Harley's getting in my way again

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Jerry Doe said:
I dont mind Harleys or thier owners. I know nice people who ride them. Its only when they get in the way or try to race me. The only reason they try to race is because they think they can win as commandos dont look fast when you see them. It is my fault for starting a Harley bash topic and i should not have. Sorry
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I have no problem with Harleys -"whatever floats your boat"

Sometimes the long lines doing parade speeds on the open highway can be annoying -but that ain't the bikes fault.

If you want to be a non-conformist nowdays you have to ride a Norton... or a Honda or anything but a HD. Jim
 
Don't get me wrong. I have no problems with Harleys or their riders most of the time. It is just the packs of bikes riding slowly taking up all the road. It could be a pack of GSXR's riding slowly, but unlikely. It is worse here due to too many people and not enough roads.
 
MS850 said:
I would take a street legal XR750, or replica in a hot second. Pre 1950 Harley would be fun, nothing much newer.
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You can take a 1200 Evo Sportster and "XR" it by removing the rear cylinder and piston and substituting another front. Just re-time the rear cams, add pipes and carbs and you have a much better street machine than a converted XR.

That's exactly how the first iron XRs came to be; they needed more fuel and better flow than an XL could make. Plus, both exhaust ports face the front for better cooling.
 
illf8ed said:
Can I be excused for occasionally riding my Sportster. It's not a "real Harley" or "is a girls bike" and I don't ride slowly and usually ride alone or with a bunch of Nortons. :(
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Me too? 1969 Girls Bike

Harley's getting in my way again


Art
 
A couple of years ago I was returning from NW200 races in Ireland. From Holyhead to Shrewsbury I elected to take the A5, a great road through Snowdonia. I came across a string of slow moving H/Ds taking up the whole road. I was on a Rotary air-cooled Norton and got past pretty easily. My Brother following, couldn't get past though. Guess what he was on? Yep one of Milwaukee's finest. Due to a old motorcycle induced knee injury, feet forward is the only way for him to enjoy Motorcycling and rather than a pseudo HD, he got the real thing. Just that now his wrists, neck, back and everything else are coming into line with his Knee as a result of enjoying a rigid engined Sporty :lol:
 
Group dynamics suck. Any kind of group. I ride w/one other guy on an airhead occasionally. We have a tacit rule not to get closer than 100 yards to each other. Kinda like riding alone but affording some security as we're both around 70. I really try to avoid all groups as there's just no truth to them. I lurk here for the knowledge base. Hardly guys are mostly cool as are norty guys. You've just gotta catch them by themselves
 
bentrod said:
illf8ed said:
Can I be excused for occasionally riding my Sportster. It's not a "real Harley" or "is a girls bike" and I don't ride slowly and usually ride alone or with a bunch of Nortons. :(
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Me too? 1969 Girls Bike

Harley's getting in my way again


Art
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In the mid 60's I remember seeing a Sportster pic just like this one in my World Book Encyclopedia, I found motorcycle pic everywhere.
I liked them, right hand shift, Britt bike competition.
 
So, what's the difference between a Harley and A Hoover?

The position of the dirtbag of course!
 
What rubs me with some HD owners is that they think thats the only brand in the world and riding anything else is less patriotic
Once at our annual bike run I was asked by some HD know it all as to why I dont ride an American bike?
I was riding my Indian that day :roll:
 
The whole scene is interesting. That is, there is a symbiotic and cultural relationship between HD riders who refuse to ride fast, and HD, the company, which refuses to build a bike that corners well.

Back in '71, when I was looking at buying my first new bike, I came close to buying a Sportster instead of my Commando. Sportsters mid-range snap was awesome; the magazines usually found them quickest in the 1/4. That fact forced Norton to compromise top speed and highway comfort with 19 tooth countershaft sprockets.

All HD had to do was fix the ground clearance issues of dragging pipes/primary, go to a double leading shoe brake, and put tires capable of turning a corner on them. The XRs proved it possible. With those simple fixes, Sportsters would have run with the bikes of the Brit invasion and HD might have a different image and product line today.

Somehow, the fools running AMF wouldn't drop a few bucks on that project, their core customers didn't seem to demand it, and the rest is history.

A guy I know just bought a new hog, paid north of $40K. He had maybe $50K in his old one, got $15K on the trade in. He can afford it, he's happy to pay for the image and self identification factors.

As a study in marketing, it's crazy interesting. The planners never learn, you just can't predict what the people of the market demand.
 
Okay, you all know the real reason you won't ride a Harley, .........you don't look good in chaps. :(
The reason you would ride a Harley, a nice woman in chaps. 8)
 
Apparently 80% of all Harley's ever made are still on the road!........The other 20% made it home.
 
Interesting point about where Harley was in the late 60s. I remember riding a Sportster for the first time thinking it wasnt
bad except I couldnt get on with what were to me enormous handlebars.
If they had done something about losing some weight they would have attracted a lot of brit bike guys Im sure.
Seems to me the same weight saving approach would have been useful for the brits too but costs were just too high for them
no doubt.
Long time ago, no investment money, no imagination, no will, endless trade union problems etc etc.
 
speirmoor said:
What rubs me with some HD owners is that they think thats the only brand in the world and riding anything else is less patriotic

:roll:
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I've posted this before I believe, but it's my favorite so I'll bore everyone again.

A couple years ago, at a wedding no less, it was easy to pick out the couple that were guests and HD riders by the tasteful black and orange trim on various clothing articles, as well as the obligatory HD logos displayed. We were introduced and when they found out I rode too there was an instant of comradery 'till they asked what I rode. When I said a Norton and a Speed Triple, faces dropped and she says, "Well,,, at least you're out there". I could not have been more pleased.
 
Clancy McGoo would have shouted: "Road Hog!" :lol:

I can't for the life of me figure the logic.... of these people who wouldn't hold up traffic in their minivan/pickup/car, but slide the butt jewelry under 'em, and PRESTO! "I'll drive ten miles UNDER the speed limit where there's no legal passing goddammit, and defend my lane turf fiercely". But when there's a passing zone, or we get to a multiple lane scenario, ON goes the volume control, er. throttle...It's nuts. Why wouldn't they have a "I'm just gonna putt along, relax, enjoy the scenery and waive any fellow riders by should they come up behind me" if that's the intent? Instead of the the "HEY! you're not respecting my space!, you must ride ten under the speed limit too!"? The answer, I believe lies in the dark corners of the mind.... In a world where we have less & less freedom, less control over things, and more rules & regulations.... :idea:
 
concours said:
Clancy McGoo would have shouted: "Road Hog!" :lol:

... In a world where we have less & less freedom, less control over things, and more rules & regulations.... :idea:
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Like those "rugged individualists" we passed on the Blue Ridge that day?? :roll:
 
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