Damn it, I should have know better,..................

[Cletus]

A over priced lump of steel designed in 1937 that could not pass a truck with a tail wind ?

Damn, such hate. Better make sure I posted the right pics,.................. ummm, yes I did.  :toothy11:

I'd just havin a larf, it's a nice bike fella

 

[Torment Leaves Scars]

Nice Hog!  I believe that's the one with the engine built by Porsche?  :toothy12:

While I like bikes, I accept the fact that I would probably wind up either seriously injured or killed on one.  I like Harley for their history, and definitely think they are cool bikes, but I have a need for speed, so I'd probably steer towards something to the likes of a Ducati 1198 SP.  arty07:

Yep, I'd either own a Harley Lowrider or Ducati 1198 SP.  :headbang1:

 

[riverbluff]

Death,
people do not buy Harleys because they want high performance, or want a bike that is on the cutting edge.
The bike does not corner like a sports bike or even have anywhere near the horsepower to weight ratio.
But then it is not designed to.
It is a cruiser, and it does that well, it is also a fashion statement. But I do not put it down for that. Neither does the faithful, if it was not for people wanting a comfortable bike that looks good Harley would not be the company they are. And they make money hand over fist. Nothing wrong with that.
But face one thing, the engines basic design was pre WWII, they do not have engine designers at Harley, their styling department makes them sell. They do have a modern water cooled engine in the Vrod but they have not done a upgrade to the engine since it was introduced, and when was that? over 10 years ago.
If it was up to keeping up with modern technology, HD would have gone out of business in the 70s.
Those are facts, not hate, I ride a Kawasaki 1200 cc inline 4, 2003 ZZR, it is not a sports bike, bigger than a sports bike with a much bigger fairing, has around 100 pounds on the Ninga, it is a sports touring bike, I can get on it and do 250 miles to Vegas in comfort. I have owned 2 Harleys in my life and choose to own the Kawasaki , less maintenance and lots better reliability.
I think you bought a great bike, love the swoopy look of it. Think it looks more modern than the offerings of a few years back, which I like.

Jim

It's not a Harley, it's a Yamaha Raider, unlike Harley, Yamaha knows how to build reliable motorcycles... :laughing11:

Ouch!!! :tard:

Got to say, I have had this for the past 8 years and never had a single problem.  The Sporty I had before this was also 7 years without a hicup.

Nighttrain by riverbluff4, on Flickr

 

[Steve_Karl]

Nice. Love 'em all. I wish I could get an other but I'm pedals only at this point.

This was my last one: 1967 Triumph Bonneville 650

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Nice. Love 'em all. I wish I could get an other but I'm pedals only at this point.

This was my last one: 1967 Triumph Bonneville 650

And if you only still had it!!  

 

[Watershed]

It's pure awesome, that's what it is.
Great bike.
:headbang:

 

[ByteFrenzy]

What it is? I can make a couple of guesses...

1. Someone left Max alone with Photosop again.

2. It's the soon-to-be-released Envymatic 3000.

 

[DangerousR6]

Death,
people do not buy Harleys because they want high performance, or want a bike that is on the cutting edge.
The bike does not corner like a sports bike or even have anywhere near the horsepower to weight ratio.
But then it is not designed to.
It is a cruiser, and it does that well, it is also a fashion statement. But I do not put it down for that. Neither does the faithful, if it was not for people wanting a comfortable bike that looks good Harley would not be the company they are. And they make money hand over fist. Nothing wrong with that.
But face one thing, the engines basic design was pre WWII, they do not have engine designers at Harley, their styling department makes them sell. They do have a modern water cooled engine in the Vrod but they have not done a upgrade to the engine since it was introduced, and when was that? over 10 years ago.
If it was up to keeping up with modern technology, HD would have gone out of business in the 70s.
Those are facts, not hate, I ride a Kawasaki 1200 cc inline 4, 2003 ZZR, it is not a sports bike, bigger than a sports bike with a much bigger fairing, has around 100 pounds on the Ninga, it is a sports touring bike, I can get on it and do 250 miles to Vegas in comfort. I have owned 2 Harleys in my life and choose to own the Kawasaki , less maintenance and lots better reliability.
I think you bought a great bike, love the swoopy look of it. Think it looks more modern than the offerings of a few years back, which I like.

