My latest experience with Harley dudes...

[young nip]

them HD guys

I wave to every one.While on two wheels we all should share the love. Lots of my buddies have or had harleys. My buds always razzed me for a havin a" rice bike".Started any time ,anywhere and I always drove cleanup cause I had the horses. Cant recall ever having to ask one of them for a push start, or search for a part in the ditch that vibrated off my bike.Never burnt my valves out and spoiled the trip.Never blew off and dragged my exhaust. I helped a guy last year at the corner store ,his dyna wouldnt start. Figured out that the starter wire had wobbled its way off the crimp washer under the boot.Had tools in my trunk. Happened either from wind vibration or got bumped. Who would design mount a starter anyway right behind the front wheel where it would get pulverized from road grit anyway?. my cousin did buy a 2003 road king. what afun ride and great locomotive feel.Im not knockin HD,s ,but they sure can put "adventure" in a ride.The newer ones are a better bike than the past. Ya, id like a nice sportster too ,to scoot to the corner store or the ball park.They are fun to ride.( potatoe potatoe) But I gots somethin for roddin in its purest form.( growllllll varoooooom.........)
Steve --ps--- i wave to everyone.

[Underdog]

Yeah, the newer ones are definitely light years better than the old shovel heads. The AMF bikes were downright junk and even most diehard Harley dudes will agree with that. I have the balanced motor on mine..very smooth. Your right about the locomotive feel. I have the 95 inch kit with cams. It dynoed at 98hp & 80ft/lb but the torque peaks around 3500. At 5500 it's about done pull'n and Harley doesn't recomend reving past 6200 cause of the counterbalancers. It's a whole different world for sure. Can't wait to see what the 1100s like to ride. I frequently joke with my Harley buddies that it wasn't Harleys R&D or quality control that saved the Company but rather the invention of Locktite! Just about every fastener has it on. Every other sentence in the workshop manual is tell'n you to use either the blue stuff or red. Probably acounts for stuff not falling off anymore. For the record, I'm not one of these guys that thinks the sun rises & sets on The Motor Company. Frankly, I'm about sick of the over merchandizing they've done. I think they'd stamp their name on tampons if they thought they'd sell! I do love the bike though.

[Hobbit]

Tampons

They probably don't sell tampons because they would be too difficult to chrome and not enough people would be able to see them!

[sksxs1100]

My Dad has three Harleys (well one is a Panzer) he quit riding in 73 after i was born..(and he sold his XS650 which of course he now regrets).. In 1994 he bought his Ultra classic and now has 75000 miles on it. After my Grandparents died, he bought the panzer for my brother and I to ride with him ( I already had my XS) then he bought the little screamer... a 1200 Sportster Sport> the dual plug head little monster... that bike has more horsepower the either of the big twins... not as much torque though... he has had all three on the dyno for S&G. I have ridden all three and the dresser is a little top heavy(who cares over 20 mph) the Panzer has won him one trophy in the old bike class at a show (its a pan head. and its a 2001) the sporty is cramped for me but still fun to ride. I did 480 mile round trip one day on it... thank god for the 12 hours at the races between legs...lol He waves at everyone and gets pissed when anyone is too snotty to wave back..lol his oppinon is, " better riding anything than sitting on the couch"

[mac707477]

you guys would have been proud of the "RATT PACK" that did Myrtle Beach last weekend... I was on the customised 1980 special... my dad was on a 1977 Goldwing plain jane model... blew away several harley's and several high dollar customs playing stoplight to stoplight... really does hith a nerve with some of those guys when we decide to give them he11

matt

[Skinny Biker]

You guys should know... the reason these guys don't wave is that most of them can't let go of the bars long enough to wave of be at risk of a speed wobble and getting throw off and into the ditch due to the horrible vibration these things give off ... and if they think about it, and try to look in the mirror to see what the hell just went screaming past at Xsive speed, there are 7 bikes in the reflection from the same vibrations...lol...can't be fun to ride on anyhow... INLINE 4 or BUST!!!

[Jerry]

I get a lot of waves from Harley guys on the road, but as soon as you hit city limits, forget about it!

last year I was heading back to Arizona from Colorado, stopped in Monument Valley to take a photo. Group of Harley riders was coming toward me on the road - made a nice forground to the photo - and I bet they all waved, including pillion passengers. I didn't expect it, but I waved back at all of them...must have been a dozen or more bikes, many with passengers.

Now you have to realize that Monument Valley is better than 400 miles from Phoenix and 300 miles from Flagstaff, not to mention another couple hundred miles to Moab, Utah. You are out in the sticks, and brand loyalties get to be secondary to meeting another biker on the road.

Similar situation going to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, or Zion National Park. The farther you get away from civilization the more bikers will wave at each other. Some of you guys need to get out more....

[Ken Talbot]

I had an interesting one on the weekend as SWMBO and I were out for a short spin to the summit of Roger's Pass. We got a wave from a BMW rider. Not just any old wave either. We was driving a truck, pulling a ski boat, and he had his BMW in the back of the truck. He spotted us pulled over for a photo, gave a little toot on his horn, then the wave out the window. Gee, with that kind of spirit, I had to wave back, even before I saw the bike in the box....

