wfooshee
O, Woe is me!!
So the twice-yearly cruiser rally was this past weekend here. Once again I carried my camera around the parking areas looking for interesting bikes.
We had incredibly good weather and a good turnout, although the vendor presence seemed a bit less than I've seen before. Anyway, here's a row of bikes parked at Frank Brown Park, the first venue I visited.
Yes, this was a girl's bike. Spoke to her briefly.
I am amazed that my camera could capture this color!
This must be the IN color for 2018. I saw this Victory, and about 20 H-Ds in matte gray.
Big ol' giant thumping 650cc single. (Suzuki had an 800 single cruiser back in the day, I think, and I know they had the off-roadable DR800.)
One of these things is not like the others...
How'd THAT get in here??? (Beer vendor. Cruiser riders like their beer!)
Not my type of bike, but Victory sure knows how to lay on a paint job!
SO many things wrong with this!!!
I mean, why do you even have the thing if you're not going to ride?
Has the oil even been changed? How long does the gas sit in the tank?
Those miles in that amount of time is like 6 miles a WEEK! I bet the trailer this thing rides on has had three sets of tires on it...
Brand new 2018 Triumph Bonneville. I love the retro look of this! The flat seat, that tank, and those pipes!
Off to the Pier Park venue. This one is not retro, it's actually just old.
Passenger pegs on the exhaust pipe? Who thought that was a good idea?
Oh. They did.
And she's not even using the peg correctly!!!
Something wrong here....
What's up with that shift linkage?
THERE's the shifter!!
I don't know where the clutch is; there was no lever on the left bar. I think the right foot pedal is the clutch, as the brake line to the rear goes up into the frame and not to the pedal. I'm thinking the front lever works a proportioning valve and does both wheels.
You meet the nicest people on a Honda!
Hey, that's no V-twin!
If you're about to hit something, BAIL!!!! Pavement surfing is going to be better than that iron bar in the, um... there.
As if exhaust heat wasn't a problem already... and that's going to be one well-lit front tire!
Harley-Davidson had a demo truck at the Pier Park venue. They were the only one this year, which was disappointing, after seeing Yamaha, Moto Guzzi, Ducatti, and even Boss Hog in previous years. Anyway, since there wasn't anything else, I figured I'd pop my cherry and actually ride one. Yes, I've never been on a Harley-Davidson before this!
First one I rode was this Road King. I HATED it!! Bars were way too wide and very far away. The bike only had a speedometer and a fuel gauge, and the fuel gauge was one of those mechanical pointers that sits on top of the tank, like you saw on Uncle Bob's tractor when you visited the farm as a kid, that wiggles as the bike moves around. Without a windshield this bike was lousy at highway speed, and I've finally experienced the Harley idle in person. I have to apologize for all those times I've compared the idle vibration to a paint shaker. Paint shakers are BUTTER next to this thing!!!! Also, this may have been just this bike, but I could NOT get neutral when stopped. I could get it while the bike was moving, just before it stopped, but once stopped, it was stuck in gear and I was on the clutch.
The second bike I rode was this Ultra Limited (in the aforementioned matte gray!) Bar position was MUCH more comfortable, and while the bike was very heavy, the seat's pretty low, so I wasn't worried about dropping it. Still lousy idle, but once moving it was quite comfortable, and that fairing gave incredible wind protection. I didn't close my face shield, had no buffeting, no debris in the face, and in cold riding, my hands would have been protected as well. Full set of gauges, and a radio. Radios on bikes are STUPID! Why do you assume everyone around you likes your music? I didn't dive into it far enough to see if it had BT for the helmet speakers, but it probably does. It also had plugs for both the rider and the passenger. I don't know if those were power, intercom, or what. Only two things make this an unacceptable motorcycle: the idle, and the price. No Harley is worth a third of what it costs, and there's simply no excuse for accepting this idle as something a bike is supposed to do. It's not "character," it's a design defect!
Last venue for my trip, the H-D dealership's parking lot.
Color-shifting paint
Indian in matte black.
I wouldn't mind riding one of these to compare with the Harley, but I'm not going to waste a dealer's time as there is ZERO possibility of actually getting one.
