[Closed] Anyone got a Harley Davidson?

I quite like ghe looks of the V-Rod. Not sure that I could bring myself to buy one though.

A good mate of mine has had Harleys of all sorts for years, (well before any midlife crises ever kicked in) & still swears by them. Having said that he's also had loads of other stuff in between & still has a mint condition Kawasaki of some sort of 1970 something vintage in his living room!

He is also a member of a motorcycle club who wear patches.

Goldwings are his pet hate.

Lots of the usual stereotypical waffle by people who have never owned a H-D.

I've had 3 (4 if you count an Aermacchi 🙂 ).

I bought them to slow myself down, or at least to have my accidents at lower speeds. (This was in Queensland)

First was a 1988 Lowrider Sports. Bought new in 1988, a perfectly good bike with slightly better suspension, ground clearance, and much better brakes than previous H-Ds I had ridden. It felt safer to ride on rough roads than my R75/7.

Then was a Springer in '89 - I wanted to have the linkage front fork because I figured it would be more compliant on rough roads (it was). The Springer's defect was the softtail frame - I used to ground the frame on corners and end up lifting the back wheel with hilarious results. Also the skinny front wheel meant any heavy use of the front brake would lock the wheel, although it could be controlled surprisingly well with the wheel locked up However I decided it was more of an ornamental bike than a riding bike, so I sold it to the president of the local Bandidos. (I stlll had the LowRider Sports)

After 3 years of H-Ds I had learned to enjoy cruising instead of full song, so I ordered an ElectraGlide Sports. Basically the same bike as that cop is punting round that traffic cone course up there.

It was the best Harley IMO. Good brakes, good suspension, effective anti-dive, and dead easy to knock off a 1,000km day without hurrying. I also discovered it was really nimble, you just needed to trust it. It would happily do figure 8s in the width of a narrow road at tickover. The other fun bit was to take it fast along a corrugated dirt road. By standing on the footboards and leaning over the front of the bike I could maintain as a good pace as any of the other bikes.

Its downfall was the day I got rammed by a Toyota 4wd with a bullbar. I went tumbling down the road still with a deathgrip on the bars, shredding bits of bike, skin and clothing (shorts, t-shirt and openface helmet). When the bike came down on my ribs I thought they were going to crack. To say I was a bloody mess was probably understating it, but I was more upset by the damage to the bike. There wasn't much that wasn't bent or scraped.

I figured the accident could have been avoided with a lighter and more rapidly accelerating bike, so it got replaced with a Ducati Monster, but I still miss it.

Anybody got any good stories or horror stories about Harley ownership? Pitfalls to avoid, specific knowledge to share?

I owned a Sportster and a Super Glide between 2000 and 2004. I haven't read the rest of the thread but no doubt someone has pointed out they don't have any of the dynamic attributes of a conventional motorcycle, Harley ownership is all about the image.

Sportsters are a (relatively) affordable way to buy a Harley but they are physically quite small and Harley's obsession with low seat heights mean they look faintly ridiculous with an average adult male on board, knees pointed skywards and torso folded in half to reach those achingly cool flat drag bars. There's very little difference between the 883 and the 1200 (the 1200 feels like an 883 that's just been serviced) but they are quite torquey and performance is reasonable up to about 50 mph.

The Big Twins are a slightly better proposition but something of a mixed bag. The dealer seemed to really like me (or my wallet) and thrust many demonstrators in my direction for long weekends. I rode every bike in the range apart from the Springer and the V-Rod.

The fully loaded tourers are like caged birds on Britain's broken narrow roads. There are moments (literally seconds) when you can kid yourself you're on a leafy Oregon highway on a moody afternoon, or bowling along a pristine coast road with the sun shining but it's just an illusion and this country brings you back to earth with a jolt. If you've ever been to a country where motorbikes are valid form of transport and you don't have to dress up like an astronaut every time you go out you'll realise how utterly pointless it is having a motorbike built for travelling hundreds of miles without interruption. The more modest tourers e.g. the Road King are a better proposition they seem far more at home in the UK. They're still like tractors in traffic but on those mythical Open Roads they purr along with a purposeful throb, propelled along by gobs of non-intimidating torque. For my part the Super Glide was a big twin with a Sportster front end and I liked it but couldn't live with the lack of performance - not just speed but agility, acceleration, braking and riding the bike rather than just sitting on it.

But they all look fabulous in the showroom which is part of the Harley appeal. It's not until you get the bike home that you notice all the cheap details behind the fabulous chrome and paint. The steering stem bolt is like something you'd find in a shipyard attaching an anchor to a chain but help is at hand in the form of the 1000+ page accessories catalogue. Not only are there covers for the B&Q bolt head but you can get them emblazoned with a skull or live to ride or est. 1903 or a #1 logo. £20 is rather salty for a chrome cap but hey it IS metal and it DOES have a logo so why not. It clips into place and is secured by a couple of grub screws and the lo, the hideous bolt head is no more. But your eyes are now drawn towards the smaller but no less awful bolts on the handlebar clamp. The accessories catalogue has the answer but you can't buy bolt covers you have to buy the whole clamp. It's a mind-blowing £120 but it IS chrome and it DOES have the same logo as the stem cap you've bought. And so it begins - the endless customisation that is the biggest money pit in motorcycling. People bang on about £1500 for a Ducati service but you can easily spend 4x that on some 'billet' wheels for your Harley.

