Harley Davidson riders, why?

D

DanRSN

New member
I'm not criticising you, but when I've ridden Harleys, they don't seem to have the power, torque or even build quality of some "Japanese" bikes (despite being built in America by Americans in many cases). So what was the reason behind your decision to buy a Harley?
To clarify..I mean the Japanese built factories in the US so some Hondas, Yamahas, and Suzukis are built in America by Americans.
 
The 32 'opinion' (nicely put question by the way). It's (just) my opinion that Harleys are either for: 1. People who care more about what others think of them and how they look in the reflection of windows, than what they actually feel about themselves. 2. People who care more about how they feel when they have a pulse and don't care what onlookers might think. 3. People who love tradition or something that isn't perfect (don't see many clubs relating to reliable bikes, do ya?). 4. Who took life too seriously for too long and are now making up for it. 5. For people who knew what life about all along and won't ever stop riding. 6. Someone who doesn't care what most people think, least of all people who use a keyboard and write this kind of drivel! That's probably the appeal - you can be either of these and no one would necessarily know (unless you have very clean leathers of course, then it's obvious)

I respect anyone that decides to ENJOY riding ANY motorcycle, but if they're doing it for their egos sake, they haven't quite grasped a big part of the meaning of life.

Personally, I've never been interested in Harleys (slow / not designed to handle / needs lots of cleaning), I just like anything relatively cheap that goes round corners and has good tyres. My grandfather road real classic bikes in the 1920's and although I'm not too interested in that 'genre' of bikes, I have most definitely inherited his passion.

I'd still like to try a Buell one day though.

Keep the rubber side down people :-)
 
I can see where you are coming from in one respect BUT
You are way off the mark when Talking about ALL the Specs.
If you really do a comparison between Harley's and Japanese Cruisers you need to look deep into the specs.
Say the 883 HD don't publish the power rating of the engine as it is very low, BUT the torque of that engine comes in just above tick over and is higher than that of the comparable Japanese motor and is available all the way through the rev range. The Japanese motor produces PEAK torque at over 4,500 RPM in fact even higher, So there is NOTHING available at tickover.
Same through out the range.
It is not until you get to the huge capacity 1700 1900 and 2litre twins of the japanese cruisers that the torque and power both come into the same league of the harley..
Now I do not like HD they are over rated.. But your facts about the torque when comparing like for like is WAY OFF the actuals..
and Being built by itinerant naturalized unskilled labour... Is that what being built by americans is all about.... Have you been to the YORK factory lately. The work force is despondant and feeling unloved by the parent company as many will never ever be able to afford to own what they build.... Where is the confidence in the product there... HD didn't even want to keep the factory open.. they were offered a bailout package by the city to keep the unemployment down
 
I don't ride harleys, because they seem useless in the UK

But should I ever decide to want to crunch some miles in the USA or Australia, where the roads are straight, the speed limit is 55mph and I just want to watch the scenery instead of the road, I'd rent one for a holiday...
 
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