Any reason not to buy this Harley?

[RickM]

Originally posted by BobS
K911SC-
I've heard about some HD reliability issues. Can anyone elaborate?

Hmm, I have a pretty done-up '94 Fatboy (carbed) and I've never had one problem or leak. Is everything of the highest quality out of the box? Not really, but that stuff has been replaced long ago.

[juanbenae]

my dads buddy had a harley, late 90's not sure of model. he would experience engine oil entering the carb nearly every time it went on the freeway. smoked, fouled plugs and died. he took it to the dealer he purchased it from and they just scratched thier heads. they would keep it for a few day and give it back and it would happen again. they were waiting out the warranty it seemed.

he finally took it to a different shop, they had a tech article from harley that noted this problem (why the first dealer did not reference this ????). it seemed that the oil pump was a cyntrifical (hacked spell job) unit that supplied oil by ports lining up with ports on the cyn pump unit. seems the thing was put in upside down at the factory and it was supplying too much oil to portions of the motor, and not enough to other parts. they fixed it but would not replace the motor with about 6k miles on it. the guy was so happy till my pops asked him to get the dealer to clearify what portions of the motor were being starved....

i dont know alot about them but i hear plenty of stories that relate right back to crummy manufacturing. people are hooked and will continue to spend on them. they are like porsches in that way, not the most economical, prudent, most advanced (my sc anyway, compared to say a wrx in todays world) or practical. but i love my car and would not trade it for a wrx/evo or the like because its what i always wanted. the only people more stubborn that porsche owners are harley owners when it comes to loving unconditionally.

[vash]

harleys and the rest of the bike industry see the best spirited discussions. personally, i dont like harleys. and i love when someone always talk about the mods they did, how much they spent, yada yada yada....and surprisingly, they always end the discussion with, "i am up to 85 horsepower!". hell, a FZ1 will cruise across the country easy and straight out of the box, will blow a harley into the weeds.

now having said that, i dont think there is a bike made that attracts more women than a harley. so the argument for "style points" leave no room for any rebuttal. still, i try to like all bikes and see them for what they are, i just cant get past "form follows function". one day, i may have a harley, my girlfriend loves em.

sidenote: new beemer bikes are way cooler than your old k75!

[kumma]

hey bill

not talking bout you man, just a couple a dinks on my side of town but mostly its just good natured ribbin, except for some of those rabid goldwing owners.

just buy it and ride it.

[ErVikingo]

Get a VRod (I have one) you wont regret it. Prior bikes in my stable R75/5 and K100RS. Won't go back...

[Jeff Higgins]

Let me preface what I'm about to say by mentioning that I have owned Harleys all of my adult (?) life. I have rolled up an honest 200,000+ miles on the darn things. I think maybe I've learned a thing or two about them along the way. I currently own a '00 Road King with the 88ci Twin Cam (over 58,000 miles on it) and a '76 Sportster (God only knows; well over 100,000 on it). I do not hesitate to take the R.K. cross country; I have had absolutely ZERO mechanical difficulties with it. I would not ride the Sportster farther from home than my buddies with pickups would be willing to haul it back. Harley reliability spans those two extremes. Any newer Twin Cam, or later Evo bike, should be as reliable as anything on the road. Harley is still fighting, to a degree, the bad reputation they garnered in the late '60's through '70's. Today, in manufacturing circles, Harley stands as an icon of product (and the processes to build that product) improvement. I have lost track of the number of manufacturing processes they have pioneered in the last decade. They are now a serious player, building quality products that measure up to anything in the world. Yes, their basic platform is dated. So is Porsche's. Both companies are kind of stuck in a quagmire of their own making. Porsche is recognized for what is now a 40 year old design, that was dated when it first came out. Harley's is even older and more dated. Neither companies' customers would have it any other way. So, buy that new Harley, buy that new Porsche, and just smile knowingly when the "experts" tell you there are more modern designs out there.

[RickM]

Well, said Jeff.

For the record I didn't purchase the bike (several years ago) to attract women....I feel sorry for anybody that would.
You have to ride a Harley to understand. The Fatboy is not my first bike of this type.

[911boost]

You are going to have reliability issues on anything if you don't take care of it.

I agree Rick, you have to ride a HD to understand, wth that being said, you also have to ride up fire roads in the mountains, over dirt passes etc, and then ride back home on the same bike to understand the lure of a GS.

Bill

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Originally posted by RickM
You have to ride a Harley to understand.

BTDT. On our honeymoon my wife and I rented a 2000 Road King and hated every minute on that bike.

I bought a '01 Victory V92C and loved almost every minute on it. More power, better handling, better brakes, better fit and finish, and no "me too" factor. Unfortunately I had to sell it after a tailbone injury (the unloved minutes were the ones spent trying to ride it after the tailbone injury). I still miss that bike.

The new ones are improved in all ways over the original V92 bikes. Including styling, if that matters to you.

[RickM]

As the saying goes....to each his own.

My Harley performs perfectly for the type of riding I do. If I want High perfomance I'll buy (and have) a bike built for the type of perfomance I'm looking for.

[juanbenae]

so jeff, you recognize my comparisson of harley and porsche when it comes to owner loyality?

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally posted by k911sc
so jeff, you recognize my comparisson of harley and porsche when it comes to owner loyality?

