What's the attraction to V Twins?

Re the V-twin discussion: Sorry but ANY kind of twin doesn't do it for me. Their supposed charms totally escape me. Minimum of 3 cylinders and a maximum of 6 for me.

Re HD owners: Unfortunately 95% of HD owners that I'VE ever talked to are, for the most part, not people I'd want to associate with under ANY circumstances. Most of them have a variety of glaring and unpleasant personality faults.
Is this elitist/snobbish on my part ?? Maybe....
but why does it seem that all the well-rounded people ride anything BUT HD ??
As well, I don't associate with personality-flawed people in the other parts of my life, so why should I have to put up with them in the "motorcycle" part of my life ??? Simple answer is....."I don't."
My .02 worth.....

H2RICK wrote:

but why does it seem that all the well-rounded people ride anything BUT HD ??
...

Here's a well-rounded biker.


:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

RonKZ650 wrote:

I've never even ridden a v-twin, but the guys that have them rave about the "torque". That's what I was talking about with my buddy with the 85,000 mile 2003 Harley. He said how the torque of that Harley was so great, meaning you have power at any RPM. So you can't accelerate zero to 100 in 7 seconds? Maybe a Harley has 50% more power at 2500 RPM than a Hayabusa or whatever the thing is called, but the Hayabusa has 150HP at 12,000 RPM where the Harley ain't even going to attempt that. So the Hayabusa has to shift down 3 gears to rev up to 12,000 rpms to pass a string of cars where the Harley simply gives it the gas. There are 2 different ways to ride at the minimum, one is reved up to redline in every gear to keep speed, the other is just relaxed riding. I see this in my two trucks. I have a 460 gas E350 van and a diesel F350 truck. That gas engine is "fast" if you can call it that, for a van, but you have to rev it up. The diesel don't seem all that fast, but has good power at lower rpms. Where this comes into play is highway climbing hills or towing heavy loads, the diesel is so much better because it will perform well at any rpm at any load. The gas has to shift down and rev up to 4000 rpms in 2nd gear where I can run the diesel in 4th no problem. So a probably unrelated scenario, but I can see it. I'd rather just roll on the throttle and go than shift down, run 12,000 rpm to get power.

A hayabusa, I think goes without saying, doesn't need to jump down 3 gears to beat a hardly. Have you ever ridden one? I have ridden the second best gsxr 1000. I hit it like I hit my Kz or Zr1100 when I take off and got a HUGE surprise. Light speed comes to mind. Warp factor 9. Who needs torque when the bike barely weighs a buck oh five. I had in first gear 88 miles an hour and looking up at the stars the whole time and STILL had 2k r's to go till redline thinking I'm going to go to jail quick or die fast by not being able to make those straight curves at 188 miles an hour. I loved it and at the same time thought screw this rather ride a harley or my personal fav the kz1000. Too much speed and uncomfortability.

I know why they ride v twins. They don't have the balls or they have too many balls to be riding fast bikes. People want to enjoy the ride and take in scenery and not die at the same time or feel like a cripple impotent dismounting the bike. I won't buy a gsxr 1000, future child abuse before conception and carpal tunnel syndrome come to mind, I might buy a busa (more comfortable) but the way I like a bike is that you thrash it good and have just enough power at full throttle to be considered fast. If I do this to a hayabusa I may not live to see tomorrow. I do this to a harley all day long and the passenger will enjoy the ride with a smile and that look in her eye for later. Do it on a busa and she will be road kill somewhere along the road where she fell off cause she couldn't hang on.

I personally think that the vibrations of the two cylinder bike and the feel of the ride justify why many people like that style. I rode a fat boy and it wasn't fast when you hit the throttle but it was attitude. I rolled the attitude on for all it was worth and it felt like I was riding a real live animal. I loved it! The image? Who cares about harley. My friends Vulcan 1600 I rode felt just like a Harley and sounded just as cool. Buttttttt.... I like taking curves at a decent speed. KZ wins..... They need to get back to making kzs and forget about the new fangled let's either look like stripped plastic bikes or harleys. Let the pansies who think the new look or image makes for a better bike. Can't improve each and every year with design. Find something that works and stick with it. Give us back what made you a name in the first place Kawasaki. Hardly hasn't changed much in the many years of making human vibrators. Why should Kawi screw up that whole deal by alienating the riders from what made their bikes great in the first place? You jap executives get that?!?!?!?!?! At least make the molds for all of the things that our bikes need so that we can keep them up to looking righteous.