On the flip side you will meet lots of people who are labouring under the illusion that riding a Harley will make you want to be their friend - Harley owners are like motorcycling's version of Man Utd. supporters. Life is full of good people but there are a lot of ass hats as well, and if they're riding a Harley they're still ass hats.

So think long and hard about why you want one. Do you have loads of money and like changing things for the sake of it, and spend more time changing stuff than you do riding? A Harley is the bike for you. Does the idea of being in a club with other people who have Harleys appeal? A Harley is the bike for you.

If not, keep looking.

Those Gold wings are quite heavy, aren’t they??

Rachel

Rachel, don't forget to post up pics of your U.S trip.

rocketman

...So think long and hard about why you want one. Do you have loads of money and like changing things for the sake of it, and spend more time changing stuff than you do riding? A Harley is the bike for you. Does the idea of being in a club with other people who have Harleys appeal? A Harley is the bike for you...

Or you could do what I did, and use them for riding long distances at a cruisey pace in comfort. 🙂

The image thing became a problem a bit later than my ownership. The wannabe outlaw lads started buying them, and they would start preparing their unshaven hard man scowl on Thursday ready for the weekend ride to the pub. There's nothing funnier in my eyes than a fat boy thinking a noisy motorbike makes him tough.

BTW when they brought out the Fat Boy I thought that was HD having a go at those types, and then there was the softtail model called the Bad Boy, I was very disappointed not to see a Sportster version called the Slightly Naughty Chap.

If you want to cover big distances and keep your licence, ie a bike that is happy to cruise at legal speeds, it's hard to beat the big cruisers.

For that sort of work I would still regard an ElectraGlide as perfectly viable because they are really good at low speed traffic stuff too.

I disliked the only Sportster I have ridden, but I'm sure that since they rubber mounted the engine it will be much better. I know they can go round corners fast because there was a class in Oz for racing them, and the mods needed weren't expensive.

So, dream garage
Any Harley Davidson and an early Landrover

My Uncle, his brothers and own kids are mad for HD. If it's not HD branded they are not interested. Every time I meet up with them they seem to have changed bikes again and I've ridden most of what they had from Sportsters to Electra Glides and even a Trike. The only one that I found entertaining was the Trike but at £28k plus needing a car parking space for it I can't really see the point.

I've enjoyed riding the Triumph's more especially the Rocket III, which is just bonkers. My favourite cruisers bikes that I've had a go on were the Honda Rune (Goldwing engine and futuristic cruiser looks), Suzuki M1800 Intruder which handles well for a such a heavy bike and Triumph Rocket III as above.

I’ve hired Harley’s for a weekend or 2 from various local dealerships each year for the last 20 years.

Never needed to own one as it’s probably sat in the garage for most of the year.

Currently fave bike is the Fat Bob, love it!

Bollocks to all the naysayers, sit and cruise at 55, open face lid, and just occasionally blap it and overtake, noise and thrill is incredible.

When I had a sports bike all I wanted to do was race around going faster and faster and probably eventually stack it through a hedge.

Do the British Army still use Harley Davidsons?

This ad almost caused me to buy a Rocket III. But then I thought better of it.

That ad is a beautiful thing 😂😂😂

Never seen that Rocket 3 video before,thanks for posting!

I like the look of that Rocket 3.

But I'd like to see their get home technique for a rear puncture first... 🙂

My brother has had more motorbikes than i can remember but i've never had the urge to learn to ride one......until now.

For some reason i've developed an urge to get one. Specifically a Triumph Bomber Black in matt black.

I test rode one a couple of years ago,streetglide....LOL,

absolutely useless,wouldn't go round corners or islands,brakes were IMO dangerous,acceleration....

I think they forgot to fit it !

conversely,I borrowed one off a Patch President in NZ years ago,he bet me I'd be impressed with his very custom hardtail HD...

I was,it was fast,as in endless torque (like a V twin should be),handled and stopped,but was it still a HD ? it was so modded,at huge expense,I don't think there was much left of the original bike,bar the engine case.

I've been riding all my life,every thing from a FS1e,most Jap sports bikes of the 70's-00's-Ducatis,Enfield,Triumph, etc,

now own a zzr1200, a VTR 1000,and my fave, a '78 Z650 (which I ride most)

I can honestly say HD is not for me,but,hey,each to their own,depends what you want a bike for...

but UK roads,realy don't suit HD.

PS,most  HD riders don't nod back,so must be knobbers 😉