I was looking at one in the car park in town earlier.
I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Looked a bit untidy, though nearly new.

harley davisons are fantastic. there powerful, comfy and fantastic to ride. I also think they look quite nice. 😀

IMO – dreadful bikes. overweight, underpowered, rubbish handling tarts handbags. The only one I have ridden was a 90s sportster and I believe thay have improved but that was dreadful – slower, worse handling and more vibration that my 61 BSA.

Big cheif – powerful – my arse (except the v rod)

Posers bikes.

Suitable for metal fans yanks or germans only

youve got to look over the handling fact of them. there pure muscle. youve also got to see that you are riding a classic bike. that just makes up for the crp about them.

Look horrible and sound horrendous IMO …. disgusting and can’t stand them.

nice to look at and nice to listen to (well, some of them), but that’s about it 😉

TandemJeremy – Member

IMO – dreadful bikes. overweight, underpowered, rubbish handling tarts handbags. The only one I have ridden was a 90s sportster and I believe thay have improved but that was dreadful – slower, worse handling and more vibration that my 61 BSA.

Big cheif – powerful – my arse (except the v rod)

Posers bikes.

Suitable for metal fans yanks or germans only

Big cheif – how can you say they are pure muscle? Apart from the V rod they have less power than a jap bike half the size and weigh twice as much – seriously slow underpowered bikes.

Have you ridden one?

All show and no go. I don’t particularly like the show they put on either.

In my optinion, they have no redeeming feature other than to let you know who’s more concerned with looking like a biker than being a motorcyclist.

Think you have to take them as they come – mostly ancient engineering at a premium price. They are slow moving, slow steering, and a wee bit austentatious (some are very grim with tastles and shiny bits)
But some people just want to bimble around trying to look cool – so let them be. My neighbour has a fatbob that i tried and really disliked, he thinks it’s the best bike in the world, he has waited about 25 years to be able to eventaully get one – if he is happy with it, who am i to tell him i think it’s a bit of a dog?

If you were to nail a badger tied to an airhorn to your head it would be noisy and get people look at you, it would also probably be more comfortable and handle better as well.

Quite like the basic Harleys.Obviously they’re not as good as Japanese,Triumphs,or even Italian bikes.
My mate had a Fatboy,many moons ago. We went to the Grand Prix at Donnington,me and the Mrs on a ZZR 600,following him.Almost fell off laughing.Nearly every bend resulted in a healthy shower of sparks……Didn’t stop him from passing loads of fools on the latest race replicas.

Always black or white opinions on Harleys. I had a softail springer for a couple of years. It was slow, handling was crap and the brakes woefull, but somehow I loved tooling around with other Harley riders.

All my other machines have been sports bikes – Triumphs (including and original Bonnie), Suzuki, 750 Yam 750, Triumph 750 triple etc. You enjoy these for the riding. You enjoy the Harley for just being out cruising – different experiences

Personally I think Harleys look and sound great, but also like Ducatis and some modern Japanese stuff

‘Massey Ferguson’s’ as I call ’em are largely fookin’ awful things for posing solicitors with small penises.

Over priced, agricultural, poor handling biker wannabe’s American tat

Always kinda liked the smaller 80ci Sporties, love the sound of a big v-twin, and I like the narrow profile for threading through traffic. However, as many have pointed out, they are pretty basic and the handling is designed for wide straight roads so narrow twisting English roads show up all the shortcomings. The Sporty is still better than the lardy ‘Glides, tho’, and don’t get me started on the Honda equivalents. With huge panniers, stereos and all mod cons, and overall size close to the Exxon Valdiz, why not just buy a bl00dy car. Buell’s now, that’s a different story. Hot looks, good stiff chassis with decent handling and brakes and a stonking v-twin engine. What’s not to like?

dont insult massey fergusons

there just beastly tractors

Here’s my big V twin traffic threader!
Narrow twisty English roads – yes please.

Had a Fat Bob for a few days out in California, the throttle was not to make it faster, just louder. I imagine it would be awful to ride over here on our roads, where you would get pwned by the yoofs on Grifters or whateva they ride these days.

Not very good IMO.

@MrSparkle

Blasphemer. John Deere are the best and Claas’s of course.

Harley Davidson , hmm , doubt you’ll see one winning the TT this weekend.
Overpriced American junk that handles like a bath full of water.

da funk

The flat tracker race bikes look the dogs whatsits. I remember when the Harley race bike called Lucifers Hammer came over for the transatlntic races in the 80s and early 90s ridden by Wes Cooley. On twisty slow tracks he was beating GSXRs and RC 30s.