H2RICK wrote:

Re the V-twin discussion: Sorry but ANY kind of twin doesn't do it for me. Their supposed charms totally escape me. Minimum of 3 cylinders and a maximum of 6 for me.

Re HD owners: Unfortunately 95% of HD owners that I'VE ever talked to are, for the most part, not people I'd want to associate with under ANY circumstances. Most of them have a variety of glaring and unpleasant personality faults.
Is this elitist/snobbish on my part ?? Maybe....
but why does it seem that all the well-rounded people ride anything BUT HD ??
As well, I don't associate with personality-flawed people in the other parts of my life, so why should I have to put up with them in the "motorcycle" part of my life ??? Simple answer is....."I don't."
My .02 worth.....

You must live in red neck country. Not all riders that ride hardlys are ace holes. There are many more out there that ride BMW's and European bikes that are huge orifices. Those people IMO are the biggest snobs and flagelators that ride. More so in my opinion that you can't even have a red light conversation with them unless you ride BMW.
Have you ever waved at people who ride by? Yeah. Well, 1 out of a hundred who ride Beamers wave back. Most of the Harley guys wave at me first. Oh yeah that's right they all or most all had kz900's or 1000's. Their is a deep respect factor for the kzs. In fact they come up to my bike on a regular basis and check it out telling me that the last time saw a bike that clean it was back in the late 70's early 80's Yeah lot's of fat and ugly people ride hardlys. America is full of fat and ugly people who don't ride. They said America has an obesity problem I thought Hmmmm. No more so than any other country. Ha. I went to other countries and compared to the good ol US of A outside of the cities most people I saw are obese or just plain wayyyyyyyy out of shape and totally overweight. Especially in the small towns.
Well, whatever. Just my .02

Z1109R Fin wrote:

The local HD HogHaus is in the same building as our office. I really meant only HD´s by my sh.te overw... etc. ´cause I´d love to have a 999 Duce some day.

But I´ve heard all too many times the huge noice they make and seen far too clearly they don´t have any action to back up the noice :whistle:

So any of you sayin that a V-Rod outruns a Kwak, well, which Kwak? Let´s take the H2 and you pick your V-Rod or to make it more clear we take same period/year bikes on the line. V-Rod vs 10R????? OK, let´s be fair: V-Rod vs 6R???? still no comp...OK then V-.Rod vs ER6? How down on scale do we have to go before V-Rod outruns a Kwak????? Ain´t that V-Rod an awesome machine...Yeah total 92hp and awesome 115nm torgue at 7krpm. Now where the heck do you get the idea of earth movign torque????? ZX14 has 154nm torgue at 7,5krpm....and 203hp and weighs 224kg vs V-Rods 307kg.

Or should we take the bikes on racetrack? Hmmm...V-Rod vs 10R....

So if you want to talk about power and torque check the facts first.

It´s all about image and biker-look. And outstanding marketing of Harley DavidsonB)

