Who Hates Harley Davidson?

They all ain't slow either. I chased a Harley, owned by a buddy of mine, back from Arkansas. That bike was just wicked fast but two things upped the performance anti. 1) He had spent a small fortune on Screaming Eagle upgrades and 2) He was a motor cop and could ride that bike like it was a Formula One racer.

Yes, I hate it when stores do not add up. You hate to out and out call anyone a liar but it happens. I am not sure that I would let them touch my bike after they dropped it off the lift.

 

As a teenager, I happened upon a Harley-Aermacchi Sprint 350 basketcase. That was a painful re-build. In complete form, it looked something like this:



Not exactly a traditional Harley, but I was hating myself for taking on that project. No Harleys since!

 

All lifts are not the same. Some extend upwards several feet. Falling off and rolling off a lift could be what is meant. For the sake of argument, let's say the bike rolled off the lift when the lift was 3 or 4 ft off the deck. The bike could have taken a serious nose dive enough to compress the forks and cause damage to the high tensile ceramic portion of the plug. In another scenario, the "mechanic" working on the bike could have even cross threaded the plug.

Then ya got lifts that could even be like the ones in oldtime gas stations that run up to 7+ feet.

The guy with the busted bike might have pix too. Some dealerships run slammer type shops with mechanics that are underpaid, overworked and worst of all not certified by anyone.

Aermacchi ain't got much to do with HD other than HD owning the company for awhile. Aermacchi was founded ten years after HD built their first machines. Aermacchi was originally a builder of aircraft. Lot of poop and pix on Google.

This still does not really answer the question, "If HD built airplanes, would you fly?"

 

You may be right but would you want Fido or Fluffy working on your bike?

 

It's ironic that the Aermacchi Sprint 350 was actually quite a good motorcycle. There were the basis for many a club racer. Their problem was they looked funny to American eyes.

 

They looked almost as funny as Honda 50s and 90s.

Aermacchis were also raced by professionals. In the 1960s The AMA then known as The American Motorcycle Association, effected a rule change restricting novice license holders in flat track to 350 cc bikes with brakes, due to several novice riders getting killed at Ascot Speedway in Gardena, CA in just a few weeks.

Only until riders garnered enough points to become "Amateurs" were they allowed back on the mostly Brit 500cc and HD and Indian 750cc rigid frame and brakeless machines.

American flat track is run counterclockwise. Many of the bikes in that era shifted on the right in different orders depending on the make of the bike. On street modified bikes not specifically purchased for racing the rake and trail aspects were modified by the owners. The frames on the flattrackers were rigid ie, no rear suspension. Many of the racers had two almost identical bikes one for flat track and another sans engine for Steeplechase or TT racing. The bikes also had brakes for the latter.

Depending to the overall dimension of the track gearing was changed and front wheels were larger or smaller to compensate.

Dirt tracks were generally of a half mile or a mile in circumference. Races were generally designated by miles ie, a 50 mile national or "The Springfield or Sacramento Mile." Back even further nearly the same "formula" for board track racing was used. Some of the tracks were 2.5 miles in circumference.

 

Board tracks were amaing considering the they were built, not as you would expect with the boards laid face up but instead stacked togther.

 

What do a Harley Davidson and a porcupine have in common?

They’ve both got pricks on the back.

 

I don't care if its PhotoShop, that is so cool.

 

Um ah okay-- wonder how the thing feels turning.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

"President Donald Trump will not head to Milwaukee for a previously scheduled visit of a Harley-Davidson factory after the company decided it wasn't comfortable hosting him amid planned protests, an administration official said Tuesday."

 

Gee rejecting the President of the United States!! Isn't that Un-American?? I guess Harley Davidson is now officially pussyfied! Put the flags away boys so we don't encourage him.


Here try this it'll make man of ya

 

Good Superbowl ad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF3wOrWBKjc

 

Watched a couple of YouTube videos last night of the new Milwaukee 8. It looks like Harley has two brand new obsolete design engines. They basically get their power from cubic inches.

Whatever. If they make people happy then it's their money. I just can't see paying any amount of money for a machine that won't go, won't stop, and won't handle worth snit. Oh, and then the owners have to grow a beard, buy a vest, and pay a lot for tattoos. The only money saving thing about them is that beanie helmets don't cost much nor do they protect heads.
We make fun of them, they make fun of us. It keeps life interesting. It's interesting to look at Killboy's site and watch what goes by on Harleys. It's a circus.

 

I went to the International Motorcycle Show and discovered that Harley Davidson has a pretty big problem. You see Indian had the island display just inside the door. For the traditionalist there was the Chief with leather bags and a cowboy type theme. Want something more sporty? There's the Scout. Why is this trouble for Harley? Polaris is playing Harley's game with a well known and iconic brand but Indian is not stuck with 40 year old engine designs. They had a cut away of the Indian Scout engine and I swear it looked exactly like my Honda VTR1000 with double overhead cams and four valve heads. Harley can't match that with the heavy and very dated Sportester. There is one issue that if a huge problem for Harley that is not related to Indian. The market for big high priced road bikes is drying up. The generation that had the disposable income to buy such items is aging out of the market. Even Gold Wing sales have taken a nose dive. Harley has done an excellent job of riding a wave of nostalgia and patriotism to sell bikes. I wounder if they can be equally creative in the days and years to come attracting new riders to the orange and black banner.

 

Personally I think there are still too many Kool-aid drinkers who believe and spread the word of HD to knock them off the top but if enough people (word of mouth, magazines, internet, etc.) show how behind the times HD is on design and engineering, then maybe it'll make a bigger dent.

HD fans are hard core believers and other than having someone prove them wrong, which they might deny anyway, it will be hard to bring those guys around to another brand. However, if these followers start to die out without any heir to carry on their beliefs, then eventually they will be bred out.

 

I agree with you, based on my limited knowledge of both brands. To me, the Indian is such a better looking, finer finished bike. In Long Beach at the bike show I had the opportunity to look at both brands and the Harley just seemed like an older bike. It doesn't have the refinement of the Indian. While I have not ridden an Indian, my brother said that the Scout had a harsh ride.

 

Maybe it's just me but the entire motorcycle industry seems to be declining. There used to be 2 motorcyle shops within 5 miles from me and now they're out of business. And there was a Honda motorcycle dealer about 20 miles from me and they closed up shop after being operation for over 20 years. It's kind of surreal really, when I bought my 1st bike back in 2007 there were tons of shops open and now 10 years later shops are closing up left and right.

Who knows, maybe it's just a lull but I'm not holding my breath for it to come back again.

 

Not much in the news aboot the "Bikers for Trump" who were going to protect him with a "wall of meat" on inauguration day. Most from the pix were riding or driving Harleys. Maybe the rain shorted out the ignitions or maybe a bunch of the bikes had R/R's off Hondas or maybe some of the harleydoods hooked up with some of the women from the women's march and they all went shopping at Wal*Mart.

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