[Closed] Anyone got a Harley Davidson?

Tassles on the jacket too?

Mate with one from new became heartily sick due to mechanical reliability issues - he's not a mechanic so once warranty was over he was paying out a lot and missing days out. Dull but efficient seem to be the BMW tourers

I'm no motor biker but we get a lot visiting my village and for what it's worth I like the look of the Triumphs (and the odd Moto Guzzi).

Tassles on the jacket too?

😂

I always saw that as more of a Honda Virago thing...

the only one I have ridden - a sportster evo was horrible.  slow, ( slower than my 60s bsa) vibrated, handled horribly uncomfortable

They will be better now but they are awful agricultural things IMO.  Triumph twin? ( modern one)

I rode one for about 3000 miles around the west coast of the States about ten years ago; I’m aware of their shortcomings in that respect. Was looking for a bit of real world experience of ownership if possible. Also happy to have piss ripped and completely different suggestions such is the STW way 😊

Plenty of Jap bobbers around for ~£4k if Harley reliability scares you. I used to have a Kawasaki VN1500, it was ace and the only thing it ever needed was tyres. Shaft drive, self adjusting timing chain, it was great.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qOy34oqUJGA

Was like sitting in an armchair, and despite being a big engine (for a bike) it struggled to get over 80mph. If ever a bike could "waft", its this type of bike. Sounds like you want something similar.

Obvz, needs MOAR pics..

My mate had a sportster back in the mid 90’s and because I have (still) a full motorcycle license I borrowed it to go to see an old friend in Somerset.. so back then the journey was A5, M5, stop when it’s gets flat, turn left at King Segmores Drain, look for a barn conversion..

The first part of the part of the journey on the A road was ace, suited the single lane cruising, the motorway wasn’t very pleasant (but that’s because I thought I was doing 70mph, when in actual fact I was doing about 55 in the middle lane thinking I was blasting it) then back in the country lanes it was ace again. I took the long way home through the welsh borders all the way up the river Severn and it was a fabulous way to spend a day.

It didn’t break down nor spit oil everywhere, cost about £15 in petrol and yet I was pleased to hand it back. It was tiring to ride, very thumpy and vibrated through the handlebars and seat, the gears clunked into place with massive waves of excitement/anxiety wondering if I’d broken the gearbox.. yet all of that meant it had charm and what I would call spirit.

I’d never buy one, then nor now, but I do love the look and the **** you attitude they seem to give off.

Buy one before you die.

(it looked like this but a black petrol tank)

Harley’s are God’s way of telling you you’ve too much money. The triumph of marketing over reality. Absolute heaps of pig-iron

i took a brand new demo 1200 Sportster (and they say the Americans don’t do irony) to Wales for the weekend. Just to see what the appeal  was, as I found it inexplicable. Pulled up at a cafe in Ruthin, had a coffee, get back out, put the keys in the ignition.... nothing.

Dead!

Waited hours for the  RAC bloke to  turn up, and got a lift back to Manchester. Turned out that while we were having a brew it’d happily burnt out its entire ignition system. It had 1000 miles on the clock.

handled like a hippo on a skateboard. An engine that belonged in a tractor

if you do have more money than sense, spend it on coke and hookers instead

nothing screams ‘mid life crisis bell-end’ quite like a Harley does

if you do have more money than sense, spend it on coke and hookers instead

I hear you. But what’s the resale value on coke and hookers?

I think binners has summarised it quite nicely. Just buy the jap equivalent and bask in the knowledge that you've saved a lot of money to have a better built, better riding and  far more reliable bike.

But if you have to have a Harley make sure you get the matching jacket so everyone knows you're a mug. Also join H.O.G. - I believe they're the IT chapter of the Hell's Angels

🙂

On the upside, you won't lose any money if you don't like it.

Old ones were horrible. A bloke in our bike club bought a new Sportster, ooh, 30 years ago.  Horrible thing - even worse than a Meriden Bonneville. Painted with a stick, rusty from new, slow, vibrated like a Combat spec Commando and handled like a ruptured ferret.

We were mostly all skint and ran a collection of MZ's, old Brit crap and sub £500 Jap shonkers. We still took the piss out of the Chairman's Sportster. We even wrote a song about it, Cruisin' down to Bacup, which distilled our thoughts about a 50 odd year old from Oldham and his fantasies about livin' the American dream.

