Go Buy a REAL Motorcycle!!!

[krashdragon]

I concur that most of the "dumb comments" I get about "Harleys" come from people that don't even own or ride motorcycles.
I have been in "spirited" discussions with a few Harley owners at work. When the dust had settled all the other camp could come up with is that Harleys have "style". My final reply is that if one has to have style with no substance what are you trying to compensate for?

Never did quite understand the "Harley cache". I've riden a friend's Road King.

Why would I want to ride a bike that has 1/2 the horse power, 2/3 the torque, over 1 1/2 times as heavy, costs 1 1/2 times as much, vibrates so much you got to take a pee every 1/2 an hour. The rear suspension has barely over 2" of travel and when you hit some pot holes you are nearly bucked out of the saddle. The fasteners are notorious for coming off, have a history of leaking oil and is so loud your ears ring after being on it all day.

My bike straight out of the box can out accelerate it, out turn it, out lean it, out brake it. Costs less to purchase, costs less to insure it, cost less to maintain it.

I have to admit a certain degree of satisfaction on my ride through the Ozarks and San Juan Skyway in Colorado is coming out of the six of a loping Harley and watching it recede in my rear view mirror as he tries to catch up or keep up through the twisty turnies....and realizes he has no chance in XXXX, you can literally see the shoulders just slump down and they give up after a turn or two.

But the Harley's nice to have when you just want to putt along and smell the flowers...

A couple of my friends have pages of photos of scenery... including many impressive shots of gorgeous wildflowers....but they keep stopping to take the pics! On, one rides an Harley Glide, the other a Yamaha Road Star....

The BAD thing about the sportibkes ...and i'm referring mainly to my Bandit 1200 here, dont' have the Feejer yet... is that they MAKE you want to go fast! (Like that's a bad thing!)

I won't even try to keep up with sportbikes or even those noisy little cars with tin can exhausts when I'm riding the Deuce, i just ride at a point where I feel comfortable... Funny thing is, I usually get there before the kids with the sportbikes...

Mary

 

[krashdragon]

I'm tempted to get some baby pink leathers to illustrate that they were beaten by either a girl, or an effeminate guy. <VBG>
Jill

Pink would be cool.... just dont' get red ones!

Yeah, those small Jap cars with tin can exhausts.... I got putt putt with my Jeep....ummm... I usually am first away fromt the light, anyway!... and it takes than three blocks to catch up....

Only I wont' play on the freeway... I just give the idiots lots of room., there's really no room to outrun anyone on the roads here.... getting wrinkled is not fun....

Now out west is a different story...<G>

does radar work if it's pointed straight up?

Mary

 

[Knifemaker]

Good point there Mary..

There seems to be that tenptation when you have a powerfull bike to "open it up and see what she'll do.."

Just because you have 145 horsepower does not mean you have to use every bit of it every time you ride.

I roadraced in my "younger" days. So with me it's a bit of been there, did that...Going fast is no skill if all you have to do is twist a grip.

Showing off to slower bikes is just as childish when your 50 as it was when you were 19.

But then again, everyone tells me I have not growed up yet...

KM

 

[exskibum]

Good points about what the Harley does do well, Mary, but it's too bad that too many owners have some weird perception that it is more than that and that what others ride is less. What it does do is the reason why I said earlier that if I had unlimited funds, I'd probably buy one as a part of a 6 or 7 bike stable for the occasional short ride.

I think you'll like the FJR when you get it though. The XX makes me go fast too often, as noted by others. While the Feejer will go plenty fast enough to get me a ticket, and while I at first bemoaned the 5 speed instead of 6 speed tranny, I love the torque and low speed handling of the platform as it is. Going over Ebbetts Pass out here for example (very winding and very much up and down), I like to let the Feejer lope along in a single gear using the throttle between 2000 and 4000 rpm to just slowly putt along and check out the mountain tops in the unfolding vistas around each bend. It's so tractable there that I can easily ride along one handed in such situations for a couple miles.

Sometimes I like to go faster, too.

Point is that of all the bikes I've been on, I think the Feejer best handles the widest range of tasks. It may not be the best at anything, but there's nothing that does everything as well. Enjoy it when you get it. Til then, enjoy whatever you're riding -- I would.

 

[krashdragon]

everyone tells me I have not growed up yet...
KM

SSSHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

I think I met a biker that was grown up.... once upon a time.... maybe.... <G>

Mary

 

[krashdragon]

Sometimes I like to go faster, too.

Ummm...yeah! that's why I orginally bought the Bandit...

The ladies group I ride with has both sport bikes and cruisers.... but sometimes you want to just sightsee and sometimes you want to twist the throttle a bit...

Since I'm moving to the mainland from Hawaii next month, I hope to be doing a lot of riding...

My Softail Deuce is nice, but I was thinking about a Road Glide for longer trips... that's not a very big bike, I like it... but happened upon the FJR and really like it. I can add tunes and cruise control, and it's got a decent fairing and bags, so all well!

If they're real bikers/riders whatever you want to call them, as long as you're out riding it's all good...

Even the Harley guys pick on each other.... pans vs shovels vs evos vs twinkies....

gets pretty funny on some of the forums sometimes...

