Quote:
Originally Posted by LakeCleElum
I'll be quiet.....Jeff doesn't appreciate my Harley jokes......Enjoy
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Oh nonsense, I love your Harley jokes. It's just that back when you were riding them, they still called them "Silent Gray Fellows", or something like that.
The newer ones have been improved just a little bit...
I just finished putting my hot rod '76 Sportster back together (for the second time in two years - it broke a valve spring, dropped a valve, and pretty well goobered things all up). I went on a fairly long ride on it yesterday; what a flaming POS. But it's
my flaming POS, and I've had it since I was in school. I didn't know any better back when it was new, but hoo boy - what a different machine than my 2013 Road King. The old Sporty has the very best of everything - S&S wheels and rods, Andrews cams and pushrods, heads by Dan Baisley featuring Kibblewhite valves, springs, etc. and Dan's own roller rockers, and on and on. I bet it doesn't rattle its way above 65 hp, and I don't dare ride it farther than my dear wife can come and fetch me.
Oh well, enough of that. I have several hundred thousand miles on newer Harleys (my last one, the 2000 Road King, got run over at 110,000 and there were a couple of Evos with similar mileage before that) with no real trouble whatsoever. Not the fastest, not the best handling, but comfortable and dead reliable. Simple to maintain, too. That, and the support when away from home, say several states from home, is unlike any other company. Dealerships will stay open late, pull bikes off of service racks to get you on, or whatever it takes to keep your trip going. No one else will do that. Hell, no one else will probably even have parts for your specific bike if you need them. Nothing worse than being several states away from home with a buddy on his Honda that needs something that the dealership will have to order, and it will be a week to ten days to get it. This simply does not happen with HD dealerships; they will not only have it, but drop everything to put it on your bike.
Now on to the original question - if you find a good Harley forum, let me know. Most really suck. Lots and lots of old wives' tales and misinformation get brandied about by clowns that shouldn't probably work on their own lawnmowers. That said, one that gets a lot of traffic and does have some knowledgeable folks is the XL Forum. I spend some time on its Ironhead section, and can occasionally get good answers from them.
Ironhead Sportster Motorcycle Talk (1957-1985) - The Sportster and Buell Motorcycle Forum