Motorcycle vs car

[simon.r]

The Kawasaki pictured is a 900 4-stroke Z1, not a 2-stroke KH. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_triple

Mea culpa

 

[simon.r]

I wrote to Harley to explain and the only reply I had was 'Here's the details of the UK chapters and a pin badge.'. When I wrote to the UK base I got 'Here's a membership form and a pin badge.'. That is all I could get out of them, membership forms and pin badges. They wouldn't talk to me at all.

When I bought the Rocket I was seriously considering a V-Rod. I test rode a V-Rod a couple of times but was put off buying one by the Harley dealer who insisted on telling me that I would be buying a 'lifestyle' as well as a bike. We fell out when I told the salesman that I already had a lifestyle and didn't feel the need to buy another one!

 

[Linford]

When I bought the Rocket I was seriously considering a V-Rod. I test rode a V-Rod a couple of times but was put off buying one by the Harley dealer who insisted on telling me that I would be buying a 'lifestyle' as well as a bike. We fell out when I told the salesman that I already had a lifestyle and didn't feel the need to buy another one!

Quality post . Harleys have never been 'riders' bikes though - in the same way which scooter's aren't either, If I were to 'buy into it' would much rather lean towards the scooterists styling than the rocker one though, in the way Harley encourage people to join the 'Chapters' which are like Hells Angels for Quantity surveyors, Accountants and middle managers.

 

[Norm]

I tried to love the V-Rod (I had some good friends who sell Harley's for a living) but I couldn't. It looks ok when sitting in a showroom but the moment you put a rider (any rider!) on it, it just looks silly.

The thing was also a painful ride for me, the grips were too large, the throttle needed to be twisted too far, the legs were pushed off the pegs at anything over 60 mph... it was the antithesis to a cruiser and exactly what I didn't want in a bike.

I would have been happy on a Night Train, Nightster or Dyna Super Glide Sport, but they are just so expensive with no justification beyond the demand from the lifestyle crew.

I take little pleasure in riding past all of the failed and closed HD Stealerships now - Slough, Southampton, Manchester, they were all pretty good shops with enthusiastic teams inside them but nothing to offer beyond the lifestyle.

I went to the opening of the HD place in Towcester about a million years ago, and one of the "patches" I saw that actually had "Chapter Accountant" on it.

 

[yello]

I've never 'got' Harley's. I just couldn't go there. People talk about them being a lifestyle (or somesuch) and more than just a bike but I reckon that's an attempt to gloss over the fact that they're actually crap!

Jap 4s take a lot of stick from many camps but there's also a great deal right about them.

 

[Linford]

[QUOTE 1728743, member: 45"]More than that, I've never understood why anyone would want to ride a chopper. I just don't get the permanent discomfort of the things..

[/quote]


Now if you want discomfort

 

[Vapin' Joe]

A mate is a Harley fanatic, his steed is a Heritage Soft Tail Classic. When I was still biking rideouts with him were so painfully slow it was tedious in the extreme. I've never understood the appeal, slow, heavy, underbraked and no handling. It's like wanting a car and buying a JCB.

 

[ASC1951]

The examiner still stepped off the kerb to check your emergency stop when I did mine in 1976.... happy days.

Same here. I had ridden a 250 Honda a few years before, but I was able to take my test on a 50cc scooter then go out the next week and buy an 850 Norton Commando. Ridiculous, really.

 

[Night Train]

I'm not specifically a Harley fan but I do like custom bikes. Particularly feet forward, low bars and clean simple lines.

Exile Cycles.

 

[Arch]

Bike - cheaper, a lot more fun, but don't ignore the danger. It's real.
Car - no fun, but practical and warm in the cold and dry in the wet.

That depends! Get a nice old proper Mini (pre-73 for free VED). That's fun!

Mind you, mine wasn't always completely dry inside when it rained....

Or a 2CV, but they are getting to be more pricey due to becoming collector's items....

 

[blockend]

Same here. I had ridden a 250 Honda a few years before, but I was able to take my test on a 50cc scooter then go out the next week and buy an 850 Norton Commando. Ridiculous, really.

Those were the days. Not quite as mad as the previous era where you bought any motorcycle you fancied and rode out the shop sans helmet - but still pretty scary. In the 70s 'super-sixteener' mopeds had to have pedals and were restricted to 50cc, anything else was fair game. This lead to the phenomenon of high powered lightweight racing motorcycles (think Malaguti and Gilera) donning folding pedals, not the most stable platform to change gear.

Rising insurance claims saw them off, at the height of the super-moped boom one dealer reckoned to be getting half of all FS1E's back in the first fortnight smashed up. Having reached his seventeenth birthday your bike nut signed up on the never-never for a RD 250 or a Kawasaki Triple and tried for the ton. Everyone knew someone who never made their 18th birthday.

 

[DiddlyDodds]

if you want a reliable small bike for commuting go for a Honda 125, or a Honda 175 , prob the most reliable engine ever bike ever built , cheap as chips to run and light and easy to start riding on busy roads.
I have had over 20 bikes from 250s to 1100s and still think the most fun i ever had, were snowy winters on my Honda C90 step through , great fun hammering it everywhere , i doubt if one of them engines has ever failed.

 

[MarkF]

I have had over 20 bikes from 250s to 1100s and still think the most fun i ever had, were snowy winters on my Honda C90 step through , great fun hammering it everywhere , i doubt if one of them engines has ever failed.

Most people eventually see the light, wish I knew in my 20's what I know now. I cant recall how many bikes I've owned I do know that they got bigger and bigger though, if I'd had the money I suppose I'd have ended up with a Boss Hog eventually, instead of stopping at 1500cc. The enjoyment diminished as the engine dispalcement grew. The most fun I ever had was on a 650cc single (Honda Dominator), I bought that same bike 4 times only selling it for good last year. If you'd told me a decade ago I'd be getting my thrills on vintage Vespa's and enjoying myself more than I ever did on bikes (whilst spending peanuts in the process) I'd never have believed it.

 

[yello]

My wife had a Honda CG125 after her CBT. I rode it a few times and whilst it was a hoot, the braking was a little, um, interesting. It did stop, eventually, but shall we just say it paid to anticipate situations!

 

[blockend]

I owned a number of MZs, all 250s. Great bikes. It was a minor tragedy when they stopped making them. I agree that cubic capacity has no relationship to riding pleasure. Reviewers know nothing, the Honda CX 500 was universally condemned but after the C90 was probably the most reliable transport on the planet.