Mary

 

[odot]

There's a whole new topic there....shovels over evo's. My buddy continually gave me shit about my 97 soft tail. Said that it was a jap motor. All I can do is laugh when he drove in his ford truck to work when I rode my scoot in every day....rain or shine.

 

[panthercity]

...and the only people I've seen who wear assless chaps are Village People, Hairdressers, and Harley riders.

There are working stockmen (cowboys) that might take exception to that statement...

 

[Clark Kent]

If I were a Harley rider (playing devils advocate) I would say.

Well boys, remember back from 39 to 45? The Harley, Henderson and Indian were about the only bikes you could ride (cruisers). Those were the bikes we used to go find those little yellow slant eyed bastards who butchered (cut the heads off) our boys on the bataan death march.

After we beat them, we were real nice to them and taught them what real bikes were. (that's why they are copying them today). Sure they came up with some pretty nice and fast bikes on their own. But that's mostly due to the way we rearraged their brain cells with them two nukes.

Come to think of it, TWO bombs weren't enough!

(Now that just what someone from the 40's might say) Not me.

CK

Disclaimer: The references to people above are made in the time frame of the

1930's and 40's. In that contexts they are historically,

intelectually and morally true and correct.

Times and people change. This time for the better.

In current times, we are the beneficiaries of these changes, as we

have better people and better bikes! :haha:

 

[RonC]

...and the only people I've seen who wear assless chaps are Village People, Hairdressers, and Harley riders.

There are working stockmen (cowboys) that might take exception to that statement...

Agreed, Panther.

But I also know that many cowboys wear pantyhose under their jeans to reduce chafing while on horseback.

Ron

 

[panthercity]

...and the only people I've seen who wear assless chaps are Village People, Hairdressers, and Harley riders.

There are working stockmen (cowboys) that might take exception to that statement...

Agreed, Panther.

But I also know that many cowboys wear pantyhose under their jeans to reduce chafing while on horseback.

Ron

Yuppers. SWMBO turned me onto that little trick back in the day when I had no choice butt to ride year `round.

 

[Destiver]

I love how people think just because your bike is a "Body By Tupperware" model it's not a "real bike". Please.. give me plastic, I love it :wub: People who usually make statements like that are young males who have either never been on a bike, or never been on a "real bike" themselves.



Destiver

 

[Flint]

Q. Why doncha git a reel motorsickle?

A. Not to obfuscate the obvious subtle bilabial fricative that has slipped from your plump sweet lips I have decided to move through the time space vortex at a more closer to warp speed level of realignment of the particles of the species ongoing attempt to achieve true enlightment via auto erotic self flagellation?

Ya git thet bubba?

Flint

p.s. Let Bubba see the butt of the P89 in the shoulder holster as I pay for my gas, then peel before the inference slips into cognitive levels of brain function.

 

[krashdragon]

p.s. Let Bubba see the butt of the P89 in the shoulder holster as I pay for my gas, then peel before the inference slips into cognitive levels of brain function.

Sissy!

Real bikers wear 1911's or .44's! :rolf:

Shoots!

That one was too easy...Just pickin on ya!

Sorry, we do that a lot in the Harley forum I go to...<G>

Got a good bunch of peeps there...

I have one friend... wears his .44 ALL the time, except in his house...

not conceled either, even tho he has a CCW permit...

but he does live in Texas, and is a real rancher... rides a big Honda cruiser...

Mary

Edited...cause i forget stuff ....<G>

 

[JimLor]

Rule # (I forget..) but it says - Never enter a pistol fight with a caliber that doesn't start with a 4.

 

[RadioHowie]

Rule # (I forget..) but it says - Never enter a pistol fight with a caliber that doesn't start with a 4.

Does that mean I have to leave this

.50AE Desert Eagle Pistol

at the house? Guess I pissed away $1,200. Durn-burn it.

 

[Mike-H]

Question :huh: Does that mean a 9mm doesnt count cause it's metric :dribble: just asking :blink: ....

 

[Scab]

Metric bike, metric pistol. Works for me.

 

[Carnifex]

Size doesn't matter if you now how to use it....

One of the 2-3 officer-involved shootings that have happened since I got on the job was a local cop called to a disorderly crowd with a guy firing a gun. The officer showed up, ordered the guy to drop his gun twice, the suspect failed to comply and the officer popped him one time, right in the 10-ring with a .38 wheel gun. This was right around the time everyone else in the area was moving to semi automatics at .40 and .45, becuase 9mm was 'not powerful enough'. The suspect was DRT.

Having said that though, this is what I carry with my CCDW permit.

 

[JimLor]

Carnifex - you are dead on. Accuracy - Power - Speed in that order

RadioHowie - You're good to go, I should have said "...a 4 OR ABOVE"

Mike-H - Sorry, doesn't count. 9mm is .37 cal. Funny how the military used the M1911 for about a century before becoming more sensitive and went to the 9mm. Funnier still, the "special" folks in the USMC and US Army use the .45. Almost hilarious still, the military is considering going back to the .45 because the 9mm isn't doing so well in IZ! The more things change the more they stay the same!