Absolutely. I see a lot of parallels between the two groups. The Knuckle/Pan/Shovelhead Harley riders = the early 911 drivers; the Evo riders = the SC through 993 drivers; and the TC88 riders = the 996 drivers. A broad generalization here, but the early bike or car fans tend to be more mechanically inclined and as you get towards the newer end of the spectrum, they tend to be more affluent and can afford to have others work on their stuff. The level of commitment, or fanaticism, seems to run deeper in both camps with the older cars and bikes. At the newer end, there seem to be more folks that don't understand the history and significance of the car or bike as much; many are purchased as status symbols and such. There are exceptions to all of this of course, and this is only my impression. The only difference I see between the bikes and cars is that Porsche never really had to endure as bad of a quality cycle as Harley. Granted, the mid '70's weren't great for Porsche, but not nearly as bad as for Harley. Harley dealers were actually assembling one "good" bike from several and waiting for replacement parts to re-assemble the ones they raided for parts. One I bought in the late '70's only made it a couple blocks from the dealer before its first breakdown. It's amazing people stuck with Harley through that. Yes, both brands have a very unique level of owner loyalty, in spite of their "flaws". Those owners see those "flaws" as endearing traits, where the "outside world" sometimes thinks we're all nuts. We just smile and keep riding and or driving. By the way, the only crossover I've never seen between the two camps is a Porsche tatoo. Like Vaughn Beals said years ago, show me another consumer product where people tatoo your trademark onto their bodies - that's owner loyalty.

[RickM]

Harley can't be that bad if they partnered with Porsche to develop the VRod engine.

My observation is that many of the affluent Harley riders have migrated over to the custom bike builders. Bourgets (sp) are big around here. Beautiful bikes but lots of problems.

[motion]

Harley guys go out of their way to check out my P-car and compliment it... there's definitely a connection there.

[ErVikingo]

I've had my VRod for 13 months. Put 4500 miles on it, not a problem, not a drop of oil, no smoke no nothing but stares and praise everywhere I go. Similar to what I get when I drive in on my 69 or 78 911's.

I don't ride to look good, I ride çause I like it. Having had the option to buy any bike I would have wanted out there, I chose the VRod.

My final list of choices was narrowed down to: Ducati Monster 1000 (too temperamental and hard to maintain/questionable reliability); BMW R1150 Rockster (awesome bike but the seat height is for long inseams that I don't have; too top heavy also) and the VRod.

I have riden Victory, Bourget (with "NOS"), Eddie Trotta Thunder Cycles, BMWs, Ducatis, Kawasaki, Honda, Zundapp, BSA, Triumph, Norton, West Coast Choppers, Big Dog...

I can honestly say that for a prepackaged (not custom) bike, the VRod is a great compromise of riding position, performance, resale value, perceived value, ... Its like gettign a crotch rocket that is comformtable and has the Harley (mostly) Made in the USA mystique. Heck, its even a bit of Porsche..........

Customs like Bourgets, ... are temperamental as most of them could be considered prototypes. Plus most customs are just impossible to ride comnfortably, they are for show not for riding IMHO.

Juan

[Glide]

Originally posted by motion
Bob - I don't know a whole hell of a lot about Harleys, but I'm looking at an 05 as well (Road King Custom). The new bikes have rubber-mounted engines, which in my mind take away most of the charm that makes these pieces-of-crap charming in the first place. My advice is to find out when the last year of the solid-mount engines was, and look for a used bike with all the chrome and pipes already on it. You might like the smoother engine, though, so disregard my suggestions.

((((((((((((((((^^WORDS FROM A FOOL^^)))))))))))))))))

Any real rider out there can look past the year make and model of a bike to see the true artist reason for the creation in it self to begin with all else is gossip and BULL**** ..
I look at it this way its all machine stuff. each bike ive ever owned has there own talents as well as weakness's all are a work of art in there own write.
From my previous owed BMW'S to the VF1000R's to the Harley's
none need me to deffend them or advertise for them we as riders know what each bike will and wont do everything else is Bull****
and sales crap..

JUST SHUT UP AND RIDE....

[motion]

Welcom to the board, Glide. Nice intro.

[scottmandue]

Wow check out Motion's links, I would say he knows a little about motorcycles!

I'm not much into "cruisers" as they are called now-a-days (Choppers in my day) although I'm looking as getting an old BMW as a "cruiser".

But I do watch some of those biker shows, particularly "American Thunder" where they review and test ride these kind of bikes.
(I watch the show for the bikes... really... of course the hostess who wears mostly leather or tight, tight denim, and show lots of cleavage isn't hard to look at... and the occasional hottie posing on a bike in a bikini... uh... what was I talking about... oh yeah)

Anyway the Big Dog bikes LOOK really nice, if I had the coin I would check them out and the Victory bikes.

Then again it sounds like you want a Harley so I am just wasting bandwidth.

Nice Ferrari too Motion, is that yours? Like I said, if I had the coin.

[rob macdonald]

I'm a Fatboy rider, and have had no problems with it. I'm considering a Triumph Tiger or Aprilia Caponord as second bike. I sometimes like to take the road less traveled, and the Fatboy sucks off road. I've also considered the Street Rod, the newer version of the V Rod, but don't want to tie that much more $$ in another bike... 'still shopping for a 911...

Test ride and buy what you like. Knees in the breeze is all that matters.

[scottmandue]

Originally posted by rob macdonald
Test ride and buy what you like. Knees in the breeze is all that matters.

Motorcycles are fun too!