The new ones actually have brakes that work, the rudiments of suspension and bits of them  are finished quite nicely.

I now quite fancy one, but not as much as I fancy a Guzzi V7.

The new (last gen, air-cooled) Bonnevilles are nice, mate at work has a Speedmaster, but they sound and feel like a Superdream and barely make as much power.

Mind you, I like Jawas, Enfields and Urals, so probably best ignored.

Or just go full mid life crisis and get a small two stroke, it'll be about as reliable as the Harley, approximately a million times more fun and if the prices keep going the way they are you'll sell it or more than you paid for it...

I’m happy with handling/performance of them. I’ve done 3000+ miles on a hire HD bike.

From a little bit of googlefu, I think that the unreliability issue is exaggerated; not saying that they are quite up to sorted jap standards but the number of sky high mileage HDs available suggests that they are doing something right (and getting used plenty, too; unlike a lot of sports bikes).

I don’t work in IT and I’m not so wouldn’t fit in to whatever H.O.G is 😂

They will be better now but they are awful agricultural things IMO.  Triumph twin? ( modern one)

I had a demo on the new Street Twin a few weeks back. Awesome bike. Would have a lovely thump to it with a less legal exhaust.

Rather embarrassingly I spent ten minutes trying to figure out how to start the thing again after stopping for a photo. I've never ever ridden modern bikes and had no idea that I was supposed to have the clutch pulled in when starting 🙂

It made getting back on my 36 year old Suzuki feel a bit unrefined.

There's something I've always liked about the real agricultural/ratty Harleys, but the hideous showy chrome and huge fendered types and their associations with showy people in ironed jeans has tainted them for me. Would never have one personally.

I like a few, 1200 sportster for example, even a couple of the 883s. I'd probably go for a Triumph Bobber though.

Neighbour has done 25,000+ on his 2008 HD without issue. Street Bob.

My dad had a 1200 during his midlife crisis (circa 20 years and counting).

Don't think it ever broke down. Think it was between a transalp and swapped it for a BMW GS in the end, both of which were sold due to a complete lack of character. The Harley got sold due to paranoia about letting any of the finish deteriorate, if the chrome is less than shiny then it probably does to the resale value what cracked plastics and scuffed engine cases do for sports bikes.

I'd love an 883r though, and a can of BBQ paint for the chrome.

<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">Reliability, finish and the bikes themselves improve massively if you get a newer one though, avoid anything from the 90s up until the buyout. Having said that, if you browse the american equivalent of Harley STW, you'll find people bemoaning that they need top end rebuilds at 100,000 miles and a full strip at 250,000, looked at in that context of doing those milages you can see why Americans don't like sports bikes!</span>

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If you've done a few thousand miles on a Harley in the states then you have more of an idea if a Harley will suit you than we have.

One of my mates had a Harley a few years back,I think it was a 1200.He's  not getting another. I've never rode one so I asked him about the Harley experience.He said he couldn't trust the front end especially in the wet,also it was tiring to ride in traffic,something about the fueling / big V twin torque characteristics,the motor felt it was controlled by a on/off switch.He also wasn't over enamored with the Harley dealer experience,he reckoned a lot of the customer base were a bit naive when it came to buying upgrades etc. He wanted some 'Screaming Eagle' exhaust's for his bike but the dealer attempted to take the proverbial so at that point he decided Harley ownership wasn't for him.Don't know if he lost any money when he sold it.He's had bike's since he was a teenager,Japanese road bikes & trials bikes, so he was experienced, now he's happy on his Tiger 800.

The H.O.G. group is the Harley owners group,they do ride out's & stuff.

My dad once said he'd disown me if I ever bought a harley. Anything else, fine. I genuinely think he was being serious.

Are they not AF rather than metric so you get locked into only getting servicing done by a HD garage ($$$$$$) unless your local friendly spannerman has a completely separate set of tools. I live about 200yds from a HD dealer so I see lots and they just strike me as expensive sources of discomfort and much noise. If that's what you're after then nothing else comes close.

Buell X1 Lightning with all the trick mods done FTW.

First time I saw one start it simultaneously set off a car alarm & made a small child cry.

I have ridden a few Harley’s (don’t tell my biking buddies) and quite enjoyed the whole experience. The 48 was a good riding position with the forward foot pegs and seemed to have enough grunt for overtakes. The 1200 Sportster was a horrible riding bike, felt twitchy to me and seriously down on power which is strange as it’s the same engine as the 48 but maybe the riding position put you in a sportier frame of mind that it couldn’t deliver on.

