Weekly Harley Rant

[FJR Bill]

OOH I like that sticker where can I get one? Also just last week I had ANOTHER encounter much like jmarran described. ***** with extremely loud straight pipes comes along me and guns it while he makes the pass, just to make sure I know he's cool, but traffic slows him and he does this several times along my side and I'm kinda getting sick of it. Now when I'm on my Guzzi I love to toy with these guys as it too is a humble V twin but will KICK their ***. This time I was on my FJR and its not so much fun as its like passing a VW bug with a Ferrari. However, I got so tired of listening to him I moved right behind him as the road opened up...Wow !! he got all the way up to about 90 MPH with screaming pipes that sounded more like about 200MPH...he was running out of steam. I did a small throttle adjustment and made him a small dot in my mirror in a matter of seconds. Hey I know its not fair but I can only take so much of this unnecessary noise. Bill

 

[James Burleigh]

he got all the way up to about 90 MPH with screaming pipes that sounded more like about 200MPH...he was running out of steam. I did a small throttle adjustment and made him a small dot in my mirror in a matter of seconds.

When I had my 1200 Sportster from 2003 to 2006, 80 MPH was about as fast as it wanted to go without groaning. To get it up to 100 took about another 3 minutes, and then it was topped out. Let me just say, after I replaced it with my FJR, 100 MPH ain't what it used to be. :yahoo:

 

[Nitro]

For the most part where I ride everyone on two wheels is a biker. Though I do occasionally come across the "Lifestyle" biker on a H.D. To be honest I feel kind of sad for them. They ride with such grumpy expressions and seem so unhappy. I like just about anything with wheels so it makes no difference to me what someone rides, more power to them. And yes, the what I call "Campers" in the carpool or passing lane drive me nuts. The freeway is generally doing 68 to 72 mph around here when not bogged down but we get a "camper" in one of the above lanes doing 57 mph "camping" with the cruise on....... madening, simply madening. :angry:

 

[Nitro]

he got all the way up to about 90 MPH with screaming pipes that sounded more like about 200MPH...he was running out of steam. I did a small throttle adjustment and made him a small dot in my mirror in a matter of seconds.

When I had my 1200 Sportster from 2003 to 2006, 80 MPH was about as fast as it wanted to go without groaning. To get it up to 100 took about another 3 minutes, and then it was topped out. Let me just say, after I replaced it with my FJR, 100 MPH ain't what it used to be. :yahoo:

LOL that brings back a funny memory. Years ago my brother and I were on I405 North coming through Kirkland Wa. We were doing about 70 mph cruising along on a sunday evening when a guy came roaring up between us on a 1200 Sportster. He dropped it a gear and was gassing it off and on and looking at us like "lets go!" My brother and I looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders. So the Sportster guy guns it and hits top gear and has her pinned. So here we are, the three of us line abreast, Sportster in the middle doing 110mph indicated. The Sporty had straight pipes on it and was making quite a racket and was obviously tapped out. My brother was on the left on his 85 GPZ 900 Ninja and I was riding my dads 89 GPX 750 Ninja on the right. At this point the HD rider is laying on the tank, skull cap helmet, sunglasses and looks like he is hanging on for dear life. My brother obviously getting tired of the situation looked over at me and made a "wind it up" motion with his right hand. We both looked at the Sporty rider, waved bye bye and were gone but quick as you can imagaine. The look on the guys face was priceless. I don't know if he wanted someone to "run" with or if he actually thought we were racing. It makes me chuckle every time I think about it though.

 

[Nitro]

CAJW...Nice rant I liked it, beautiful hotrod too. I know what you are talking about. I've had 3 bikes fall toward mine parked on a sidestand downslope (one ripped off my sidebag). It happens. I also liked your reference about the arrival of the "gang" which typically is accompanied by severe/unnecessary throttle bursts to announce to all that the bad *** guys have arrived, get out of the way. What a laugh but irritating.

Bill

Harley's dont have throttles, they have volume controls. The more you twist, the more sound they make, with very little additional foward movement. <_<

Good Lord thats awesome!! :yahoo:

 

[Nitro]

Harley's dont have throttles, they have volume controls. The more you twist, the more sound they make, with very little additional foward movement. <_<

Harleys: Effectively turning gasoline into noise without the annoying side effect of horsepower

:yahoo:

Ha ha ha!

 

[fljab]

I haven't been keeping up with this thread since the first few pages.