Jim

It's not a Harley, it's a Yamaha Raider, unlike Harley, Yamaha knows how to build reliable motorcycles... :laughing11:

Ouch!!! :tard:

Got to say, I have had this for the past 8 years and never had a single problem.  The Sporty I had before this was also 7 years without a hicup.

Nighttrain by riverbluff4, on Flickr

Sorry Bill, I love v-twins, I'm just anti harley always have been. I'm sure they've gotten better over the years, but they just stand up to the quality of the Japanese bikes... Hell even S&S took the design and made it better, that should have been a clue for harley...

 

[richship]

Got to say, I have had this for the past 8 years and never had a single problem.  The Sporty I had before this was also 7 years without a hicup.

A Harley Sportster is what a motorcycle is supposed to look like (IMHO of course). I'm looking to get one when my current car is paid off.

 

[stubhead]

Heated grips?

Harley-Davidson's best product by far over the last thirty years has been t-shirts for metal bands - nothing says "rock 'n' roll" like a prune-faced English guy's fishbelly-white sunken hairless chest, adorned with a torn "Harley" tee. :headbang1: Yay. Git down.

 

[DangerousR6]

Got to say, I have had this for the past 8 years and never had a single problem.  The Sporty I had before this was also 7 years without a hicup.

A Harley Sportster is what a motorcycle is supposed to look like (IMHO of course). I'm looking to get one when my current car is paid off.

Sportsters were designed for women in mind....In case y'all didn't know.... :doh:

 

[OzziePete]

Ha ha. Poor Harley riders can't win. If they ride a stripped down version, they are dinosaurs riding antiques that rattle and shake and spew oil on the road (or their jeans) every 5 miles. If they buy one of the newer Harleys with all the mod cons attached they are poseurs. Even those who buy V Twins lookalikes from other manufacturers are scorned with "That's not a Harley" taunt all the time.

FWIW I used to work with a guy who would live in boarding houses, work way too much overtime if it came up and live off noodles and basic food items just so every 4 - 5 years he could buy the latest, new top of the range Harley. Which was then stored in a storage facility that he paid for, that was probably better fitted out than the places he lived in and hardly ridden, except of grand tourismos where all the options on that massive cruisr/tourer would be all on display. And yes, the last Harley I saw him buy, had heated handgrips. I think it even had a DVD for the pillion passenger! Thatw as one of those anniversary models a few years back. He had the order in the minute it was announced. Everytime I used to remonstrate with him about looking after himself better, he'd just point to my obsession with guitars and say I did it too!

 

[hannaugh]

Any time I see that style of motorcycle, "The Weight" by The Band plays in my head.  I mean that in a good way, but it's funny how that song is just connected to motorcycles in my mind. 

 

[Nando Vallart]

Looks great! I want :sad:

 

[richship]

Sportsters were designed for women in mind....In case y'all didn't know.... :doh:

Um, no. Don't think that was a big market in 1952.

 

[Dan025]

sportsters were designed to compete with the indian scout and british and italian imports. i dont know how big the cafe racer scene was in america but i guess it was big enough for harley to create a new model.

 

[DangerousR6]

sportsters were designed to compete with the indian scout and british and italian imports. i dont know how big the cafe racer scene was in america but i guess it was big enough for harley to create a new model.

I call BS, we all know it's only the fat ugly chics ride sportsters, Americans had not a clue what Cafe racing was until it had evolved into Grand Prix racing... :toothy11:

 

[Jusatele]

sportsters were designed to compete with the indian scout and british and italian imports. i dont know how big the cafe racer scene was in america but i guess it was big enough for harley to create a new model.

