The Harley Experience

[hillsy]

President Trump in a speech today to all Republicans both House and Senate. In his speech he mentioned the great inequities in our trade agreements. He said foreign motorcycles are sold here with no surcharges and yet a Harley Davidson motorcycle is taxed 100% in those same countries making it much more expensive to sell in those countries. He said either that must stop or we will have to reciprocate on the taxing countries bikes. That is only fair and we will no longer tolerate these inequities.

Give em Hell Trump. That BMW, Suzuki, Yamaha, Kawasaki, or Honda won’t look so great if it cost 30 grand instead of 16 grand. They don't even look good to me at 16 grand

HD's over here are sold on quotas. There is, and always has been, a waiting list to buy a new HD (if it is not somehow still on the showroom floor).

That's the way the brand holds its value.

Flooding the market with cheaper HD's will ultimately ruin their value / market.

[Fred]

You notice on Movies they have big Hondas. You can easily tell with 4 pipes coming from the front. And then they dub in the sound of a Harley.

Saw it last night on a Clint Eastwood film where some one wants to shoot the president. The entire bike motorcade was Honda.

I certainly dont question there decision, reliability is important.

[hillsy]

You notice on Movies they have big Hondas. You can easily tell with 4 pipes coming from the front. And then they dub in the sound of a Harley.

Saw it last night on a Clint Eastwood film where some one wants to shoot the president. The entire bike motorcade was Honda.

I certainly dont question there decision, reliability is important.

They just used Hondas because they were cheap and everywhere.

If you watch Stone where the bike rides off the cliff you will see its a Honda 360. They didn't want to waste a good Z1 when they could dump a shitty Honda in the ocean.

[Fred]

A toyota pick up fully loaded auto with leather trim is about 1.3 million in Thailaind.

The Harley is about the same and yet the Thais use them a lot. They hold their prices and are still expensive 12 years old.

I could have bought an old Fat boy at a dealers. Some one had painted it mat black with an aerosol can it was still 300,000 baht --9,000 dollars. Cheapest Harley I have ever seen apart from some sportsters.

I suppose Thailand is one of the countries Trump is on about. Foriegn import is 100% on cars and there is still Rolls Royce in the streets. There is very wealthy people here, makes you wonder.

[RoadKing]

Question:

Place a zuki and a hondo in a C5, take them up to 30,000 feet, throw them off the plane at precisely the same time, which one hits ground first?

Answer:

Who cares?

Alternate answer:

What’s the difference between a duck?

[Designer]

Load your washer in an unbalanced way after it's filled turn it to spin now sit on it and save yourself 20,000 bucks.

Oh Man! Now ya dunnit!

I'd duck if'n I wuz you!

See? [space] You are up to three pages now!

[wally w]

Load your washer in an unbalanced way after it's filled turn it to spin now sit on it and save yourself 20,000 bucks.

Oh Man! Now ya dunnit!

I'd duck if'n I wuz you!

See? [space] You are up to three pages now!

It's still winter.

[Designer]

Load your washer in an unbalanced way after it's filled turn it to spin now sit on it and save yourself 20,000 bucks.

Oh Man! Now ya dunnit!
I'd duck if'n I wuz you!

See? [space] You are up to three pages now!

It's still winter.

Yup,....still is.

What's your prediction for the number of pages in your thread-of-such-good-interest before spring? [emoji2]

[jeffcoslacker]

I bought my '99 XL1200C one afternoon and rode it home. I was SO happy.

The next morning I left to go riding all day. I got a block from the neighborhood gas station, made a right turn and hammered it in first to hear some badass noise, and it leaped forward, went "wuhPOW!" from the intake, and died. I about went over the bars Then I smelled smoke, coming from under me.

And my first thought was "REALLY?? Is it SERIOUSLY like this?"

Positive battery cable was misrouted, sharp metal edge wore through it and grounded. Even after I sorta-fixed it on the spot, after rolling to the gas station, it was electrically dead. No headlight, no gauge lights, nada. Then suddenly it went "tink" quietly, and everything came back. It fired up and ran fine for the rest of the time I owned it.

Circuit breaker? I never actually looked. If so, very glad it was there. It would have been a big mess otherwise.

