I want a motorcycle!

[steingar]

My other thought is to take your aircraft and fly here to Columbus Ohio. I will take you to the Iron Pony, one of the best places to get gear. Very cheap, and they have everything.

 

[Henning]

You know, I've ridden cross country (multi-state trips) on Hondas, BMW's, Yamaha's and Harleys.

There is NOTHING like touring on a harley - the sense of it, the feel of it, the way you connect with people... the other bikes were the same. The Harley was special, and that was consistently my experience over 350,000 miles on Harleys. Say what you will. You either understand this or you don't, but either way, there's no explaining it.

Sure there is, riding a Harley does the same thing for you as a vibrating butt plug...

 

[Steve]

Oddly enough, I was looking at motorcycles just the other day.

I narrowed it down to these...

 

[Henning]

I've never been on a Harley. Guess I just don't get it. I think some of them are cool. They had a Cafe Racer version of the Sportster with a faring and other sport bike mods that was kinda nice. Maybe I should try one and see, but my bike days are pretty much over unless I do some trail riding again.

My first intro to Harleys was when I was 15 (I grew up around people 10 years+ older than myself) and we were all down at Lake of the Ozarks and Randy broke his leg waterskiing (log). Randy had rode down his hardtail springer fork ape hanger suicide clutch jockey shift flathead bike down. It was too long to fit in any of the vans or trucks, and no one was going to put that oil leaking wreck in their nice clean boat, so I got elected to ride it home (one of the dissadvantages to being "the kid" was "Have the kid do it..."). Besides the great joy of riding that bike on the ill-maintained winding roads of the Ozarks was that I ****ed blood for 2 days after that and it took about a week for my hands to quit tingling. Now, that's a Harley. If you're gonna ride one of the new ***** models with the twin cam and fairings and yada yada... you might as well ride a Honda. Most people I see riding Harleys anymore are midlife crisis wannabes and little girls who want to prove how tough they are, it's really funny. Harley doesn't mean anything imparticular anymore. Back in the days post WWII people rode Harleys because they could get them cheap as war surplus, and they didn't have Lucas Electrical systems on them as did everything else you could buy here at the time. Harley anymore is just about false image for 95% of the people who ride them, and the scary thing that I see is all the people who are buying them as a first bike, and outside of a bare bones Sportster, they don't make good first bikes.

I'd see plenty of posers and little girls being loaded into Ambulances in SoFla with their nice shiny Low Rider or Fat Boy lying there. One of them happened right in front of me as a girl just throttled up, then slammed on the brakes and highsided herself right into the back of a car. She had a minor scalp laceration where she took a shwack bounce blow on the decklid corner (didn't pass out, it was all low speed) but was hysterically calling for an ambulance as I was laughing hysterically. Puhlease, if you're gonna ride a Harley, be ready to rinse the wound with vodka (we were in front of a liquor store), hold it shut till it quits bleeding, rinse off the blood with a garden hose or a bottle of water, put some duct tape on it and ride away (her bike wasn't damaged except for some scrapes when it fell over). Otherwise, you don't meet the Harley image and belong on something made by Vespa.

Another problem for her, she couldn't pick her bike up off the ground, I did it for her, and damn, I could barely get the thing back on its stand. Thing was heavy as hell. I have a girlfriend in the insurance business in an office full of girls (only girls work there) and they are one of the biggest insurers of new Harleys. When the dealer's F&I guy finds you insurance for your new Harley, they're probably calling this office. The owner of the office probably weighs 100lbs soaking wet and rides the biggest fattest full dress hog I've seen. I asked her if she could pick it up, her response was "I don't let it fall down". Didn't exactly answer the question...

 

[etsisk]

I guess I'm one that doesn't get it, then. I like bikes that can accelerate, stop and turn. None of the Harley's I've ridden seemed like they were willing or able to do any of the above, not to mention the BM-inducing vibration or the feeling that there was 200 lb of lead buried somewhere in the upper frame. I can get the same experience driving uncle Leon's pre-war Farmall, but I tend to think that the Farmall has a higher redline. Maybe that's why I seem them on the interstate, you really don't have to do any of the three very often... Trapper John

I could do fork-lock low speed turns all day long on the electra glide sport. I could drag pegs (or footboards! ). I could do whatever I wanted to do with it. And it stopped just fine, thankyouverymuch! For years now they've had rubber mount engines and on the hard mount engines they have harmonic dampeners for the bottom end.

I can't think of much of anything about them that fits your "description".

 

[etsisk]

if you have your technique down, a hundred pound girl can pick up a gold wing.

 

[Henning]

if you have your technique down, a hundred pound girl can pick up a gold wing.

Yeah, that's a Honda with a different CG and engineered dress to be lightweight, I said a full dress Harley, completely different animal.

 

[Henning]

I could do fork-lock low speed turns all day long on the electra glide sport. I could drag pegs (or footboards! ). I could do whatever I wanted to do with it. And it stopped just fine, thankyouverymuch! For years now they've had rubber mount engines and on the hard mount engines they have harmonic dampeners for the bottom end.

I can't think of much of anything about them that fits your "description".

Yeah, Harley anymore is as pussified as Honda, they're just trading on the name. That's why any self respecting 1%er is riding something they either cobbled together out of swapmeets or an S&S catalog. There is nothing special about a Harley anymore that makes it worth the money they ask for them. $30+k for a motorcycle my a$$, I can buy an airplane for that. There is no motorcycle worth paying more than $5000 for.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Funny thing is I told my wife what I had done. She just sort of sighed and chuckled. In the past she would have said, "I don't know why you wasted your time like that since there's no way you're getting a motorcycle." I think I've worn down her resistance. It's TIME TO STRIKE!!!!!!!!!!