I'm leaving Monday morning for a quick run to the NC/TN mountains to meet an old friend from Michigan along with a friend of his and the friends wife. They are HD folks so hope I don't piss in the punchbowl, but probably not. My old friend (since high school) I know well and if his friend don't like riding with a Yamaha, well, we'll get through it somehow.

Dang, I just hope they got mufflers...

I think we'll probably stay @ the Dragon Tuesday night so if any locals are around, stop on by!

 

[TomInPA]

Courtesy of Old Michael in the Nitrogen Gas thread...I just thought this picture of me waiting for my riding partner's Sportster to get new tires in Olathe, KS kinda belonged here. The real problem is, the Sportster has a 3.1 gallon tank. But I got a new shirt out of the half-day wait.

 

[madmike2]

I haven't been keeping up with this thread since the first few pages.

I'm leaving Monday morning for a quick run to the NC/TN mountains to meet an old friend from Michigan along with a friend of his and the friends wife. They are HD folks so hope I don't piss in the punchbowl, but probably not. My old friend (since high school) I know well and if his friend don't like riding with a Yamaha, well, we'll get through it somehow.

Dang, I just hope they got mufflers...

Probably NOT...or they'll have loud mufflers.

Either fall far to the rear or ride in front.

Don't forget to quote the South Park Harley episode often: "Braa-aap, braap-braap-braap...braa-aaap, braap braap braap!"

heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh

 

[fljab]

Dang, I just hope they got mufflers...

Probably NOT...or they'll have loud mufflers.

Either fall far to the rear or ride in front.

Don't forget to quote the South Park Harley episode often: "Braa-aap, braap-braap-braap...braa-aaap, braap braap braap!"

heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh

LOL I'm thinking in front!

 

[Hudson]

Hmmm. All of you make compelling arguments. But methinks the t-shirt doesn't lie:

 

[FJRay]

My Wife just started her new to her Sportster in the shop to show our daughter what it sounded like. My ears won't recover for a week. :angry2: Got to find stock exhaust. <_<

 

[garyahouse]

3 years ago, my Cuz in Oregon "hired" me to buy used Harleys in Florida to ship to Japan to be sold by her partner who owned a small shop there. Over a year and a half, I had to test drive, purchase and then prep 8 Harleys for shipping. Sometimes, they sat in the garage for weeks waiting for an available truck. The neighbors would come over and ask me to "start her up." They oohed and aahed over the dumb things, and told me how lucky I was to get to have them for a little while. I'm thinkin' "good grief, what do they see in these junkers?" But to me... oil leaking, smelly, shoddy design and workmanship, sloppy linkages and controls, hard to start, clunky trannies, too heavy, too slow, I could go on--you get the idea. Sure, they had lotsa chrome and fancy expensive paint, but they just sat there and stunk up the garage. I honestly had no interest in riding any of them. And to imagine, I was paying 4500-6500 for em, and those guys in Japan were paying 10-13 grand for these same used low riders. You gotta be kidding me. Can you spell, "J-U-N-K?"

Gary

darksider #44

 

[FJRay]

In reality late model Hardleys are a pretty good machine as long as you don't expect them to be something they aren't designed to be. The oil stays on the inside and the lights stay on and as long as you don't try to make more horsepower they will run for a long time. The AMF era didn't do the motor company any favors.

The main issue is the late model operators and the god awfull noise they produce trying to go fast.They waste a lot of fuel turning gasoline into noise without makeing horsepower. If you own a tractor then operate it like a tractor not a sports car.

 

[FJR Bill]

he got all the way up to about 90 MPH with screaming pipes that sounded more like about 200MPH...he was running out of steam. I did a small throttle adjustment and made him a small dot in my mirror in a matter of seconds.

When I had my 1200 Sportster from 2003 to 2006, 80 MPH was about as fast as it wanted to go without groaning. To get it up to 100 took about another 3 minutes, and then it was topped out. Let me just say, after I replaced it with my FJR, 100 MPH ain't what it used to be. :yahoo:

LOL that brings back a funny memory. Years ago my brother and I were on I405 North coming through Kirkland Wa. We were doing about 70 mph cruising along on a sunday evening when a guy came roaring up between us on a 1200 Sportster. He dropped it a gear and was gassing it off and on and looking at us like "lets go!" My brother and I looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders. So the Sportster guy guns it and hits top gear and has her pinned. So here we are, the three of us line abreast, Sportster in the middle doing 110mph indicated. The Sporty had straight pipes on it and was making quite a racket and was obviously tapped out. My brother was on the left on his 85 GPZ 900 Ninja and I was riding my dads 89 GPX 750 Ninja on the right. At this point the HD rider is laying on the tank, skull cap helmet, sunglasses and looks like he is hanging on for dear life. My brother obviously getting tired of the situation looked over at me and made a "wind it up" motion with his right hand. We both looked at the Sporty rider, waved bye bye and were gone but quick as you can imagaine. The look on the guys face was priceless. I don't know if he wanted someone to "run" with or if he actually thought we were racing. It makes me chuckle every time I think about it though.

Nitro, Great post and I've experienced similar situations many times. In each case I've dusted off these characters with ease and wonder why they came up to irritate me in the first place. Today I came upon some very well behaved Harley riders with factory pipes. I stayed behind them for miles until I had a clean pass. I went by them at a moderate pace and waved at each one. They were cool I was cool but I hate idiots that splash you with noise and act like they have something imppressive between their legs...Bill

 

[madmike2]

While at Yosemite 2 weekends ago, getting out of the car with my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter, a Harley rider pulled up in the next parking slot. I commented that I appreciated the sound of his bike and that it was rare to see one with OEM exhaust. He said that he also hated the loud pipes on bikes and that he and his wife ride many miles and like the quieter exhaust so they can enjoy the scenery, roads and their music. I looked at his license plate> Michigan! They'd ridden out here and were touring the various parks in the West.

There are a few.......

My SIL asked, "Is that's the way they were supposed to sound?"

I explained that most owners change their exhaust before they leave the dealerships.....

Scott then asked, "Why don't the police ticket them for excessive noise?"

That, my friends, is part of the conundrum!

 

[FJR Bill]

Forgive me I just can't stop. Two weeks ago I was at the wonderful Ironhorse campground in NC. While pitching my tent 3 Harley's with straight pipes were being off loaded from trailors. Once off they started them, gunned them dozens of times to announce their presence and drove about 100 yds to their cabin. I'm sure all the country folk along the beautiful roadways appreciated their presence over the next several days. Another note: Recently I read an account of a hiker who's life long ambition was to traverse the entire Appalation trail. Went there for solitude and to connect with nature and complete his life time goal. Unfortunately while walking in the wilderness he could hear the almost continuous rumble of Harley groups cruising the Blue Ridge Parkway...A major sound pollution experience for the hiker and a tremendous dissapointment. Bill

 

[fljab]

Well, my meetup with the HD friends isn't gonna happen. I gotta call today and they'd already been to the Dragon, doing "wheels through time" tomorrow, then off to York, PA for a HD factory tour.

Sooooo, I'm gonna stay home as I'd planned to meetup tomorrow night, then to the dragon tomorrow; don't really need to go to York for anything.......

Just as well, I'm doing the Void rally in another week or so, and the Jack Shoalmire SS1K memorial ride the week after that.

 

[allrider]

he got all the way up to about 90 MPH with screaming pipes that sounded more like about 200MPH...he was running out of steam. I did a small throttle adjustment and made him a small dot in my mirror in a matter of seconds.

When I had my 1200 Sportster from 2003 to 2006, 80 MPH was about as fast as it wanted to go without groaning. To get it up to 100 took about another 3 minutes, and then it was topped out. Let me just say, after I replaced it with my FJR, 100 MPH ain't what it used to be. :yahoo:

I rented a Hardly (only thing they rented) in San Rafael on fine sunny day and road around Point Reyes, Stinson Beach, etc. Toodled around those nice twisties all day and had a grand time. When it came time to return it i took the highway and got my first chance to see what it could do. Got to 80mph and my eyes balls were shaking so hard i couldn't focus. Never experienced that before under any circumstances, never mind riding a bike. Friggin scary.

 

[Hudson]

Ironic that after today's post, I was headed back from EscapeArtist's house and got stuck behind 2 Harleys. The best they did was 1 mph under the speed limit, most of the time they were 5-10 mph slower than the speed limit. This went on for about 15 miles, until I passd them on a long straight away.

In a Honda Element. With two kids.

My ten year old turns to me and says, "Dad, Harley's suck." I had to correct him: "No, the bikes are just fine. Harley riders, on the other hand..."

Hardly moving $#@%*! %$#*@# is right....