Hey Sam - Check this out

[smackaholic]

The cruiser riding position just doesn't work for me, but, if it did, I would seriously look at this.....



883 money for 1200 (or better) performance. 21st century engine technology and I really like the look. There is a youtube video at laconia where someone added a higher seat, and got rid of the forward controls. I really think indian should offer it for sale.

[smackaholic]

go to 1:25. Indian really needs to offer this for sale.

[Goober McTuber]

I've ridden cafe style / sports bikes and that's great if your just bar hopping

Bar hopping on a motorcycle. What could possibly go wrong?

[smackaholic]

Why's that? Have you ever road a cruiser?

Yeah, I uhhh road a few. Just not my thing, for a few reasons. First off, I like having my feet under me, so when I see a rough patch of rode ahead (see what I did there) I like having the ability to stand up rather than take it in the ass. Also, my lower back bugs me after a while with a full upright, or leaning back, riding position. I prefer a slight forward lean. My FJ100 is just about perfect in this regard. At higher speeds, the little bit of weight you have on your arms goes away from the wind lifting you. Kind of like floating. I can ride 10 hours like this and my back feels like a million bucks. The only downside to the FJ is that I have too much knee bend. A higher saddle/lower pegs would make it perfect. If/when I get around to getting another bike, I would likely look at a BMW sport tourer or something similar. Maybe a V-Strom.

When I hit powerball for "fuck you money", I would like to get a Road King Classic with the leather hardbags and park it in my man cave just to look at. Hell, I might even ride it around the mancave some. When you have that sort of scratch, your mancave needs to be an least an acre or two.

[Carson]

Bar hopping on a motorcycle. What could possibly go wrong?

Please, share your stories with us.

[Diego in Seattle]

Those bikes look cool to me, but I'd be leaning too far forward. I also love the look of ape-hangers, but I'd never want to ride with them. I prefer my bars at somewhere in the middle.

[Goober McTuber]

Bar hopping on a motorcycle. What could possibly go wrong?

Please, share your stories with us.

I bought one of these back in 1980. My first motorcycle.



Went bar-hopping on it a number of times. I buried the throttle more than once. No idea how fast I was going since back then speedometers were only allowed to go up to 85 mph. Even on a Ferrari.

Bought one of these 2 years later.



That fucker was fast. Drove it for 2 years, then swore off bikes completely.

[Goober McTuber]

Bought one of these 2 years later.



That fucker was fast. Drove it for 2 years, then swore off bikes completely.

Why?

Wreck or close call?

Neither. Saw a biker taken out through no fault of his own. Watched them load him into the ambulance. He was conscious but not so much as a twitch from any of his extremities. If he's still alive, he's in a chair.

I was never the best defensive driver - a good offense is the best defense and whatsuch. I wasn't willing to tempt fate any longer. Nothing against bikes, but my son never showed an interest and I hope my grandson doesn't either. But I recognize it's a personal choice.

Surprised that Sam still rides one. He can't even keep a lawnmower upright.

[Diego in Seattle]

Those bikes look cool to me, but I'd be leaning too far forward. I also love the look of ape-hangers, but I'd never want to ride with them. I prefer my bars at somewhere in the middle.

I've got drag bars on my Fat Bob, and their a comfortable ride to me, but part of why I ride a Dyna is it's for a more aggressive style.
That's a big reason why I didn't buy that breakout in the first set of pics - I test rode one up here and with the front rake I couldn't take corners like I'm used to

Having bars that were in the middle never kept me from riding aggressively (when roadguarding).

I've test road a buddy's glide with 18" ape hangers - it sucked from a turning perspective. He say's it's really comfortable on long hauls, but I don't really see how

The only way I can see ape hangers adding comfort is allowing gravity to assist with cranking the throttle. But a throttle assist accessory takes care of the issue for me. And there's no way that one can say that one has equal control with their arms way up there (which is why CA bans hands above the shoulders).

[smackaholic]

I'm generally not very opinionated on people's choice regarding style of bike to ride. You wanna ride a cruiser/tourer/standard/sport/etc. good for you, but ape-hangers are fukking moronic. Comfortable? Bullshit. They pretty much completely removed your ability to counter-steer.

[Diego in Seattle]

'06 Kawasaki Nomad 1600

'holic, couldn't agree more.

[Diego in Seattle]

[Dinsdale]

which is why CA bans hands above the shoulders.

Illegal in Oregon, although I've never heard of it being enforced. Worse yet, the biker-gang types leave the bars a little loose, so if they get pulled over, they can jerk them down a bit... which reeks of safety.

Why is there a big hole in that mountain?

[Diego in Seattle]

Why is there a big hole in that mountain?

It did a money shot in 1980.

[Dinsdale]

Since you're to the south, did you come up through Woodland or Kalama (or wherever that turnoff is)? Both pretty sweet drives.

[Diego in Seattle]

Since you're to the south, did you come up through Woodland or Kalama (or wherever that turnoff is)? Both pretty sweet drives.

When did Seattle get moved to the south?

I went up from Castle Rock.

[Dinsdale]

I meant you're to the south of the mountain. I know which way the crater is oriented.

Kalama, Castle Rock... close enough (couldn't remember which town that highway came out of).

[Dr_Phibes]

Interesting stuff from Harley, are those concept bikes or meant for normal people to ride? Not being Princess from Battle Of The Planets I wouldn't be caught dead on one.
Do the engines still shake the bike to death, or has that been dealt with?