Again, one of these things is not like the others
BMW with Telelever front end
Stupid exhaust pipes!
We had incredibly good weather and a good turnout, although the vendor presence seemed a bit less than I've seen before. Anyway, here's a row of bikes parked at Frank Brown Park, the first venue I visited.
Yes, this was a girl's bike. Spoke to her briefly.
I am amazed that my camera could capture this color!
This must be the IN color for 2018. I saw this Victory, and about 20 H-Ds in matte gray.
Big ol' giant thumping 650cc single. (Suzuki had an 800 single cruiser back in the day, I think, and I know they had the off-roadable DR800.)
One of these things is not like the others...
How'd THAT get in here??? (Beer vendor. Cruiser riders like their beer!)
Not my type of bike, but Victory sure knows how to lay on a paint job!
SO many things wrong with this!!!
I mean, why do you even have the thing if you're not going to ride?
Has the oil even been changed? How long does the gas sit in the tank?
Those miles in that amount of time is like 6 miles a WEEK! I bet the trailer this thing rides on has had three sets of tires on it...
Brand new 2018 Triumph Bonneville. I love the retro look of this! The flat seat, that tank, and those pipes!
Off to the Pier Park venue. This one is not retro, it's actually just old.
Passenger pegs on the exhaust pipe? Who thought that was a good idea?
Oh. They did.
And she's not even using the peg correctly!!!
Something wrong here....
What's up with that shift linkage?
THERE's the shifter!!
I don't know where the clutch is; there was no lever on the left bar. I think the right foot pedal is the clutch, as the brake line to the rear goes up into the frame and not to the pedal. I'm thinking the front lever works a proportioning valve and does both wheels.
You meet the nicest people on a Honda!
Hey, that's no V-twin!
If you're about to hit something, BAIL!!!! Pavement surfing is going to be better than that iron bar in the, um... there.
As if exhaust heat wasn't a problem already... and that's going to be one well-lit front tire!
Harley-Davidson had a demo truck at the Pier Park venue. They were the only one this year, which was disappointing, after seeing Yamaha, Moto Guzzi, Ducatti, and even Boss Hog in previous years. Anyway, since there wasn't anything else, I figured I'd pop my cherry and actually ride one. Yes, I've never been on a Harley-Davidson before this!
First one I rode was this Road King. I HATED it!! Bars were way too wide and very far away. The bike only had a speedometer and a fuel gauge, and the fuel gauge was one of those mechanical pointers that sits on top of the tank, like you saw on Uncle Bob's tractor when you visited the farm as a kid, that wiggles as the bike moves around. Without a windshield this bike was lousy at highway speed, and I've finally experienced the Harley idle in person. I have to apologize for all those times I've compared the idle vibration to a paint shaker. Paint shakers are BUTTER next to this thing!!!! Also, this may have been just this bike, but I could NOT get neutral when stopped. I could get it while the bike was moving, just before it stopped, but once stopped, it was stuck in gear and I was on the clutch.
The second bike I rode was this Ultra Limited (in the aforementioned matte gray!) Bar position was MUCH more comfortable, and while the bike was very heavy, the seat's pretty low, so I wasn't worried about dropping it. Still lousy idle, but once moving it was quite comfortable, and that fairing gave incredible wind protection. I didn't close my face shield, had no buffeting, no debris in the face, and in cold riding, my hands would have been protected as well. Full set of gauges, and a radio. Radios on bikes are STUPID! Why do you assume everyone around you likes your music? I didn't dive into it far enough to see if it had BT for the helmet speakers, but it probably does. It also had plugs for both the rider and the passenger. I don't know if those were power, intercom, or what. Only two things make this an unacceptable motorcycle: the idle, and the price. No Harley is worth a third of what it costs, and there's simply no excuse for accepting this idle as something a bike is supposed to do. It's not "character," it's a design defect!
Last venue for my trip, the H-D dealership's parking lot.
Color-shifting paint
Indian in matte black.
I wouldn't mind riding one of these to compare with the Harley, but I'm not going to waste a dealer's time as there is ZERO possibility of actually getting one.
Again, one of these things is not like the others
BMW with Telelever front end
Stupid exhaust pipes!
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