Back in the stone age (when I rode) I paid $1000 for a new 650 BSA, around that for a Triumph Bonneville and got a nearly new BSA 500cc Gold Star single with a trailer, extra sprockets and tires for $800. I ran the Gold Star in a few TT races and it was a blast. Times have changed .... The Bonneville was stripped to just over 300 lbs, had 2 carbs added, ported and polished and a full-race cam. It was fast in it's day, but today stock bikes with much smaller engines are much quicker.

 

The newer bikes are just a little quicker.

A bud of mine has a 2007 Kawi Ninja ZX-10R

That's one crazy bike.

You can hit 100 mph in 1st gear.

Dam thing has more horse power than my truck.

That's insane.

 

At one time I had a Sportster and a Kawasaki, both the same year. The Kawasaki was faster, got better mileage, started easier, was more reliable, handled better, cost less, had twice the engineering, double the quality - and was about 1/20th as much fun to ride as the Harley...

 

Kawi-short distances-uncomfortable-sounds too tinny.

Harley-long distances-comfortable-sounds good.

 

WEll, I wanted a HD for a very long time. Never could justify the cost, though. Besides, it seems that every Tom, Dick and HArry owns one now days. I have been saying for a while that Harleys are terrific bikes, but if you want to be original these days, buy a Honda! The Shadow has been a favorite of mine for years (in the HD look alike cruiser market) and one evening I was sitting at the computer looking at them online and my wife took the computer from me and applied for a loan on a Honda online... we got approved and I bought a VTX1300 the next day. I absolutely love the bike! Plenty of power, great looks and a serious market for custom goodies. So far I have no regrets, and the HD guys still wave at the other bikes ont he road, no matter what you ride. So, HD for looks? Yes. Honda for value?? You bet!! I got mine for under $10G- about half what I would have paid for a Road King (my favorite HD).

 

Yea, but my Hodaka 90 just kicks butt.

 

Agree 1000% with the first part. The "fun to ride" part however is opinion and I beg to differ...

I have owned mostly Asian motorcyles, but have rode Harleys enough to have an opinion about them. Harley, IMO, is too caught-up with their (trademarked I might add) 'sound'. This V-Twin 'sound', as awsome as it may be, comes with a price tag of vibration, which again IMO, sacrifices smoothness of ride.

But there again, I ride one of these...

...so it may be that I just "don't get" the whole Harley thang anyway.


Now if you could excuse me as I retire to my foxhole and prepare for the imminent flame war.

 

The value of any product is what the customer is willing to pay on any given day. Old chinese salesman's proverb. jd

 

It's all about what you want. I rode an 80 Honda CB900 custom for 6 yrs, but I always wanted a Harley. When I made the decision to get one I knew other bikes were cheaper, but I wanted one for a long time. I love my Softail and would not trade it for anything else.

 

And that, my friends, is what it is all about. Personal choice. Ride if you want to ride, buy a HD if you want one, but having the rubber side down and the wind in your face is an awesome feeling. I'm sorry I waited so long to get one.

 

[QUOTE=RocketScience]Agree 1000% with the first part. The "fun to ride" part however is opinion and I beg to differ...

...so it may be that I just "don't get" the whole Harley thang anyway.

I'd say that is correct!

But really, it's just a question of what you want from the bike. I've had rice burners and they're a great form of transportation. But when you're on one you're just another bum on the road - like driving a Honda Civic or a Camry - who cares! You ride the Harley for a whole different reason, and it does exactly that for you. Is it marketing and attitude? Of course it is, but it's nonetheless real.

 

I've had a '77 Honda CB750F and a '94 Suzuki GSX750F (Katana). The first was a clunker that was a great bike to learn on (and drop occasionally), but was somewhat of a pre-cursor to today's sportbikes. The second was a sportbike that had some engine mods to give it about 25 more HP. Both were fun to ride, the Honda because it was my first bike, the Katana because it was dang fast. Now that I'm older, with kids and don't have a bike, I wouldn't get a crotch rocket again--I don't need that speed temptation anymore.

I have also lived in a neighborhood where there were about a dozen Harleys within a 2-3 block radius. Some of them were polite with the way they left for work at 6AM, most never were. I used to get caught up in the romantic ideals of a Harley and the biker mystique that came with it, but now, I wouldn't be sad to see all Harley bikes at the bottom of the ocean. As a whole, they are just plain obnoxious. And, as others said, they are unreliable rattletraps, too. Not something American engineering can be proud of. I'm sick of the sound of a wound-out V-twin going down the road in residential areas.

Personally, I'd get something that I could ride comfortably for hours on end (crotch-rockets, hardtails and loud bikes don't qualify). So, I guess it would be a BMW or a Japanese street bike of some sort.

Jason

 

...And I guess that's the part I just don't get.

You see, to me, it aint about the bike, the gear, the lifestyle, the ostentatiousness (for some). It's about the curvy twists, the straight-a-ways, the sun and wind in your face, the ever changing smell in the air at every bend.....the feel of the open road. But hey, that's just me......never the slave to marketing and attitude.

 

To me it's riding past a highway patrol car, at 158 m.p.h.,
doing a wheelie, and a beer in one hand, and a cell phone in the other.

Seriously, I don't ride anymore, due to a lack of a motorcycle.

Also, these bones/muscles/tendons/etc. don't heal that fast anymore.

 

I cannot stand hardley abelson......not because I think the bikes are under-performing, pretentious, over-priced and over-hyped, it's because the company itself is run by the biggest wimps imaginable.


1980's.......because Hardley could not compete with the Japanese invasion, they lobbied the gubment to put tariffs on bikes over 700CC. Not just "CRUISERS" over 700CC but any bike over .7L. This directly affected the sport rider who would not even think of giving that POS a second look. (me)

Some dude decides to put small block Chevy motors in a M/C frame (later BBC's too) he calls them "BOSS HOGS"......Hardley Abelson decides that "HOG" is trademarked as "Harley Owners Group".....they threaten a law suite, the new name is "BOSS HOSS".

The Japanese use an offset crankpin design (at the sake of less performance) so that their V's sound more like that mufferless lawn mower known as Harley. Harley takes 'em to court to "trademark" the sound.

If anyone follows the farce that is drag racing and sees the concessions the V-Rod is given....it makes me sick.

They can never compete on their own merits and always run for Mommy's skirt...whether that skirt be the Government, courts or sanctioning body of a race series.....pitiful company.


Other than that, the tassels off the ape hangers sure are cute.