As in, it's time for you to buy that Stearman you've been wanting. After that, a bike will seem small in comparison.

 

[Ted]

My first intro to Harleys was when I was 15 (I grew up around people 10 years+ older than myself) and we were all down at Lake of the Ozarks and Randy broke his leg waterskiing (log). Randy had rode down his hardtail springer fork ape hanger suicide clutch jockey shift flathead bike down. It was too long to fit in any of the vans or trucks, and no one was going to put that oil leaking wreck in their nice clean boat, so I got elected to ride it home (one of the dissadvantages to being "the kid" was "Have the kid do it..."). Besides the great joy of riding that bike on the ill-maintained winding roads of the Ozarks was that I ****ed blood for 2 days after that and it took about a week for my hands to quit tingling. Now, that's a Harley. If you're gonna ride one of the new ***** models with the twin cam and fairings and yada yada... you might as well ride a Honda. Most people I see riding Harleys anymore are midlife crisis wannabes and little girls who want to prove how tough they are, it's really funny. Harley doesn't mean anything imparticular anymore. Back in the days post WWII people rode Harleys because they could get them cheap as war surplus, and they didn't have Lucas Electrical systems on them as did everything else you could buy here at the time. Harley anymore is just about false image for 95% of the people who ride them, and the scary thing that I see is all the people who are buying them as a first bike, and outside of a bare bones Sportster, they don't make good first bikes.

I'd see plenty of posers and little girls being loaded into Ambulances in SoFla with their nice shiny Low Rider or Fat Boy lying there. One of them happened right in front of me as a girl just throttled up, then slammed on the brakes and highsided herself right into the back of a car. She had a minor scalp laceration where she took a shwack bounce blow on the decklid corner (didn't pass out, it was all low speed) but was hysterically calling for an ambulance as I was laughing hysterically. Puhlease, if you're gonna ride a Harley, be ready to rinse the wound with vodka (we were in front of a liquor store), hold it shut till it quits bleeding, rinse off the blood with a garden hose or a bottle of water, put some duct tape on it and ride away (her bike wasn't damaged except for some scrapes when it fell over). Otherwise, you don't meet the Harley image and belong on something made by Vespa.

Another problem for her, she couldn't pick her bike up off the ground, I did it for her, and damn, I could barely get the thing back on its stand. Thing was heavy as hell. I have a girlfriend in the insurance business in an office full of girls (only girls work there) and they are one of the biggest insurers of new Harleys. When the dealer's F&I guy finds you insurance for your new Harley, they're probably calling this office. The owner of the office probably weighs 100lbs soaking wet and rides the biggest fattest full dress hog I've seen. I asked her if she could pick it up, her response was "I don't let it fall down". Didn't exactly answer the question...

Henning, I don't think I've laughed so hard in the past year.

For the record, I ride a Honda VTX 1800. Main reason:

There is no motorcycle worth paying more than $5000 for.

I agree, which is why I got the VTX. Try getting a Harley for what I paid for my VTX. Plus, water cooling is really nice when you're sitting in traffic while on a trip. Next bike is a V-twin sportbike, me thinks...

 

[Trapper John]

I could do fork-lock low speed turns all day long on the electra glide sport. I could drag pegs (or footboards! ). I could do whatever I wanted to do with it. And it stopped just fine, thankyouverymuch! For years now they've had rubber mount engines and on the hard mount engines they have harmonic dampeners for the bottom end.

I can't think of much of anything about them that fits your "description".

Dragging a footboard with a whopping 18 degree lean angle is just not my idea of impressive. 60-plus degrees is more like it. And I want sub 3 second 0-60 acceleration, which just ain't gonna happen on a Harley that quits making power at 4,000 RPM. If I ever want a big bike I'll get a Gold Wing, they're deceptively nimble and can pull off a nice first gear power wheelie.


Trapper John

 

[Ted]

The VTX is similar to the GoldWing in that regard. Despite its 750 lb girth, it's pretty decent in corners. Part of why I bought it. It's no sportbike, of course, but I'm going to fix that problem.

 

[Anthony]

Glad I haven't missed anything. As usual, great story Henning.

If I get a bike again it will proably be an old Norton or maybe one of the newer Triumphs.

 

[TangoWhiskey]

Puhlease, if you're gonna ride a Harley, be ready to rinse the wound with vodka (we were in front of a liquor store), hold it shut till it quits bleeding, rinse off the blood with a garden hose or a bottle of water, put some duct tape on it and ride away. Otherwise, you don't meet the Harley image and belong on something made by Vespa.

That was hilarious... thanks for the laugh!

 

[steingar]

Puhlease, if you're gonna ride a Harley, be ready to rinse the wound with vodka (we were in front of a liquor store), hold it shut till it quits bleeding, rinse off the blood with a garden hose or a bottle of water, put some duct tape on it and ride away (her bike wasn't damaged except for some scrapes when it fell over). Otherwise, you don't meet the Harley image and belong on something made by Vespa.

I once watched an obviously drunk bearded greying unhelmeteded t-shirted dirty greasy ugly Harley rider slam into a guard rail when he ate a turn. He went down with sufficient force that I thought I was going to have to call and ambulance. He remained conscious, but when he got up looked like something out of a Romero movie. Still, he picked up his lightly damaged custom bike and just kept on riding, trailing blood as he went. Might be stupid, but the dude had stones, no doubt about it.