I call BS, we all know it's only the fat ugly chics ride sportsters, Americans had not a clue what Cafe racing was until it had evolved into Grand Prix racing... :toothy11:

Doug, he is correct, it was developed for that, but like always, Harley makes an engine and then stands by the initial design, and does not improve on it much
so the original sportster, a 883 was punched to a 1000, but it was to late, also the rest of the world had left the V twin, (except the 90 degree v twin) as an antique and went on to other engines. We only  need to look at the long history of HD to learn that they have always been a little to late with innovations. That they have never been huge in the racing world unless the race was designed around the HD, such as flat track which has several times outlawed engines that are better than the XR750.
No hate just fact.
Harley has always based their sales off the fact they offer the best style in the business, and the most comfort, they have never really chased high performance very long as it is expensive and not what their faithful really want. HD is all about cruising, so a 50 horse power big twin is good enough, and the sportster, which if had been developed as a sports bike like other marks have done, would not be using a V twin today, unless it was a 90 degree twin. Look at the engine they ran in AMA superbike in the 90s, it was a 90 degree twin, but they redid that into the VROD engine once put into production for the street, That is thier premiere engine, around 100 hp, but it is not their big seller. In stead the faithful still clamor for the Big Twin which is getting special dispensation from the Federal Smog Regulations for the last few years. It seems 2009 was the last year for Air Cooled engines but HD has paid someone off again and is still selling those things.
God Bless Harley Davidson and the American Dream of owning a Big Twin motorcyle being able to Lope down the highway across thousands of miles of vast richness we call the United states, in a lot of comfort,big seats, low riding position and all. It may not be any where near the latest in technology, but it is a great way to sit back, slow down and smell the roses.

that said, I can only afford one bike and so I use it to get my Yayas out, HDs are just do not get it for me. Of all of them I have owned, my FXR was my favorite.

 

[DangerousR6]

sportsters were designed to compete with the indian scout and british and italian imports. i dont know how big the cafe racer scene was in america but i guess it was big enough for harley to create a new model.

I call BS, we all know it's only the fat ugly chics ride sportsters, Americans had not a clue what Cafe racing was until it had evolved into Grand Prix racing... :toothy11:

Doug, he is correct, it was developed for that, but like always, Harley makes an engine and then stands by the initial design, and does not improve on it much
so the original sportster, a 883 was punched to a 1000, but it was to late, also the rest of the world had left the V twin, (except the 90 degree v twin) as an antique and went on to other engines. We only  need to look at the long history of HD to learn that they have always been a little to late with innovations. That they have never been huge in the racing world unless the race was designed around the HD, such as flat track which has several times outlawed engines that are better than the XR750.
No hate just fact.
Harley has always based their sales off the fact they offer the best style in the business, and the most comfort, they have never really chased high performance very long as it is expensive and not what their faithful really want. HD is all about cruising, so a 50 horse power big twin is good enough, and the sportster, which if had been developed as a sports bike like other marks have done, would not be using a V twin today, unless it was a 90 degree twin. Look at the engine they ran in AMA superbike in the 90s, it was a 90 degree twin, but they redid that into the VROD engine once put into production for the street, That is thier premiere engine, around 100 hp, but it is not their big seller. In stead the faithful still clamor for the Big Twin which is getting special dispensation from the Federal Smog Regulations for the last few years. It seems 2009 was the last year for Air Cooled engines but HD has paid someone off again and is still selling those things.
God Bless Harley Davidson and the American Dream of owning a Big Twin motorcyle being able to Lope down the highway across thousands of miles of vast richness we call the United states, in a lot of comfort,big seats, low riding position and all. It may not be any where near the latest in technology, but it is a great way to sit back, slow down and smell the roses.

that said, I can only afford one bike and so I use it to get my Yayas out, HDs are just do not get it for me. Of all of them I have owned, my FXR was my favorite.

I was being sarcastic..... :doh:

 

[Jusatele]

oops, sorry