wrote:Glad I got my "Harley" boots on. It's getting deep. haha
but excellent fertilizer :twisted:
-Rodger-
all it takes for evil to prosper is the want of a few good men to do nothing-Edmund Burke
The question is not how much time do you have, it is what you do with the time that you have Gandalf
"One of the greatest dignities of humankind is that each successive generation is invested in the welfare of each new generation." Fred Rodgers
"it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert" ancient saying
78 constantly modified/customized since 1978, BOTM June 2015 de-evolving this very moment viewtopic.php?f=30&t=65511
76 Ltd "cookies bike" ALMOST DONE
79 project, finished, FOR SALE
'86 1200 (Beth's)(FOR SALE) with motorvation sidecar (sidecar sold) , July 2017 BOTM
'17 HD Road king and 08 HD Heritage softail (Beth's) (FOR SALE). I guess you can say we have MBS
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Dirty Dave
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Re: Someone explain the Harley Davidson experience

#49

Post by Dirty Dave »

Depends on the rider as well.

Buddy of mine says (years ago in NH) at a country stoplite, "When the light goes green, we will race!"

78 GoldWing against his early 90s 883 Sporty. I went for it redlining thru my gears only to see his tiny headlite
in my mirrors on down the road.

He didn't have a tach or any idea how to "go for it". This is the same guy that I inspired to work on his own bike.
He managed to install his brake pads on the wrong way, pads out........

What can I say.
1978/9 GL1000
1997 Honda Valkyrie
2018 Kawasaki Z900 RS
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Sidecar Bob
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Re: Someone explain the Harley Davidson experience

#50

Post by Sidecar Bob »

Gashog wrote:Glad I got my "Harley" boots on. It's getting deep. haha
I promise that's exactly what happened. And that was the '83 with the 1000 engine (= more than a gear higher than stock) so it didn't pull away like a stock 'Wing would.
Mr. Honda ('83 GL1100/Dnepr) summer How a motorcycle evolves thread
The Famous Eccles ('84 CX650EI/VeloUral) winter Never Ending Build (CX500forum)
Click: Colour schematics for all GL1000 & GL1100 and GL1200 standard models plus instructions on how to download the full size version
"A guy with two sidecars can't be all bad." - Cookie
Another guy with two sidecars..... Hmmmm... must be something to that....
elslimdiablo
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Re: Someone explain the Harley Davidson experience

#51

Post by elslimdiablo »

I am a mechanic for the county I reside in, we have a fleet of HDs for the police. Recently we bought two new police cruisers that have injected 107s. I can tell you this, it will rip your shoulders up with torque. The disappointment came at 5000 rpm when it noses over. I am so use to my wing just starting to really pull around then. Some other things were the lack of feeling, nothing feels like it is connected. The handle bars are doing one thing, the seat is doing another. With the fuel injection, the first time I came to a stop and idled for more than a couple of seconds, it cuts out one cylinder. Emissions or rear cylinder cooling I'm guessing. All in all it isn't a bad machine, I'm just use to Japanese. We bought service contracts with all of our bikes, so I never get to put miles on them. ( I was only riding these because they had to go back to the dealer for CELs being on, before we even had tags on them) I am an equal opportunity offender, two wheels and an engine is all I need. I'm just spoiled by my GL.
1977 GL1000, 1200 transplant, sold
1976 GL1000
1975 CB360T(in the family since new and restored)
1975 GL1000
1974 CB360
1961 T20 Tiger cub SL
1959 T20 Tiger cub S
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CYBORG
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Re: Someone explain the Harley Davidson experience

#52

Post by CYBORG »

Rumor is that ALL Harleys fall on their nose at 5252 RPM. Was true of the older ones. May still be the case
1978 custom GL1000
1977 custom with 1200 engine
1985 gl1200
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Sidecar Bob
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Re: Someone explain the Harley Davidson experience

#53

Post by Sidecar Bob »

elslimdiablo wrote: I was only riding these because they had to go back to the dealer for CELs being on, before we even had tags on them
Years ago during the bad old days of AMF ownership and before Harley got serious about reliability again someone once told me that one Harley he knew spent so much of its time in the back of a pickup truck that its owner had his trained it to jump in when he whistled :lol: :roll: :lol:

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind Harleys per se and I've seen a few I wouldn't kick out of my garage (except that I have vowed not to ever have a non-shaft bike again). What I don't like is the attitude that some people have that Harleys are god's gift to motorcycling and nothing else is worth having. I have to say that I meet a lot less of those people these days than I did 20 or 30 years ago and even back then a lot of it came from people that had never even been on a bike, let alone owning one. One Harley guy I used to know had the best Harley shirt I have ever seen. It said "I own a HARLEY, not just a SHIRT"

Back when I had my first 'Wing we were at an event and I was walking around looking at all the parked bikes a friend that had a Harley when we came across a 'Wing that was just covered with chrome bolt-ons. I mean this thing had so much chrome it was gaudy. He just stood there looking at it and shaking his head so I asked "What's wrong?" He replied "I just don't get why some of these guys spend all that money on chrome crap for their 'Wings but they never touch the engine" I answered "Its a 'Wing. You don't need to do anything to the engine."