I also rode a Sportster 883 and that wouldn’t pull the skin of a rice pudding, some nice custom ones out there if your happy to pose, they don’t hold up well to the weather in this country though and unless only ridden in summer or given lots of TLC they start to show their age fairly quickly. Thousands of easily do-able mods though so you can customise until your heart is content. As you said they do hold their value unbelievably well so you shouldn’t lose too much money if you keep the mods to the usual exhaust, air filter and fancy pegs etc.

If I was looking for a relaxed riding position I’d be trying to get one of the few CCM Spirfire Bobbers that are still available, limited run on them so should easily hold their money. I nearly bought the Cafe Racer version but sensible head told me to hold off as I’m considering a career change. My mate bought the Flat Tracker and is getting it in August. I saw the bikes at the Edinburgh bike show and they are seriously well made and have loads of quality kit as standard. Worth a nosey on their website.

Ill stick to my K4 GSXR 1000 for now.

Yesterday I picked up a Moto Guzzi V7 cafe. It’s flippin mega! 1/4 of the power of my last bike but so so cool and fun to ride. Get one of those, much cheaper than a Hardly Ableson

I've never ridden one, but I once read that the main thing to remember is - HD don't make motorcycles, they make Harleys.

It's a bit like Neanderthal VS Homo Sapiens.

We're definitely going to need pictures once you've wiped the smile off your face....🙂

I remember going into a petrol station and a guy was starting his Harley up, the sound was diabolical. I grinned then laughed and so did he, it was awesome for this reason I'd love to own one too. Maybe not a bike for life but just having one for a while would be ace.

The specific type I’d like is a Road King police spec. Then pop a pair of Vance n Hines pipes on. The ex police ones don’t seem too tasselly 😝 or overly chromey, will probably have a few battle scars already and hopefully some kind of history. There’s one on the bay at the moment. Black n simple.

got to learn how to do this with it :

Don't forget your donor cards when you're out on your bikes guys. I was driving a Polish relative around yesterday and as a peg-grinding Harley rider disappeared around a bend he quipped "kidney donor".

“kidney donor”.

As a lover of all things two wheeled I've come to the conclusion Mountain bikes are the most dangerous.../Thread hijack Off

I've come to the conclusion that giving out names like that is just pathetic, like Wendyball and other things people don't 'get'

Motorbikes can be dangerous, so can eating peanuts. And 1,000,000s of other things

<div class="bbp-reply-author">Edukator
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Don’t forget your donor cards when you’re out on your bikes guys. I was driving a Polish relative around yesterday and as a peg-grinding Harley rider disappeared around a bend he quipped “kidney donor”.

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Odd I’ve ridden bikes for years and often in quite risky circumstances and I’ve only ever donated body fluids. Perhaps you should take guidance from people who know what they’re talking about.

I have, kilo, you too can check out the statistics for where you live. Death rates per mile are typically 20-30 times higher for motorcycles than cars, and higher for motorcycles than bicycles, how much depending very much on where you ride a bicycle.

If you want the Harley V-twin thumpyness, but also desire handling, braking, etc, how about a Manx Norton Harley...

Or there’s a Norley, or a more classic looking Norton/ Harley hybrid.

I only rode on me briefly, one of the smaller ones, they’re not for me, I’d be wary of basing decisions on a few thousand miles in its intended environment- like old US cars they’re perfectly suited to long, wide open freeways not Welsh B-Roads and for a product sold (and bought) on image and little else, most bikers have little time for them.

Does Yamaha still make the XJR1300? I think that’s where I’d be looking if I had a bike shaped space in my life.

There’s also Jim Carducci’s Harley enduro bike, which I rather like:

And you’re not dead either, Thirty three motorcyclists killed in London in 2016 so a fairly remote risk of being a kidney donor I’d say

Does Yamaha still make the XJR1300? I think that’s where I’d be looking if I had a bike shaped space in my life.

A couple of my mates have the XJR1300,it's a heavy piece of kit,probably heavier than a Harley!

https://cyclinguphill.com/safe-cycling-stats-cycle-casualties/

^^^^ YAWN ^^^^

So that’s 88 fatality’s per billion kilometres in 2008, wow risky stuff.

Or 1868 casualties.

See Bustaspoke above.