Was at Byron dragway for the first time ever a few weeks back and I do believe that I saw a guy on a v-rod spank the rice all day long. This kid on a stretched zx14 against the v-rod. Got his ace spanked every time save the last time by a 10th of a second. I think that you can make anything go fast if you want to. I think that riding skills have quite a bit to do with how fast you make the bike go and it just doesn't matter. Not what you ride but that you ride rings in my ears. Unless of course you ride a BMW then all others somehow come up inferior. They have the best dang bikes you can buy that last forever. DIDN'T YOU KNOW? How stupid can you be man. The BMW clubs get notches for every 100k the ride and if that doesn't convince you then, perhaps, the fact that the riders don't wave at other cyclists should confirm that fact that we are but sub-human ingrates who just haven't figured that out yet. The Beamer riders that have waved just got into cycling and they haven't learned the code yet.
Who cares? We spend too much time worrying about image and not enough time enjoying being in the moment. Like kids we should just be in the moment always. Ride what you ride enjoy your lifestyle and don't worry what others think of you. It's not that important. Everything has an appeal some enjoy v power others inline some like their noses up in the air and some like their food and libation. Why do we even get into these moot points and conversation. Why does it matter? I'm getting out today and going riding. Spent too much time here already. When someone in my group says hey you should buy a harley I will say the pleasure of one is not the pleasure of every. They get pissed off when people look at my bike and compliment it when we ride especially when no one says one word about their shiny behemoths. I like their bikes. I like all bikes including the BMW's. I like to ride and will ride any bike that has decent acceleration. But have been known to ride my girl friends first bike when mine was out of commission. Honda Rebel 250. Hell motor scooters are even fun to ride but like fat ladies may be fun to ride just aren't my bag but if in a pinch I didn't have anything to ride after a month or two I might be so inclined to ride one. The 250? Chunky girl but if you don't have what to ride you ride what you have at the moment.
OH my last .02 before I get off on my bike for the day. I HATE GOLDWINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My friend rides one and he brags about it all the time. I know that I would rather drive a convertible than a goldwing. Those are the true fat ladies in the bike world. Can't feel the wind can't feel the road or take corners. Who came up with that idea. You got reverse, cruise control, radio, cb, heater and AC?! I think they even have a recliner button to press so you can kick your feet up and a remote to change the channels on the tv with. Your wife or girl friend. Was she on the bike or not? Did I leave her behind at the gas station? Well did I? Give me a second I have to look around to see if she is sitting there in her private lazy girl seat. WTF So heavy they are almost messed up my bad knee trying to roll it back. Guess I should have used reverse but with all of the buttons everywhere I couldn't figure it out. Who in their right mind invented this bike. Spend the extra few grand and get the convertible top and extra two wheels that goes with it. Great option. That and a little better acceleration. I get a girl on the back I at least want to feel her twin peaks on my back and know she is on the bike with me and that I didn't forget to wait back at the gas station.
Oh and he tells me that he once rode with a Goldwing group. Their idea of fun is hitting all the bars? NO I'm sorry Tastee Freezes and Ice Cream Parlors around. Riding? I guess the important thing is that you get in between all of those stops with the utmost of comfort. The other extreme of riders I guess. I would gladly ride a Harley even an 883 than to ride a goldwing for life. Oh yeah I guess how bout those trikes? Come on man when we need to ride a bike with training wheels it's definitely time to trade up for that extra wheel and convertible top!

saxjonz wrote:

Find something that works and stick with it. Give us back what made you a name in the first place Kawasaki. Hardly hasn't changed much in the many years of making human vibrators. Why should Kawi screw up that whole deal by alienating the riders from what made their bikes great in the first place? You jap executives get that?!?!?!?!?! At least make the molds for all of the things that our bikes need so that we can keep them up to looking righteous.

I'm been practically screaming that from the mountain top for the past several years. What's the response from Ma Kaw? "Here's a dozen heavy cruisers. Take yer pick."

IMHO!
There are all different makes and models of bikes out there, Choose the one you want , take it home, shine it up, ride it and enjoy it .
Now go buy your riding gear , HOLD IT BUCKSHOT! , If its a V- Twin cruiser , you gonna Look silly in matching racing leathers and fullface There are bikes out there for everyone, Your choice depends on what you can afford, what you think a bike should look like , what your comfortable on, A younger person wants speed and to be able to impress his girlfriend and buddys ( Look at me syndromn) older guys want looks and a slower pace and not the spilt second reactions of the faster machines . then you have the rebels who want the image and have heard and watched all the american bad a$$ motorcycle movies ever made .
then theres guy who ride 167895.8 klms in a week who are looking for every comfert known to man on that trip ( Tourers)Goldwings if you like!
So there are probablyy more riding styles out there i havnt menioned so i dont bore you , But if you havent figured out " Whats the attraction to V-Twins, In_ line 4s , water bufflos, or any of and beyond the above" YOU NEVER WILL!! SO IN CLOSING :: Pick , Keep and Ride what you chose for whatever reason you chose it , Its OK with me ! and go enjoy it and STOP BASHING My Ride and my choice , You didnt have to put a cent in it so why should you wanna have a say in whats better or worse Comparing oranges and Apples shows you dont really have a clue....
This " My dogs better than your dog " stuff is really getting tiring!