[Never2L84Ridin]

The town I live in is about 2,000. Seems like in the past few years everyone has decided to buy harleys. Then they go out and start buying the leather goods, t-shirts. goofy lookin hats. I've gone on poker runs with most of them, while they all wave at me. on poker runs the majority of other hd riders won't wave once they see me on my xs 1100. Like you all have said, I spent $500 on my entire bike. (which is probably equilvent to a tank and fenders on some hd's) I always say to the hd groupies that the wind blows through my hair just the same as it does on a harley, and my bike gets me from point A to point B unlike some of theirs. We usually do our bashin' on each others bike in a jokin manner, I usually throw out the wanna race for titles. Haven't had any takers. Check out this website for a good lookin t-shirt to wear out ridin. it's the last one on the page(at the bottom). Not sure if this link is put on correctly by me. hopefully it ishttp://www.ricepaddymotorcycles.com/teeshirts.html

[pathfinder]

T-Shirt

I've gotta have one, I ride all the time with some RUBoH's (Rich Urban Bikers on Harley's) I don't have a cool shirt like they always do. They have to have all the chrome, 60 spoke wheels, goofy hats, and everything they wear on a ride is made by HD. Well licensed by them anyway. I tell them chrome wont get ya home. They even call each other before a ride to make sure they don't show up with same shirt on. I know this for a fact I overheard one on the cell phone before we left to pick up the other guy. But if your looking for some good stock, it pays well but I wouldn't own one. Well I would if I could find one for $500 like mine was. But when riding one it seems like it needs two more cylinders stuck on and a shaft to smooth things out. I probably wouldn't wave at a guy on an xs either if I couldn't do over 80 on my ride I'd be to embarrassed. They have a hard time going oveer 50 miles at a stretch, I guess if I was riding one my ass would be sore to, but they won't admit it. Anyway enough HD bashing for me I go to allot of HD functions and never have a problem with any of them waving. Seems like if they are away from their group they just want to talk about how fast mine will go. Kinda like kids and peer pressure.

[glenn]

Harley riders?

maybe their attitude problem is because their ride spends so much time in the workshop they get p.....
The no wave thing.....well some of them just cant respond that quick.
There are some good blokes on harleys. Just a lot of road between those.
Glenn
Oz

[scalded dog]

I ride with the Southern Cruisers, while a lot of them have harleys, they don't say to much out of the way to me, because, they know when they join, our club's motto is all brands bikes, and since I'm the 3rd officer, in our chapter, they don't say too much, we went to thunder beach, and our first officer decided to take his '01 road king, instead of his o1 goldwing, his drive belt broke the second day there, he made the comment "If I want a dependable bike I better get me one that's 25 yrs old" LOL. Later 'Dog

[Shuriken]

I just wanted to share with you (another) my most recent experience with Harley Dudes. First post in this thread was a long time ago on my 80g.

So I have my girlfriend on the back on Saturday and we were just leaving a restaurant after dinner. We were driving on main street putting along enjoying ourselves prior to getting on the freeway.

We stop at a red light and wait about 15 seconds before we hear a rumble from behind. I turn and look and see 2 harley dudes all dressed up in their riding gear. All told, there was probably $40,000 dollars of bike and clothing next to my $450 dollar, 26 year old bike. They look at each other and say something to each other. I knew immediately what was going on.

I flipped up my visor and my girlfriend's and told her "this is going to be fun." She got a good grip around my waist. I looked back at the light and it turned green.

For a split second I glanced to my left to see what the HD's were doing. They blipped the throttles and had every intent in embarassing me, my girl, and "Wind Up Toy" by putting us behind their loud exhaust.

I was not going to take that. Knowing easily they had no chance, I gave them a couple of bike lengths before even letting out the clutch at the turn of green. Then I gave her some gas and wound up 1st, then came 2nd.

Because we were in town in cop country, I couldn't do everything I wanted, so I slowed down at about 60. The massive, chrome, unpaid for behemoth HD's were well behind MY $450-dollar, 26 year-old XSive 4-1 exhaust note, not to be seen.

I would surely like to have merged left into their lane well ahead of them to rub it in, but I calmly slowed down and made a right turn onto the road leading off to the freeway entrance.

That was a perfect moment for me, my girl, and Wind Up Toy, and yet another Harley (+1) bites the dust.

Ben

[DiverRay]

I've seen a lot of bikes not wave, but then I am guilty as well. My ride this past weekend, there was a lot of hardly riders in pairs or small groups, and most of them waved while on the 2 lane roads in the valley. on the 4 lane and divided roads, it didn't happen near as often. I can understand that, as California has the worst drivers imported from around the world.
I've found that most riders respect the fact that I'm riding, and it's just the few with attitude problems giving everyone a bad name. I do ride quite a bit, over 11K miles since February on my 79.

[prometheus578]

harley brand tampons?

They can't even stop their bikes from drippin', leakin', and leaving stains on the garage floor. Who'd want to trust their tampons?