Buells look nice but have a terrible reliability reputation a few years back at the TT I was following one down the course towards Signpost after the Senior and the exhaust can fell off and bounced like an expensive ping pong ball down the road.

Of course nothing ever falls off my BSA and its as reliable as a swiss watch and I wouldnt lie to you 😉

I think they are really sad…all about the american dream, probably ok across America deserts, on straight rds at 55mph without a lid….not quite the same when ridden by big gutted individuals in the rain…who think they’re hells angels!

Now a Duc on twisty b-roads…thats a different matter

Yep, as I thought. I’ll stick to my Kwacker 2 stroke triple!

Gotta say some of your responses are gems, though prize goes to…..

If you were to nail a badger tied to an airhorn to your head it would be noisy and get people look at you, it would also probably be more comfortable and handle better as well.

Lol
SB
🙂

a month or so ago i saw, parked outside a cafe, one of the touring models – i think, i’m not up on harleys, def was’nt a sportster – and you could tell it was used day in day out, probably the riders sole form of transport, non of that tassley shiney cr&p just a well sorted used bike.

i’m not a great harley fan at all, but i did think this one was nice in all its grime.

I bluddy well love ’em, I do! 8)

I love the noise the older aircooled ones make. I’d consider a Hardly Rideable as maybe a fourth motorbike… probably a Buell…

Foxy, why do you love ’em?

I know Mrs Stratobiker loves me when I come in off the bike smelling of oil!!!! But I dunno why she does. 🙂

Covers the normal smell up?

They’re ideal for accountants. For the rest of the world, get a proper bike 🙂

‘Farting armchairs’ sums up my opinion of Harleys…

They do sound good through some nice loud pipes. That is all I can say for em! I did quite like the idea of the XR1200 until I saw one in the flesh though, and then sat on it, and then decided it was utter shite!

If I get to the stage in life that a cruiser is the only answer… the Rocket III does it all so much better IMO 😉 I loves Triumphs I do!

Though if I go retro next time it is between a Triumph Scrambler and a MAC Motorcycles machine of some sort!

Do any of the hog lovers also have leather tassles on their mountain bikes?

At school, a mate had the ability to fart like the sound of a horror film creaking door.

IMO – dreadful bikes. overweight, underpowered, rubbish handling tarts handbags. The only one I have ridden was a 90s sportster and I believe thay have improved but that was dreadful – slower, worse handling and more vibration that my 61 BSA.

Big cheif – powerful – my arse (except the v rod)

Posers bikes.

Suitable for metal fans yanks or germans only

My god! I agree with TJ 😯 !!!!

*Drinks bleach*

You could also add Scandinavia to the suitable list.

Harley Davison = Ultimate mid-life crisis purchase.

My old boss bought one as his midlife criss and it’s awful. He had to spend most of his time keeping the chrome clean and by his own admission it’s brakes/grip were rubbish. They look a death trap, tiny front tyre and usually just one brake. Most of the stopping power on a bike is the front wheel, so harleys don’t stop! This is why they make them so slow, otherwise lots of middle aged estate agents and bankers would die (what a shame).

I once ‘raced’ along side a V-rod 1250 at speed on a dual carriage way, even my 650 70bhp jap-crap bike totally destroyed it.

Motorbikes exist to be fast fun travl that IS NOT LIKE A CAR. Remove the power and manoeuvrability and you might as well just buy a convertible to pose in.

Dress like the Indian (or any out of Village People) whilst riding a Harley. Sorted.

Trans Ams/70’s American cars look cool (when you were a kid)- when you see them on our streets though they look lame. Same with Harleys. Sorry. Good back in the US. Not riding though Droitwich.

to summarise- California coast, hot sunny afternoon. Yes.
English road, drizzle- lame as.

thing is, V-twin engines are fantastic to ride.

EG One of my favourite motorbikes was the early Suzuki SV650 which would pull from 1800 rpm all the way to redline at 12500, making <motorbike journo>OSSUM</MJ> noises. Handled brilliantly, stopped well, I could keep up with riders on litre bikes as long as there were enough corners… 9000 times the fun of a harley.

On the one hand, it might be good to have a bike that doesn’t go fast enough to hurt you if you fall off

On the other hand, if something that heavy lands on you, you might not be able to get it off.