Why the Devotion to XJ's?

[James England]

That is a true story. On the Sporty list I was on, a member was touring and had her motor blow up; lost one of the crankshaft bearings. Now, this was a 3 year old high-mileage bike (in excess of 150K) and she had run that poor thing hard; I saw pics of her touring 'set-up' and she had enough 'stuff' strapped to that bike to make it look like one of the pics you see from the far east where the farmer is going to market with half his farm tied on... And she was a big girl (around 300 lbs), so that bike had been ran at or over it's max weight for most of those miles. She had scrupulously done all required service on it though...

The local dealer where she broke down called corporate about the bike; this sort of failure was unheard on. Now, that bike was long out of warranty, but HD overnighted the parts to the dealer AND paid for the repairs, parts and labor. She ended up paying for a tune-up and oil change, that was it...

That really is something actually. The hydraulic lifters sound good.

[James England]

At the time, Harley was working on a quiet and reliable belt drive.HD does advance their technology and their fit & finish is second to none. If you tour on one, their dealer support network has no match. Say what you will, it's a successful marque.
[/IMG]

Without doubt, it's a successful marque and, not being facetious, it's what Triumph should have done. Strangely enough, I do like the idea of a non-speed bike a la Triumph or Harley...for alternative biking (for me, at any rate). What puts me off though is exactly what makes the HD sell over there. That marketing video I posted, if not a spoof, would really put me off but, as you say, racing/speed etc isn't what sells them. And, as I say, even I don't think Arnie would have looked as good in Terminator 2 on a... say......XJR1300. Or XS1100...... Of course, there's no shotgun holster on most Japanese bikes but, even with one added, it wouldn't have looked right.