[old time rider]

All four of my Evos had circuit breakers and other than broken ground cables and normal blown ights never had elc troubles from them.Had to replace or rebuild all at least once on my shovel head. Did not abuse my Harleys in the so bad way I do my Japan bikes but really slow fun is so nice on them.Paint was better on all my Harleys.

[Junebug51]

I bought my '99 XL1200C one afternoon and rode it home. I was SO happy.

The next morning I left to go riding all day. I got a block from the neighborhood gas station, made a right turn and hammered it in first to hear some badass noise, and it leaped forward, went "wuhPOW!" from the intake, and died. I about went over the bars Then I smelled smoke, coming from under me.

And my first thought was "REALLY?? Is it SERIOUSLY like this?"

Positive battery cable was misrouted, sharp metal edge wore through it and grounded. Even after I sorta-fixed it on the spot, after rolling to the gas station, it was electrically dead. No headlight, no gauge lights, nada. Then suddenly it went "tink" quietly, and everything came back. It fired up and ran fine for the rest of the time I owned it.

Circuit breaker? I never actually looked. If so, very glad it was there. It would have been a big mess otherwise.

I had a Suzuki C90T that left me stranded 4 times in the first 1100 miles. Brand new bike, but dealer charged me every time I had to take it in. First....De-comp cable bad....OK, it could happen.... three days later no start again, stranded........oh, bad battery... OK.......week later, no start, stranded again.....happened twice more with dealer telling me I needed to let the bike cool down more before I tried to start it....bike acted just like the battery was dead.......last time it happened, rather than call the dealer again, I just had a guy jump start me off his car. Got rid of it the next day. I traded it in for a Super Glide that gave me ZERO problems in 34,000 miles. Oh, BTW, when I reminded the Suzuki dealer that this was a brand new bike and all those things should be covered under warranty, he STILL made me pay for the work (over $325) and told me to "take it up with Suzuki". I submitted his bills to Suzuki, Inc., and after many e-mails, calls, letters, etc., it's now 11 years later and I'm still waiting to hear back from them. Kinda soured me on the Suzuki brand.

[hillsy]

I had a Suzuki C90T that left me stranded 4 times in the first 1100 miles. Brand new bike, but dealer charged me every time I had to take it in. First....De-comp cable bad....OK, it could happen.... three days later no start again, stranded........oh, bad battery... OK.......week later, no start, stranded again.....happened twice more with dealer telling me I needed to let the bike cool down more before I tried to start it....bike acted just like the battery was dead.......last time it happened, rather than call the dealer again, I just had a guy jump start me off his car. Got rid of it the next day. I traded it in for a Super Glide that gave me ZERO problems in 34,000 miles. Oh, BTW, when I reminded the Suzuki dealer that this was a brand new bike and all those things should be covered under warranty, he STILL made me pay for the work (over $325) and told me to "take it up with Suzuki". I submitted his bills to Suzuki, Inc., and after many e-mails, calls, letters, etc., it's now 11 years later and I'm still waiting to hear back from them. Kinda soured me on the Suzuki brand.

Wow - what a shit experience. That dealer is a hands down dickhead if he made you pay for any of that stuff.

My buddy who works in a Yamaha dealership tells me he gets people in who have had similar experiences from other shops and he simply can't believe the shit some dealers make their customers go through. Fortunately, over here, the market is pretty small and bad news travels fast through the community meaning shit dealers don't last very long.

[Prodigal_Sun]

I had a Suzuki C90T that left me stranded 4 times in the first 1100 miles. Brand new bike, but dealer charged me every time I had to take it in. First....De-comp cable bad....OK, it could happen.... three days later no start again, stranded........oh, bad battery... OK.......week later, no start, stranded again.....happened twice more with dealer telling me I needed to let the bike cool down more before I tried to start it....bike acted just like the battery was dead.......last time it happened, rather than call the dealer again, I just had a guy jump start me off his car. Got rid of it the next day. I traded it in for a Super Glide that gave me ZERO problems in 34,000 miles. Oh, BTW, when I reminded the Suzuki dealer that this was a brand new bike and all those things should be covered under warranty, he STILL made me pay for the work (over $325) and told me to "take it up with Suzuki". I submitted his bills to Suzuki, Inc., and after many e-mails, calls, letters, etc., it's now 11 years later and I'm still waiting to hear back from them. Kinda soured me on the Suzuki brand.

