Motorcycles.

[Too Tall]

That softail is most excellent. Thanks.

[dgaddis]

Parked outside of my LCS (local coffee shop) post ride this morning. 1998 Heritage Softail with 6,800 miles on her. Original owner who offered to let me take it for a ride but I respectfully declined given the fact that Lycra and leather don’t go together too well. 1,200 pounds of heavy metal, leather adorned, man handling rolling thunder all in a nice robin’s egg blue. Awesome.

My dad has ridden Gold Wings for 25+ years. The GW guys all give the Harley guys crap, saying the bikes are so uncomfortable and unreliable they have to trailer them to get together and rallys and whatnot, whereas the GW riders ride to the event. 6800 miles in 20 years, sounds like either a garage or trailer queen!

And I know there's exceptions. My buddy's uncle rides his Harley across the country a time or two every year as part of a Vietnam vet ride.

[Too Tall]

My dad has ridden Gold Wings for 25+ years. The GW guys all give the Harley guys crap, saying the bikes are so uncomfortable and unreliable they have to trailer them to get together and rallys and whatnot, whereas the GW riders ride to the event. 6800 miles in 20 years, sounds like either a garage or trailer queen!

And I know there's exceptions. My buddy's uncle rides his Harley across the country a time or two every year as part of a Vietnam vet ride.

True story. I ran out of gas while driving my Silverwing home from work. A Park Police officer stopped and said "I know you are not broken down, it's a Honda". He than proceeded to scout around for a empty coke can and drained several cans worth from his Harley to my bike". So cool.

[dgaddis]

Cory, one of my college roommates, long time best friend is a guy named Clint (they grew up down the street from one another), after high school he went to FL to UTI and became a certified Harley mechanic. He was a hardcore Harley guy, everything else wasn't worth sh!t.

After wrenching for a couple years, they had a customer bring a Yamaha R1 into their shop and trade it on a Harley of some sort. Said the Yamaha was just too fast and dangerous. Clint took it for a test ride. When he got back from the test ride, he bought it.

"You can be as loyal as you want...but that f*cker is FAST!!"

Less than 6 months later he had quit his job and was back in school, he's an architect now.

When Cory and Clint were in High School Clint's mom let them rent a Bobcat and they built some dirt jumps in Clint's back yard. One day they made a take off bigger, and moved the landing further back. Clint hit it the first time WAY too fast, overshot the landing, and slammed his head into the ground (with a helmet on) and got knocked out. He was air lifted from the cul-de-sac in front of his house. Cory tells the end of that story as "The paramedic patted me on the shoulder and said 'he'll probably make it' and then they flew off. I hugged his mom, we cried, and then we went to the hospital."

LOL

[rwsaunders]

My dad has ridden Gold Wings for 25+ years. The GW guys all give the Harley guys crap, saying the bikes are so uncomfortable and unreliable they have to trailer them to get together and rallys and whatnot, whereas the GW riders ride to the event. 6800 miles in 20 years, sounds like either a garage or trailer queen!

And I know there's exceptions. My buddy's uncle rides his Harley across the country a time or two every year as part of a Vietnam vet ride.

I've been to a Wing-Ding event (by accident) and it was a blast. When I used to do one of the regional MS-150's, the local GWRRA would marshal the course and those folks were awesome. The only way that we knew that those bikes were approaching us was by the 100w amp on their bikes ripping country music.

Official Wing Ding™ Event Website | Gold Wing Rally and Education Event

Gold Wing Road Riders Association

[dgaddis]

^^LOL, yeah, the bikes themselves don't make any noise. My dad had a 6-disc CD changer in his '95 1500. CB radio so him and his buddies could chat while riding. He owned that bike forever, and recently got a new 1800 a couple years ago.

[maunahaole]

However a Valkyrie with a loud pipe sounds pretty sweet.

[rwsaunders]

A pair of older Bimmers at the Pittsburgh Vintage Gran Prix event this evening...check out the shaft drive on the R25.

