5030
Rest in Peace
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2003
- Messages
- 28,967
- Location
- SE Michigan in the middle of nowhere
- Tractor
- Kubota M9000 HDCC3 M9000 HDC
I guess the thing that fries my fishamagig is the fact that it says on a Harley "Made in America" It should say "Assembled in America with foreign and domestic parts".
Of course it says on the handlebar pad of my 1000 Thundercat, "Made in America". It isn't either Suzuki owns a portion of Arctic Cat. It has a Suzuki engine and good old Nippon Denso electrics.
In my 53 years, I've had a number of motorcycles, probably at least 15. I have had Nortons, Beezers, Trumpets and Hardleys, Cows, Yamaha's and Suzuki's. The most trouble free and fastest were the Jap bikes. The best lookers and handlers were the British bikes and the slowest were the Hardleys.
The British bikes were vibrators, especially the Triumphs. you had to aircraft wire everything or use locktite or you rode in a blizzard of nuts and bolts. The Brits' all used Lucas electrics. Lucas was fondly referred to as "The Prince of Darkness". You never wanted to miss a power shift at night as you'd blow every bulb on the bike, all at once, The best Brit bike was the Norton. I had 2, a 750 Atlas and a P11A scrambler. Norton mounted their engines in rubber. They called it "Isolastic Suspension". Harley copied the idea about 20 years later. The Norton "Featherbed" frame was torsionally unflexing and the bike handled really well despite the abscence of good brakes. BSA (British Small Arms) was a looker too. The 650 Beezer was black and chrome and a real vibrator too!! BSA used a non-unitized engine/gearbox arrangement with the power being transmitted by a triple row chain. Norton was also non-unitized while later model triumphs were unitized. Today, the Brit bikes, especially the Nortons are very sought after and worth at least 5 times what they brought new. I don't think a stock harley can make that claim!!
I had 2 Kawasaki's. Both were triples (I like triple cylinder 2 stroke engines). I had an H1 which was a 500cc and the H2 which was 750cc. Both bikes STOCK would run in the high 12's to low 13's and we are talking 30 years ago. Of course, while they technologically advanced engines, the chassis and brakes weren't up to the power and speed produced by the bikes. You had to be careful, but I was also young and foolish. Suzuki's were cheap to buy and ran forever. Their engines today can still make that claim and produce gobs of horsepower compared to their displacement. Just look at my Thundercat, 170 hp from 999 cc. This can be easily tweaked to over 200 hp.
Now we get to the Harley's. I had 2. The first was a 45 flathead trike, 3 speed tank shift with reverse. Of course it was chopped as I rode with an "outlaw" group. Me thinks that is what the yuppie Harley owners want to do today. To me, Harleys are an IMAGE thing. the 45 had about as much power as a good lawnmower. The brakes were about as good a sticking a pipe in the spokes and she leaked like a seive. You never parked it on concrete, always on dirt so you could cover up your "spot" with your boot heel. It was cool though. Ape hangers, fish tail pipes, no mufflers of course and a tall "sissy" bar on the back. I wish I had it today, someone would give me a lot of money for it so they could be "cool" too. My second Harley was a 1200cc ElectraGlide. That's not to be confused with a glide shift transmission (Kubota). It was an AMF Model. AMF bought Harley in the late 60's. They should have stuck to bowling alley machinery. I did like the cast wheels, the handlebar fairing and the fringed leather saddlebags along with the oversize 2 up seat. Of course, just like my 45, the brakes were non-existent, not much power and it leaked too. One thing the dresser had was plenty of "cool" factor. Onr nice thing about today's Harleys is they have a JAPANESE carb. The old tillitson was garbage. They have JAPANESE electrics. Much more reliable than Bendix or Delco or whatever the american counterpart was. They have JAPANESE suspension. Today's Harleys use Showa forks and shocks. Showa is a HONDA subsidiary. The Harley made suspension was like a pogo stick. Dampening was non-existent. I kinda think that counter to the statement of 7 percent of Harleys being foreign, it's more like about 30 percent.
In summation, I still like Harleys, they are an American Icon, so is Ford and Chevy. Riding a Harley is an image, a clique, being cool or whatever trips your trigger. Motorcycles, for me, are in my past life, not the present. I sold my last scooter, a Yamaha Venture Royale, when my wife and I were passing through the State of Arkansas and some guy in a pickup truck tried to play tag with me on the interstate. My wife flew home and I rode the bike home and sold it. It might have been my Michigan Plate!!!