Whose dog is better'n mine????

I agree with Scrapper but I got to ask whats wrong with a ride to an ice cream shop or drive-in? Some of us can't ride to the bar. Anymore... And thats not a bad thing...

You must live in red neck country.

Well, saxjonz, I do live in Alberta which is considered by many to be Canada's redneck country....although it's a pale imitation of real redneck country in various parts of the lower 48.

There are many more out there that ride BMW's and European bikes that are huge orifices.

Up here MOST local HD riders will NOT wave at anything that isn't HD. OTOH, Beemer riders are usually quite friendly and so are the Duke riders. Different places, different attitudes, I guess....

saxjonz wrote:

Z1109R Fin wrote:

The local HD HogHaus is in the same building as our office. I really meant only HD´s by my sh.te overw... etc. ´cause I´d love to have a 999 Duce some day.

But I´ve heard all too many times the huge noice they make and seen far too clearly they don´t have any action to back up the noice :whistle:

So any of you sayin that a V-Rod outruns a Kwak, well, which Kwak? Let´s take the H2 and you pick your V-Rod or to make it more clear we take same period/year bikes on the line. V-Rod vs 10R????? OK, let´s be fair: V-Rod vs 6R???? still no comp...OK then V-.Rod vs ER6? How down on scale do we have to go before V-Rod outruns a Kwak????? Ain´t that V-Rod an awesome machine...Yeah total 92hp and awesome 115nm torgue at 7krpm. Now where the heck do you get the idea of earth movign torque????? ZX14 has 154nm torgue at 7,5krpm....and 203hp and weighs 224kg vs V-Rods 307kg.

Or should we take the bikes on racetrack? Hmmm...V-Rod vs 10R....

So if you want to talk about power and torque check the facts first.

It´s all about image and biker-look. And outstanding marketing of Harley DavidsonB)

Was at Byron dragway for the first time ever a few weeks back and I do believe that I saw a guy on a v-rod spank the rice all day long. This kid on a stretched zx14 against the v-rod. Got his ace spanked every time save the last time by a 10th of a second. I think that you can make anything go fast if you want to. I think that riding skills have quite a bit to do with how fast you make the bike go and it just doesn't matter. Not what you ride but that you ride rings in my ears. Unless of course you ride a BMW then all others somehow come up inferior. They have the best dang bikes you can buy that last forever. DIDN'T YOU KNOW? How stupid can you be man. The BMW clubs get notches for every 100k the ride and if that doesn't convince you then, perhaps, the fact that the riders don't wave at other cyclists should confirm that fact that we are but sub-human ingrates who just haven't figured that out yet. The Beamer riders that have waved just got into cycling and they haven't learned the code yet.
Who cares? We spend too much time worrying about image and not enough time enjoying being in the moment. Like kids we should just be in the moment always. Ride what you ride enjoy your lifestyle and don't worry what others think of you. It's not that important. Everything has an appeal some enjoy v power others inline some like their noses up in the air and some like their food and libation. Why do we even get into these moot points and conversation. Why does it matter? I'm getting out today and going riding. Spent too much time here already. When someone in my group says hey you should buy a harley I will say the pleasure of one is not the pleasure of every. They get pissed off when people look at my bike and compliment it when we ride especially when no one says one word about their shiny behemoths. I like their bikes. I like all bikes including the BMW's. I like to ride and will ride any bike that has decent acceleration. But have been known to ride my girl friends first bike when mine was out of commission. Honda Rebel 250. Hell motor scooters are even fun to ride but like fat ladies may be fun to ride just aren't my bag but if in a pinch I didn't have anything to ride after a month or two I might be so inclined to ride one. The 250? Chunky girl but if you don't have what to ride you ride what you have at the moment.
OH my last .02 before I get off on my bike for the day. I HATE GOLDWINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My friend rides one and he brags about it all the time. I know that I would rather drive a convertible than a goldwing. Those are the true fat ladies in the bike world. Can't feel the wind can't feel the road or take corners. Who came up with that idea. You got reverse, cruise control, radio, cb, heater and AC?! I think they even have a recliner button to press so you can kick your feet up and a remote to change the channels on the tv with. Your wife or girl friend. Was she on the bike or not? Did I leave her behind at the gas station? Well did I? Give me a second I have to look around to see if she is sitting there in her private lazy girl seat. WTF So heavy they are almost messed up my bad knee trying to roll it back. Guess I should have used reverse but with all of the buttons everywhere I couldn't figure it out. Who in their right mind invented this bike. Spend the extra few grand and get the convertible top and extra two wheels that goes with it. Great option. That and a little better acceleration. I get a girl on the back I at least want to feel her twin peaks on my back and know she is on the bike with me and that I didn't forget to wait back at the gas station.
Oh and he tells me that he once rode with a Goldwing group. Their idea of fun is hitting all the bars? NO I'm sorry Tastee Freezes and Ice Cream Parlors around. Riding? I guess the important thing is that you get in between all of those stops with the utmost of comfort. The other extreme of riders I guess. I would gladly ride a Harley even an 883 than to ride a goldwing for life. Oh yeah I guess how bout those trikes? Come on man when we need to ride a bike with training wheels it's definitely time to trade up for that extra wheel and convertible top!

