Harley's gotta go....(long)

[coffee_brake]

I stand at a crossroads and I know what I have to do, but it's hard.


I have to sell my Harley. It's not doing the job for me anymore. It was the first and only vehicle I ever bought new, I saved and saved and then I darn near starved to get it paid off in less than a year. I was a lower enlisted soldier then, and that new motorcycle was my pride and joy.

It's a Dyna FXDX, which means it's the most sporting of the big twins. It has seriously good suspension front and rear, at least for a Harley, and very little chrome. I really don't like chrome. This one is all blacked out.

So I was a new rider, just off my tiny starter bike, scared to lean, scared to do anything more than just ride to work for a long time, but as I practiced, I learned I could ride in gusty winds on that bike. The first time I ever scraped a peg was on that bike, and then there was no looking back. Just riding wasn't good enough, I wanted TWISTIES! Thing is, the Dyna scrapes pegs pretty easily. It's got more lean angle than most of the other Harleys but it's still not enough. I literally wore out my footpegs scraping them everywhere I went.

Then, I got a little CB750, just to play with and then re-sell. The darn thing leaves the Harley in the DUST, and it's the slower, 91-02 version of the Nighthawk. The Harley requires changing three different fluids, but the Honda, just one. The Honda is quieter, gets better gas mileage, is faster off the line, more comfortable, cheaper and easier to maintain, and easier to ride with tons of lean angle. I won't be selling that Honda, it beats the Harley at everything I want a motorcycle to do.

Then I got a Kawasaki Concours. Took it across the country and back. Now my Harley feels like a clown car, it's so low to the ground and so slow. I have developed arthritis in my knees and find the Harley's mid-controls to be unbearable after an hour. Forward controls are out of the question. But the other two bikes...they're so comfy I don't even want to get off, just fill up the tank and keep on going.

I wish I'd never test-ridden the Yamaha V-max. It haunts me. It has all the "cool" of my Harley, and speed to back it up. I've finally discovered, after all this time, that I don't like twins, I like 4-cylinder bikes. Twins are great and simple is beautiful, but I really like the 4's better. The V-max doesn't handle very well either, but every time I get on one, it just makes me grin, it has soul for me where the Harley has only style.

Then there's the infamous Harley attitude, which I do not have but which I see every day. Makes me kinda sick that anyone would express pride in their marque by bashing everyone else's. Other marques, particularly Italian and German ones, have the same kinds of attitudes in some of their devotees. We all know it. I find it so distasteful that I don't want to be associated with it.

I swore I'd never sell my beloved Harley, but I just can't make it perform to my standards. It would cost thousands to make it reasonably fast, many hundreds more to raise it front and rear to an acceptable height, and it would be nearly impossible to fabricate some controls to make the riding position comfortable. It's really pretty, I've got it all done up exactly the way I think a "hard-as-nails" motorcycle should look, but since it's not one of the newer 6-speeds, 1550 cc motors, it's not worth very much. In fact it's worth less than the same year V-max.

I learned how to ride well on that Harley, learned (the hard way) how to wrench on my own bikes, learned fiscal responsibility with it, opened up my whole young world on that bike, and now it doesn't make me happy anymore. It looks good, but that's the only thing it does well for me now. Why can't I be like the folks you see on some old ratty Shovelhead, they always loved it and love it still? I can't make this bike be what I want, and I can't settle for what it is. I want to trade it on a Vmax. Will I look at that Vmax in a year and rue the day I ever let my Dyna go?

Thanks for listening.

[Johnj]

It sounds to me that it served its purpose. You learned how to be a more complete motorcyclist because of that bike. And that's a good thing.

Long live your next bike.

[Gummiente]

I want to trade it on a Vmax.

So, trade it. I'm not seeing the issue here.

Nah, just kidding... I know where you're coming from. I had the same heartwrenching decision to make when I traded my old BSA in on a shiny new Sportster. And again when I traded the Sporty in for a shiny new Triumph Thunderbird. And again when the Thunderbird was traded for a shiny new Triumph Tiger. And again when the Tiger was traded for a Kawasaki Drifter. And again... well, you get the idea.

Life goes on, dude.

[coffee_brake]

Thanks, you both have a good perspective on it...it must be a good motorcycle, if it is so hard to let go of it!


Calling the yammie dealer now....

[Ninja Geoff]

You know, I have expected this to be a "omg "fudge" HD, they suck" thread from the title. So happy to see it's not. HD really does get a bad rap. When it comes down to it, it's just a bike. And ride what makes you happy. HD is on my short list of bikes that all riders need to try at least once. Well, a built HD anyway.

And make sure, take many pictures of the vmax when you get it, we wanna see!

[Wrider]

Awww, it's always so hard to get rid of a bike! But that 09 VMax is absolutely insane to ride. Let us know what you think and what you end up doing!
Wrider

[fireguzzi]

Hey Coffee, ya know I always did want to try out a V-max. And ya know, Augusta ain't that far from Covington.

Hell I'll even let ya ride my sons 50 around the yard while I take her out for a couple of hours.

[coffee_brake]

Oh, Covington is only a hop away for sure! My first bike was a 50cc Honda, your baby is started already!

I've ridden a Vmax 3 times, 2 were newer and one was ratted-out and old, and all three of them just thrilled me to pieces.

I'm cleaning up the Harley and detailing her one last time for the ride to the dealership 2 hours away, I've never worked with these folks so hopefully they won't try to pull a fast one on me.

Here, my baby this morning, I'm gonna miss her:

[shane-o]

geezuz christ mate


I wouldnt even waste my time selling or trading it in


Id walk it into the middle of my back yard, throw a gallon of juice on it, pull up a deck chair, snap the top off a coldie, flick a few matches at it


and watch the show




make sure ya have your insurance companies phone number handy, ya could give em a call whilst it burns





.

[MZ33]

Shane-o, me lad, yer off the mark. Cutting wit has no use this time. Be supportive, or leave her be.