[smackaholic]

Phibes,

Harleys still rattle as much as ever. It's what happens when you design an engine that is horribly out of balance. And they'd be crazy to change this formula as it has Scott and countless thousands just like him. lining up with wheelbarrows full of money to buy them. And I suspect they don't come apart from rattling much these days as they've had 100+ years to develop proper fasteners and loctite.

You actually can buy a Harley with a 21st century engine. They have been making the V-rod for about 15 years now. DOHC, liquid cooled, reasonably well balanced engine. They developed it with Porsche.

I was in the local Harley store last week because that is where the RedCross was bleeding people that day. Wanna know how many V-Rods were on the floor?

Zero.

I may average a V-Rod sighting or two a year. Wanna know how many olde timey, patato-patato sounding Harleys I see on a nice summer day out here in the burbs? A number with at least 3 digits. They're like mosquitoes.

[Diego in Seattle]

I will say that the vibration isn't completely bad if you've been on your feet for a long time. When that vibration hits the floorboards your aching feet are so grateful!

[Dr_Phibes]

You and Holic should go test ride a new softail.

I honestly should do that, if for anything just the experience. Nothing to lose. The things you're talking about, you just never see anything like that here, the most unusual being a Honda Goldwing and I've seen one only once. Harley has their followers, but 95% of all the bikes on the road are Japanese. More Harley owners the further north you go. You'll see almost as many Triumphs and Royal Enfields as Harleys in the city.

which is why CA bans hands above the shoulders.

Here it's 15" above seat-height. I was out with a friend on a Bobber and he gave an Oscar winning speech to a cop, the back-rest is actually part of the seat-assembly so ape-hangers are perfectly legal. Pissed myself laughing

[smackaholic]

Interesting stuff from Harley, are those concept bikes or meant for normal people to ride?

Those are all custom builds from a bike shop down in NC - Stock Glide and Softail frames and engines

Do the engines still shake the bike to death, or has that been dealt with?

I ride a Dyna - which other than an old hard tail, has the most vibration and it's fine to me. It also has the tightest handling of all the HDs I've ridden

You and Holic should go test ride a new softail. In 2007 they changed the frame design.
Huge difference in the comfort level and vibration

I don't doubt the new softail is nice, for what it is. The softail has been around now, what, 30 years? Maybe more. You would expect they have the handling pretty much worked out by now. It would be fun to take one for a ride just to try something different, but I'd never buy one. Partly because I'm a cheap fukk. How they get folks to drop 20-25K for what is essentially a standard motorcycle without a hell of a lot of bells and whistles baffles me, but rack the fukk out of them for pulling it off!

In the end, it's not a matter of money. I won't buy any jap cruisers either. Just not my cup of tea. I would like to see Harley make an attempt to get into other types of bikes. Buell was doing some pretty fukking cool things in the sport bike arena before Harley took away their credit card. I think you will see this from Indian. They already have a damn good modern V-twin. I suspect you'll see them put out some standard, maybe hooliganish type bikes. Did you watch that video I posted earlier? Some dude there did some mods on one to make a cafe racer type thing and I could see myself on it. It was pretty badass.

[smackaholic]

I can understand that Victory owners would be pissed. I think Polaris just decided the Indian name carries a mystique that Victory could never hope to match and decided to go all in with it when they had the opportunity to buy it. From what little I know, I would say they are serious about it. They proved with Victory that they could build some decent bikes and from what I have seen so far from their Indians, I think they will pull it off. What I would really like to see is for them to hire Eric Buell and jump into the sport bike market with both feet. I suspect that Eric is not terribly happy with HD.

[Dr_Phibes]

If people think Indian, they think of one thing, so that's what you have to give them. Royal Enfield and Ural managed it to a lesser degree on smaller names. Triumph as well and it works for them. You can deliver a modern bike without getting grotesque, I'll wager a potential Indian owner would want true to the memory, the only reason you'd know the bike is you know it's history.

I may be the wrong person to offer input, if I'm upgrading, it's a '73 TR7

[smackaholic]

If people think Indian, they think of one thing, so that's what you have to give them. Royal Enfield and Ural managed it to a lesser degree on smaller names. Triumph as well and it works for them. You can deliver a modern bike without getting grotesque, I'll wager a potential Indian owner would want true to the memory, the only reason you'd know the bike is you know it's history.

I may be the wrong person to offer input, if I'm upgrading, it's a '73 TR7

A modern Triumph is very much a modern motorcycle, with multiple cams, liquid cooling, the whole nine yards. Had they just stuck to their heritage (push rods, air cooling, oil leaks) I doubt they'd do well. Harley is the only company that can maintain a death grip on first half of the 20th century engine technology and get away with it. Indian did quite well in racing, first time around. I think there is a market there to be had, if they can compete with the jap/nazi/limey stuff. This is no small feat, but Buell was making progress in that area before having the money tap shut off. If Indian can restart that effort and have even a small amount of success, I do believe it would bear fruit in the market. There is one problem though. Those old enough remember the original Indian when it was putting out bikes are older than wolfie. It's a shame this effort wasn't done successfully 20 years ago.

[smackaholic]

I don't get that list.

Harley #10, with Motto Guzzi ahead of them? Honda in the middle of the pack at 6?

Something is fukked about that list. I would expect Honda at #1, Harley somewhere up, maybe right behind the jap big 4, along with BMW.

[Dr_Phibes]

Funny how that works, you think of your own backyard, then there's everybody else.



I read the list and was, huh?

(I'd show Canadian market share, but no one's made a graph :cry: )