exactly a good rider on a slightly tweaked v-rod can really screw up the day of a basically stock 1000 kaw under the right conditions(ive said this before!:laugh: )its just like anything else power doesnt mean a whole hell of a lot if its not put to the ground and you cant hold it in a straight line! i dont have a problem with harleys in general,its the guys often times with the personality and IQ's of a plastic plant who try and make them into something they arent that i dont like dealing with so i just ignore them!same thing with a lot of guys i meet on sport bikes,they dont have a clue about how their bikes actually work they just go by whatever they read in a magazine or whatever junk the guys at the bike shop sucker them into buying!i never realized how much horsepower stickers and the right sunglasses added till i started seeing the "Busa Brothers" running around doing wheelies,although the guys on the old air cooled bikes that actually hook up still smoke em around here at the track!:laugh:

:woohoo: :laugh: Provocation guaranteed when dissin´HD´s:P

What ever gives you kicks is OK by me. Just don´t BS about power or anything that really ain´t there. That and the Wild-One-Wannabees make me wonder though...

Locozuna, had to check "myopic" and as I said not true. To me it´s a question of rider not what you ride as such. Just too many BS about HD....

Brando's gang in the Wild One rode Triumphs.

Lee Marvin's rode HD's.

I guess as long as there are HD haters there will be Jap haters, BMW haters, Goldwing haters, Schwinn haters, Broccoli haters, then there's Mikey....he won't eat it....he hates everything! .......Hey MIKEY!!!! HE LIKES IT!!! :woohoo:

You must be very old to understand this last bit(Mikey)...Life is a Cereal...

I guess we will never see each others side. But I am truly glad I don't get upset that people are buying and enjoying another 2 wheeled vehicle than the one I am partial to and that I can see what drives them to the other makes.

I was intrigued by the thought that HD forums were busy dissing the Japs and just did a little tour of their forums. Maybe it was timing but I visited 3 regular HD sites and absolutely no cross breed dissing was happening. I did not visit the skull and bones flavor
sites but ones I felt were on par with this forum as I generally regard this as a level headed smart bunch of enthusiasts. But I found no evidence of bashing whatsoever or even just the strong negative emotions that has been displayed here. I'm not saying there is none but only that I could not find any with a quick search.

"Provocation guaranteed when dissin HD's" Re-read this thread, I think you will find out the only people upset were the ones doing the dissing of the HD's. They were the ones who were using "what really gets me" or "I can't stand".

I agree ride what you want and like what you want. If you love her thats good enough for me! No caveats, no exceptions, no personal biases, whatever.