BTW: I never was big on bolt on chrome and these days even less so. The only chrome parts on Mr.H now are the handlebars, headlight rim and mufflers........
Mr. Honda ('83 GL1100/Dnepr) summer How a motorcycle evolves thread
The Famous Eccles ('84 CX650EI/VeloUral) winter Never Ending Build (CX500forum)
Click: Colour schematics for all GL1000 & GL1100 and GL1200 standard models plus instructions on how to download the full size version
"A guy with two sidecars can't be all bad." - Cookie
Another guy with two sidecars..... Hmmmm... must be something to that....
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Solina Dave
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Re: Someone explain the Harley Davidson experience

#54

Post by Solina Dave »

My first motorcycle ride was on the back of a mid-'50s Harley dresser. I was 10 years old, and it changed my life. But my 1st bike was many years later in 1977, a new Honda 550, followed very soon after by a '78 GL1000. That's where I've been ever since.
I'm quite well beyond the thought of purchasing a Harley, although there was a time a few years ago that I was considering the possibility. But their high cost, and my wife, now my ex, :IDTS: forced me to reconsider. If I was still contemplating the possibility, I might think about borrowing or renting one, and then take a trip for a week just to see what it's like. :crosso

That could be fun.....anim-cheers1 .....Dave
"ASSUME NOTHING"

1st motorcycle-1977 Honda CB550F Super Sport
2nd motorcycle-1978 GL1000

"Not riding a motorcycle is wrong"
JSBail
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Re: Someone explain the Harley Davidson experience

#55

Post by JSBail »

I worked on a friends '90 something 1200 sportster last summer and all in all it was a decent bike, what I didn't like however had nothing to do with it being an HD but rather all the cheap quality aftermarket chrome "accessories" it had on it. Maybe I'm too much of a function first type of person because even my 83 Interstate has minimal chrome.
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Re: Someone explain the Harley Davidson experience

#56

Post by rcmatt007 »

:popcornx2 :popcoHow bout den cubbiesrnx2 :popcornx2
-Rodger-
all it takes for evil to prosper is the want of a few good men to do nothing-Edmund Burke
The question is not how much time do you have, it is what you do with the time that you have Gandalf
"One of the greatest dignities of humankind is that each successive generation is invested in the welfare of each new generation." Fred Rodgers
"it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert" ancient saying
78 constantly modified/customized since 1978, BOTM June 2015 de-evolving this very moment viewtopic.php?f=30&t=65511
76 Ltd "cookies bike" ALMOST DONE
79 project, finished, FOR SALE
'86 1200 (Beth's)(FOR SALE) with motorvation sidecar (sidecar sold) , July 2017 BOTM
'17 HD Road king and 08 HD Heritage softail (Beth's) (FOR SALE). I guess you can say we have MBS
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Re: Someone explain the Harley Davidson experience

#57

Post by Rat »

They are motorcycles ....

Gord anim-cheers1
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Re: Someone explain the Harley Davidson experience

#58

Post by rcmatt007 »

I am rooting for the Toledo mudhens
-Rodger-
all it takes for evil to prosper is the want of a few good men to do nothing-Edmund Burke
The question is not how much time do you have, it is what you do with the time that you have Gandalf
"One of the greatest dignities of humankind is that each successive generation is invested in the welfare of each new generation." Fred Rodgers
"it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert" ancient saying
78 constantly modified/customized since 1978, BOTM June 2015 de-evolving this very moment viewtopic.php?f=30&t=65511
76 Ltd "cookies bike" ALMOST DONE
79 project, finished, FOR SALE
'86 1200 (Beth's)(FOR SALE) with motorvation sidecar (sidecar sold) , July 2017 BOTM
'17 HD Road king and 08 HD Heritage softail (Beth's) (FOR SALE). I guess you can say we have MBS
digger
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Re: Someone explain the Harley Davidson experience

#59

Post by digger »

Very interesting comments all. I ride with some Harley riders (they are friends, not jerks) sometimes as well as with owners of newer Goldwings, we all get along just fine, but I sometimes like to razz them both just a little. I showed up for a large Goldwing ride, there were a lot of GL1800s, then me on my 75 and a friend (who just got an 1800) says hey, they make better bikes than that you know! My response, "better than a Goldwing?" Awww come on, you know what I mean. "yeah, spend more $" A Harley friend told me once to buy HD boots, they are the most comfortable ones for walking in. I did buy a pair, (online at reduced $) and they are.
1975 GL1000
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Solina Dave
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Re: Someone explain the Harley Davidson experience

#60

Post by Solina Dave »

digger wrote:I ride with some Harley riders (they are friends, not jerks) sometimes as well as with owners of newer Goldwings, we all get along just fine, but I sometimes like to razz them both just a little.
Of course! That's what friends do.
My bother-in-law rides a beautiful $50,000 Harley. I ride a pretty nice lookin' '78 GL that's likely close to being monetarily worthless. But that priceless machine, that I bought new, ain't for sale, ever.
Back in the day, many years ago, he took my bike for a spin. He'd never owned a bike. He got hooked, and went the Harley route. He loves biking.
The other day, me and my son and him were stting around and he told me about getting stuck in stopped traffic and having to shut the V-Twin down because it was overheating. The conversation went on to him talking about the massive audio upgrade, he'd just spent a fortune on, for his bike's sound system. I told him that I'd never been interested in a sound system for my bike. Of course he had to try and justify spending all of his money on his exotic sound system. I told him that I'd opted to pass on a sound system, and go instead for a liquid cooling system so I wouldn't have to shut it down when things got hot. My son was laughing so hard, at the look on his uncles face, he almost wet himself. Harmless, innocent fun!

anim-cheers1 .......Dave
"ASSUME NOTHING"

1st motorcycle-1977 Honda CB550F Super Sport
2nd motorcycle-1978 GL1000

"Not riding a motorcycle is wrong"
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