Confessions of a Harley owner
Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 2:27 am
Note that the title says owner. This means I actually own and ride one, so what you're about to read here are accurate comments by someone who rides a Harley every day, not 20 year old cliches by someone who has never even thrown a leg over one.
There's been a few threads here that I've jumped into after someone has made a disparaging comment about the brand; my intent was to make them justify their statements but so far none of them have been able to. To me that makes it very obvious that they don't have a clue what they're talking about - yet I get branded as being sensitive because I force the issue. Here's the way I see it... if someone asks a question about Harleys and someone else - who doesn't own and has never owned or ridden one - answers with the usual bull about poor reliabilty and oil leaks, I'm going to take this person to task because I KNOW they're just parroting what they've heard others say without actually having taken the time to investigate. So if you're going to bash my brand of bike, you'd better have some facts to back up your statements - if they are valid points, then I will back down. If not, I'll keep hounding you until you shut the hell up.
With that in mind, I'd like to offer some points about modern Harleys in general and my bike in particular and maybe help dispel some of the myths and inaccuracies that people love to spread around about them. First of all, Harleys are NOT perfect. I'll be the first to admit that. But there is no such thing as a perfect bike anyway, if there was we'd all be riding it. I've owned and ridden a few different brands and models over the years and each one had their good and bad points - Harleys are no exception.
Vibration - Harleys vibrate. With two massive pistons slinging about in a 45 degree "V" twin arrangement this is natural by design. There are two ways Harley deals with the issue; rubber mounting the engine on certain models and installing a counterbalancer on others. My Electra-Glide has the rubber mount system, its engine is referred to as a Twin Cam 88A. A Softail has the engine bolted to the frame and uses a counterbalancer to reduce vibration, its motor is a Twin Cam 88B. On a TC88A, the engine will bounce and jump all over the place at idle as the rubber mounts flex and compress to soak up the vibrations. This vibration is transferred to the rest of the bike and if I take my hands off the handlebars at a stoplight the bars will oscillate a good 3/4" up and down. BUT - as soon as I put it in gear and ride off the vibration totally disappears. It might interest you to know that even at 120kmh I can still clearly see the mirrors. My friend's '04 Spinger Softail has no vibration at idle whatsoever thanks to the TC88B motor, nor does he experience any vibration at speed. BTW, I have over 36,000km on mine, he has just over 20,000km on his and NOTHING has fallen off either one.
Reliability - Contrary to popular belief, Harleys are not known for breaking down any more. In fact, the reliability has increased so much over the years that the factory now offers a standard two year, unlimited mileage warranty. Because I have the tendency to put many miles on my bikes I bought the optional full coverage extended warranty good for 6 years and unlimited mileage. By contrast, my '99 Kawasaki Drifter 1500 had a 5 year extended warranty with limited coverage and a 60,000km mileage limit. As for reliabilty issues, there have been certain problems with the TC88A motor that have recently been addressed. The cams are chain driven and use sliders to maintain tension, these sliders on earlier '00-'03 models had a tendancy to wear out prematurely due to inferior composition. This resulted in tensioner fragments in the engine oil and in some cases this led to engine failure. However, the '04 and later models have new sliders with better material and so far there have been very few reported failures. Mine were checked at the 32,000km mark and found to be in good shape.
Oil Leaks - They don't do that anymore thanks to much improved quality control practices and much better machining practices. I have yet to lose a single drop of oil out of the primary, gearbox or motor and nobody I've talked to that owns a Harley built after '85 has a complaint about leaks. Can we put this puppy to rest now?
Performance - If you buy a Harley purely for performance reasons you're going to be disappointed. But you should have your head examined first because Harleys are NOT about performance, they are about cruising around in comfort. You want performance - buy a sport bike. You want comfort - buy a cruiser. Don't try to compare apples to oranges, if you're one of the people who try to compare a 750lb Electra-Glide to a 200lb Ninja 250 then you really don't understand the concept of motorcycles. Now, if you want to compare an E-Glide to a Gold Wing, you're a little closer to the mark because both are purpose built touring bikes. Out of the box, a Harley is pretty strangled - due to EPA regs for noise and emissions they are set up to run very lean and very quiet, which means that the 1540cc's of power are barely used. So, yes, bikes such as the Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad and Suzuki LC1500 might have an advantage in acceleration and roll-on tests against a stock HD, but you would not believe how fast you can make a Harley go with some basic modifications to the motor. For what its worth, I found the power and acceleration of my FLHT in stock form to be quite adequate for what I used it for - a weekday commuter and weekend tourer. But I wanted a bit more punch in the midrange so I went to a better air filter, better flowing exhausts and a set of mild cams. I am quite happy with the changes.