My other opinion is that this site is for tractors and equipment. While my 45 flathead probably would have made a good rototiller, it was a motorcycle and not a tractor and motorcycles really don't belong on this site.
Of course it says on the handlebar pad of my 1000 Thundercat, "Made in America". It isn't either Suzuki owns a portion of Arctic Cat. It has a Suzuki engine and good old Nippon Denso electrics.
In my 53 years, I've had a number of motorcycles, probably at least 15. I have had Nortons, Beezers, Trumpets and Hardleys, Cows, Yamaha's and Suzuki's. The most trouble free and fastest were the Jap bikes. The best lookers and handlers were the British bikes and the slowest were the Hardleys.
The British bikes were vibrators, especially the Triumphs. you had to aircraft wire everything or use locktite or you rode in a blizzard of nuts and bolts. The Brits' all used Lucas electrics. Lucas was fondly referred to as "The Prince of Darkness". You never wanted to miss a power shift at night as you'd blow every bulb on the bike, all at once, The best Brit bike was the Norton. I had 2, a 750 Atlas and a P11A scrambler. Norton mounted their engines in rubber. They called it "Isolastic Suspension". Harley copied the idea about 20 years later. The Norton "Featherbed" frame was torsionally unflexing and the bike handled really well despite the abscence of good brakes. BSA (British Small Arms) was a looker too. The 650 Beezer was black and chrome and a real vibrator too!! BSA used a non-unitized engine/gearbox arrangement with the power being transmitted by a triple row chain. Norton was also non-unitized while later model triumphs were unitized. Today, the Brit bikes, especially the Nortons are very sought after and worth at least 5 times what they brought new. I don't think a stock harley can make that claim!!
I had 2 Kawasaki's. Both were triples (I like triple cylinder 2 stroke engines). I had an H1 which was a 500cc and the H2 which was 750cc. Both bikes STOCK would run in the high 12's to low 13's and we are talking 30 years ago. Of course, while they technologically advanced engines, the chassis and brakes weren't up to the power and speed produced by the bikes. You had to be careful, but I was also young and foolish. Suzuki's were cheap to buy and ran forever. Their engines today can still make that claim and produce gobs of horsepower compared to their displacement. Just look at my Thundercat, 170 hp from 999 cc. This can be easily tweaked to over 200 hp.
Now we get to the Harley's. I had 2. The first was a 45 flathead trike, 3 speed tank shift with reverse. Of course it was chopped as I rode with an "outlaw" group. Me thinks that is what the yuppie Harley owners want to do today. To me, Harleys are an IMAGE thing. the 45 had about as much power as a good lawnmower. The brakes were about as good a sticking a pipe in the spokes and she leaked like a seive. You never parked it on concrete, always on dirt so you could cover up your "spot" with your boot heel. It was cool though. Ape hangers, fish tail pipes, no mufflers of course and a tall "sissy" bar on the back. I wish I had it today, someone would give me a lot of money for it so they could be "cool" too. My second Harley was a 1200cc ElectraGlide. That's not to be confused with a glide shift transmission (Kubota). It was an AMF Model. AMF bought Harley in the late 60's. They should have stuck to bowling alley machinery. I did like the cast wheels, the handlebar fairing and the fringed leather saddlebags along with the oversize 2 up seat. Of course, just like my 45, the brakes were non-existent, not much power and it leaked too. One thing the dresser had was plenty of "cool" factor. Onr nice thing about today's Harleys is they have a JAPANESE carb. The old tillitson was garbage. They have JAPANESE electrics. Much more reliable than Bendix or Delco or whatever the american counterpart was. They have JAPANESE suspension. Today's Harleys use Showa forks and shocks. Showa is a HONDA subsidiary. The Harley made suspension was like a pogo stick. Dampening was non-existent. I kinda think that counter to the statement of 7 percent of Harleys being foreign, it's more like about 30 percent.
In summation, I still like Harleys, they are an American Icon, so is Ford and Chevy. Riding a Harley is an image, a clique, being cool or whatever trips your trigger. Motorcycles, for me, are in my past life, not the present. I sold my last scooter, a Yamaha Venture Royale, when my wife and I were passing through the State of Arkansas and some guy in a pickup truck tried to play tag with me on the interstate. My wife flew home and I rode the bike home and sold it. It might have been my Michigan Plate!!!
My other opinion is that this site is for tractors and equipment. While my 45 flathead probably would have made a good rototiller, it was a motorcycle and not a tractor and motorcycles really don't belong on this site.