[Mabouya]

A pair of older Bimmers at the Pittsburgh Vintage Gran Prix event this evening...check out the shaft drive on the R25.

Cool. A riding buddy of mine at work has an R90, so I sent him a screen-shot of your picture.

[dogrange]

A pair of older Bimmers at the Pittsburgh Vintage Gran Prix event this evening...check out the shaft drive on the R25.

Wow, that single is so cool. I wonder if it is actually fun to ride.

[rwsaunders]

^ Owned and ridden by an Episcopal Presbyter and his wife.

[72gmc]

just when I think I've taken black off the list of potential bike repaint colors ... those two vintage BMWs and this Indian come along and confuse me again.

[pdxmech13]

Oh dear baby jesus. I think I may buy a mulitstrada.

[Too Tall]

You make me miss my R100....may it rest in pieces. Taken too soon by a crackhead bent on smashing into things and me.

[jscottyk]

Oh dear baby jesus. I think I may buy a mulitstrada.

Do tell!

[pdxmech13]

So in watching the recent pikes peak race (dear lord the VW is an absolute hoot) I thought it a good idea to check out a multi.

I've known of them and see them all the time here in the PNW. I just never thought it could be "sporty" enough.

A 2 hour test ride and I'm trying to decide which child loves me more and sell the other......I joke........

I'm going to give the older 1200 a ride as well as they made some chassis changes besides motor changes. The bike is way more capable than I imagined and hella freaking comfortable. Love the adjusments on the suspension.

I may go look at the BMW XR1000 as well. Missed the demo day here at the local event.

Yes, you can tell I have a thing for Euro bikes. Loved my Yamaha road bike and love the WR250F I have but they just don't do it for me on the road side of things and I'm a gluten for high maintenance things.

[rwsaunders]

You can find all kinds of toys at Target.

[maunahaole]

Norton pics need to be accompanied by sound clips.

[jerk]

Harley just announced a long term plan that involves everything from a street fighter to a true adventure bike, to a whole range of electric bikes. Most interesting for us however is their commitment to eBikes. They really see this market at being the key to growing future motorcyclists.

That market is booming especially in Europe- and as European cities continue to grapple with congestion, pollution, and strained public transportation systems- the eBike is only going to become more prevalent. I think Harley views it as something that will make them future motorcycle customers too especially here in the States. Harley riders are dying and the company is stagnant and really hasn't done anything in the last twenty years that has appealed to anyone outside of their core who honestly would buy anything big, loud and shitty with two wheels that Harley makes.

We'll see. I'm actually a fan of Harleys. I have a Sportster 48 for a while and I could see myself getting a Harley if they brought back something like the XR1200-(Interestingly they had an interview with Harley's CEO in one of the rag sheets and they asked him what his favorite Harley was- and he immediatly said it was the XR1200. There is something very wrong when the CEO of a company says that the best product that company makes is something they haven't made in ten years.)

We're still in the market for a bike that would work for comfortable yet spirited two up riding for touring both on the highways and on secondary roads. A little bit of composure on dire wouldn't be awful- and the bike I'm really leaning towards is a Moto-Guzzi Stelvio. I test rode one and really liked it. If Harley does bring out a true Adventure Touring bike- I could see myself getting one. The Buell Ulyses wasn't actually an awful bike- and the big toruqey V twin could be a nice powerplant for an adventure bike if you could get the chassis geometry sorted.

I'm also really into the idea of a high performance electric motorcycle. I think they're still about a generation and a half away from where I'd feel comfortable investing 20k+ in a bike though. I looked at the Energicas and they're close- they just need to lose 100lbs and come down in a price a bit. Still- I should take them up on the offer to test ride one. Instant torque and no gear box sounds pretty appealing for a dedicated track toy..the Saroleas look amazing too of course.




Anyway- it was kind of interesting.
Harley-Davidson Outlines Its Future Electric Lineup - Asphalt & Rubber

[j44ke]

I hear Harley isn't allowed to do anything that isn't American these days.