Handling/Braking - Again, if you're buying a Harley solely for these reasons you'll be disappointed. But make sure you have a proper frame of reference before you start mouthing off about it. My '01 Triumph Tiger had phenominal brakes and light, agile handling... yet I can still take some of my favourite corners on the Harley just as fast as I could on the Tiger. I can't stop as quick on the Harley but in full out emergency braking I can still stop within a very respectable distance. Yes the brakes are inferior to that of, say, a Yamaha Warrior but they still get the job done if you know how to use them. It's all in the rider - you learn to adjust your riding habits to suit the bike's limitations. I have a friend who is a very exerienced rider and his bike of choice is a Honda VFR; he was amazed at how nicely I can sling the Harley around on my favourite twisty roads.
Price - Yep, Harleys cost more than bikes of similar design. But they do hold their resale value a lot better, so if you spend $20k on one today and can put a load of miles on it then sell it for $19k five years later is that a bad thing? My '99 Drifter cost $12,000 new, when I traded it in four years later it was only worth $5,400. Don't even think about asking me how much of a hit I took when I traded in my $14k Triumph Tiger two years after I bought it, I'm still p*ssed about that. A lot of people like to justify their purchase of a traditionally styled Metric cruiser by saying they got a bike just as good as a Harley for half the price. My answer to that is why do you feel the need to compare it to a Harley in the first place? Could you not afford one and had to buy a copy instead? If you want a Harley, buy a Harley. If you want a VTX, buy a VTX (disclaimer: "VTX" used for comparison sake only. Do not take it as an insult if you own one, as it was not intentional to hurt your feelings.) Don't try to justify your purchase to me by comparing the difference in cost and how much money you've saved by not buying a Harley. To me that's like buying a Hyundai Sonata solely because you couldn't afford the Mercedes you really wanted (is it just me or does anyone else think the Korean cars are lookalikes of other brands? I still have trouble telling a Kia Magenta from a Lexus at a distance.)
So... if you're still reading this I hope you can understand where I'm coming from, even if you don't happen to agree with any of it. That's all I ask. Well, maybe one other question - have you actually ridden a Harley yet? Go down to your local dealer - Harley is a firm believer in the concept of demo rides because that's how they get a lot of their new customers. Some dealers have organised Demo Ride days, some will let you take any bike out by yourself - either way, you can ride one without any charge or obligation to purchase. THEN you'll have a basis to make informed opinions and decisions about them without me getting in your face.
There's been a few threads here that I've jumped into after someone has made a disparaging comment about the brand; my intent was to make them justify their statements but so far none of them have been able to. To me that makes it very obvious that they don't have a clue what they're talking about - yet I get branded as being sensitive because I force the issue. Here's the way I see it... if someone asks a question about Harleys and someone else - who doesn't own and has never owned or ridden one - answers with the usual bull about poor reliabilty and oil leaks, I'm going to take this person to task because I KNOW they're just parroting what they've heard others say without actually having taken the time to investigate. So if you're going to bash my brand of bike, you'd better have some facts to back up your statements - if they are valid points, then I will back down. If not, I'll keep hounding you until you shut the hell up.
With that in mind, I'd like to offer some points about modern Harleys in general and my bike in particular and maybe help dispel some of the myths and inaccuracies that people love to spread around about them. First of all, Harleys are NOT perfect. I'll be the first to admit that. But there is no such thing as a perfect bike anyway, if there was we'd all be riding it. I've owned and ridden a few different brands and models over the years and each one had their good and bad points - Harleys are no exception.
Vibration - Harleys vibrate. With two massive pistons slinging about in a 45 degree "V" twin arrangement this is natural by design. There are two ways Harley deals with the issue; rubber mounting the engine on certain models and installing a counterbalancer on others. My Electra-Glide has the rubber mount system, its engine is referred to as a Twin Cam 88A. A Softail has the engine bolted to the frame and uses a counterbalancer to reduce vibration, its motor is a Twin Cam 88B. On a TC88A, the engine will bounce and jump all over the place at idle as the rubber mounts flex and compress to soak up the vibrations. This vibration is transferred to the rest of the bike and if I take my hands off the handlebars at a stoplight the bars will oscillate a good 3/4" up and down. BUT - as soon as I put it in gear and ride off the vibration totally disappears. It might interest you to know that even at 120kmh I can still clearly see the mirrors. My friend's '04 Spinger Softail has no vibration at idle whatsoever thanks to the TC88B motor, nor does he experience any vibration at speed. BTW, I have over 36,000km on mine, he has just over 20,000km on his and NOTHING has fallen off either one.