Wow - what a shit experience. That dealer is a hands down dickhead if he made you pay for any of that stuff.

My buddy who works in a Yamaha dealership tells me he gets people in who have had similar experiences from other shops and he simply can't believe the shit some dealers make their customers go through. Fortunately, over here, the market is pretty small and bad news travels fast through the community meaning shit dealers don't last very long.

That was the dealer, not Suzuki. The service writer at the Suzuki dealer I worked for used to warranty his parts for his 'busa all the time. Except his was out of warranty. No problem, he'd just use the info from a customer's bike. They'd honor it. Everytime. No questions asked.

[hillsy]

I never said it was the manufacturer...although the dealer told the customer to take it up with them and they apparently didn't fix it either...so maybe it IS a bit of both to blame? ;IDunno:

[Prodigal_Sun]

I never said it was the manufacturer...although the dealer told the customer to take it up with them and they apparently didn't fix it either...so maybe it IS a bit of both to blame? ;IDunno:

You said it soured you on Suzuki. You probably weren't authorized to directly get reimbursed for warranty work, but the dealer was. They likely pocketed it. Good old fashioned "double-pay"

[Tbeck]

A smooth Harley? Rubbish!
That's not a bad thing, that's what makes a Harley a Harley.

If you want smooth buy an inline or a beemer, but I have yet to meet any long time HD owner that bought a HD because it was smooth.

[navigator]

A smooth Harley? Rubbish!
That's not a bad thing, that's what makes a Harley a Harley.

If you want smooth buy an inline or a beemer, but I have yet to meet any long time HD owner that bought a HD because it was smooth.

Harley-Davidson’s first production electric motorcycle will debut in 2019. They should be smooth, unless of course you opt for the additional offset shaft weight to induce some vibration.

[Junebug51]

A smooth Harley? Rubbish!
That's not a bad thing, that's what makes a Harley a Harley.

If you want smooth buy an inline or a beemer, but I have yet to meet any long time HD owner that bought a HD because it was smooth.

I once owned a Heritage Softail which comes with Harley''s counter balanced "B" engine. It was as smooth as a Honda........I HATED it......I'd never own another softail, might as well ride a metric......give me the rubber mounted Harley engine any day. Shakes like crazy at idle, but smooths right out as soon as you get rolling.

[Digger]

Loved my Sportster and still miss it but it was too small for me to use for anything other than a bar hopper. Needed to get a bike for long hauls but Harley has limited my options. They have killed the Dyna line and there is no mid price range any more. (Well, there is, but it just moved higher). If I don't want a Sportster then most all the other bikes have the same engine. There was nothing wrong with the 88 or 96 ci engines so why do I need the new Milwaukee one? Ya, I get that improvements have been made but why am I forced to go from my 883's 54ci to 107ci when a bike like the Heritage for example doesn't need that power? Because having one engine gives Harley less inventory and production headaches and we will pay for it anyway so there is no incentive for them to make smaller engines.

But for people like me it puts me out of the Harley market. If I go to Yamaha for example I can get a 950 or a 1300 tourer for less than half of the Harley Softail price and as others have said the metrics are just as good. I prefer Harley because of the wide dealer network so service is never a problem when you're on the road but when you're on a pension like I am there's only so much money for toys so I got to go metric. If I do need service the shops are just a little harder to find. But on the bright side the metric hasn't let me down yet.

[hillsy]

I never said it was the manufacturer...although the dealer told the customer to take it up with them and they apparently didn't fix it either...so maybe it IS a bit of both to blame? ;IDunno:

You said it soured you on Suzuki. You probably weren't authorized to directly get reimbursed for warranty work, but the dealer was. They likely pocketed it. Good old fashioned "double-pay"

This happened to Junebug51, not me.

This is an example of a shit dealer like you say. However, if the customer was told to take it up with the manufacturer and the manufacturer doesn't do anything, then the blame falls on the manufacturer to fix it and dump the shit dealer.