Reliability - Contrary to popular belief, Harleys are not known for breaking down any more. In fact, the reliability has increased so much over the years that the factory now offers a standard two year, unlimited mileage warranty. Because I have the tendency to put many miles on my bikes I bought the optional full coverage extended warranty good for 6 years and unlimited mileage. By contrast, my '99 Kawasaki Drifter 1500 had a 5 year extended warranty with limited coverage and a 60,000km mileage limit. As for reliabilty issues, there have been certain problems with the TC88A motor that have recently been addressed. The cams are chain driven and use sliders to maintain tension, these sliders on earlier '00-'03 models had a tendancy to wear out prematurely due to inferior composition. This resulted in tensioner fragments in the engine oil and in some cases this led to engine failure. However, the '04 and later models have new sliders with better material and so far there have been very few reported failures. Mine were checked at the 32,000km mark and found to be in good shape.
Oil Leaks - They don't do that anymore thanks to much improved quality control practices and much better machining practices. I have yet to lose a single drop of oil out of the primary, gearbox or motor and nobody I've talked to that owns a Harley built after '85 has a complaint about leaks. Can we put this puppy to rest now?
Performance - If you buy a Harley purely for performance reasons you're going to be disappointed. But you should have your head examined first because Harleys are NOT about performance, they are about cruising around in comfort. You want performance - buy a sport bike. You want comfort - buy a cruiser. Don't try to compare apples to oranges, if you're one of the people who try to compare a 750lb Electra-Glide to a 200lb Ninja 250 then you really don't understand the concept of motorcycles. Now, if you want to compare an E-Glide to a Gold Wing, you're a little closer to the mark because both are purpose built touring bikes. Out of the box, a Harley is pretty strangled - due to EPA regs for noise and emissions they are set up to run very lean and very quiet, which means that the 1540cc's of power are barely used. So, yes, bikes such as the Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad and Suzuki LC1500 might have an advantage in acceleration and roll-on tests against a stock HD, but you would not believe how fast you can make a Harley go with some basic modifications to the motor. For what its worth, I found the power and acceleration of my FLHT in stock form to be quite adequate for what I used it for - a weekday commuter and weekend tourer. But I wanted a bit more punch in the midrange so I went to a better air filter, better flowing exhausts and a set of mild cams. I am quite happy with the changes.
Handling/Braking - Again, if you're buying a Harley solely for these reasons you'll be disappointed. But make sure you have a proper frame of reference before you start mouthing off about it. My '01 Triumph Tiger had phenominal brakes and light, agile handling... yet I can still take some of my favourite corners on the Harley just as fast as I could on the Tiger. I can't stop as quick on the Harley but in full out emergency braking I can still stop within a very respectable distance. Yes the brakes are inferior to that of, say, a Yamaha Warrior but they still get the job done if you know how to use them. It's all in the rider - you learn to adjust your riding habits to suit the bike's limitations. I have a friend who is a very exerienced rider and his bike of choice is a Honda VFR; he was amazed at how nicely I can sling the Harley around on my favourite twisty roads.
Price - Yep, Harleys cost more than bikes of similar design. But they do hold their resale value a lot better, so if you spend $20k on one today and can put a load of miles on it then sell it for $19k five years later is that a bad thing? My '99 Drifter cost $12,000 new, when I traded it in four years later it was only worth $5,400. Don't even think about asking me how much of a hit I took when I traded in my $14k Triumph Tiger two years after I bought it, I'm still p*ssed about that. A lot of people like to justify their purchase of a traditionally styled Metric cruiser by saying they got a bike just as good as a Harley for half the price. My answer to that is why do you feel the need to compare it to a Harley in the first place? Could you not afford one and had to buy a copy instead? If you want a Harley, buy a Harley. If you want a VTX, buy a VTX (disclaimer: "VTX" used for comparison sake only. Do not take it as an insult if you own one, as it was not intentional to hurt your feelings.) Don't try to justify your purchase to me by comparing the difference in cost and how much money you've saved by not buying a Harley. To me that's like buying a Hyundai Sonata solely because you couldn't afford the Mercedes you really wanted (is it just me or does anyone else think the Korean cars are lookalikes of other brands? I still have trouble telling a Kia Magenta from a Lexus at a distance.)
So... if you're still reading this I hope you can understand where I'm coming from, even if you don't happen to agree with any of it. That's all I ask. Well, maybe one other question - have you actually ridden a Harley yet? Go down to your local dealer - Harley is a firm believer in the concept of demo rides because that's how they get a lot of their new customers. Some dealers have organised Demo Ride days, some will let you take any bike out by yourself - either way, you can ride one without any charge or obligation to purchase. THEN you'll have a basis to make informed opinions and decisions about them without me getting in your face.
. People have called my intercepter a piece of $&%! yet when asked what they ride the answer has always been "nothing".