Harley davidson or vulcan

KraZyRIDER wrote:

RonKZ650 wrote: I like all motorcycles except Harley or anything that reminds me of one.

...I have to ask, why? Have you ever owned one, ever rode one?

It's always been I wanted to like them. It started out back in about 1971 when my dad bought me a new Yamaha enduro, then I went to the Harley dealer with my cousins who also had great dads to try to see what else was out there. I was like 12. Of course my cousins and me were treated like crap there as they knew we were 12 years old, but didn't give $0.02 thought to maybe our dads were wealthy as all hell. That started it out, so we ride the Yam enduros for years, then an old friend of mine explains how you can take an AMF era Harley cylinder and by hand pressure alone make the bores out of round, then friends get into the Harley scene. Doctor death, Steve Williams the wrestler, if anyone has heard of him, I grew up with him, and he lived 100 ft fom me, but his parents never bought him a bike. He was like 45 when he gets his first bike and of course no option but Harley and of course no mufflers and of course read how to ride and that is reving constantly, making noise, blipping the engine at lights. The basic Harley mentallity. So my tainted ideas are amplified by newbees. I rode my buddys 84 or whatever Harley of which was I think the first rubber mount modern Harley and didn't think bad of it, but wasn't drawn to it in any way. I ride the Goldwing and find most Harleys hog up the road at like 20mph while touting off their obnoxious noise so get a bad attitude, then last summet two of them were riding of course at 30mph in a 40mph zone then this girl in a Blazer or whatever accidently cuts one of them off. Well you go 10mph under the limit what do you expect? So I knew these douchbags were trouble just by going on their attire, which was the standard Harley of Toledo shirt, no helmets of course. We ride like 3 miles at 20mph in a 40mph zone to punish this girl with the flipping of, then I go to pass and the scumbags with their zero riding skills switch into my lane so I take avasive measures, but would have just enjoyed the hell out of running them over. Story #1 of 1000.

ramtough_63 wrote:
"Lil Buddy as long as your on two wheels we dont care what you ride"

I think more people should be less prejudice and embrace those words because we all have to realize we are ALL bikers at heart.

...amen Brother, amen.

RonKZ650 wrote: Story #1 of 1000.

...1 of 1000???

...have you ever tried telling these stories to a shrink?

...maybe we should ride together sometime and I'll bring my Sporty.

...and I'll show you that not ALL Harley riders are assholes.

...I can assure you that I don't ride around doing 20mph and rip-rip my throttle at red lights. As a matter of fact, where I ride, there are no lights!

...trust me, I don't know anyone else that does that either. As a matter of fact, I'd take you on a windy-twist ride through the back roads of Northern New Jersey that'll make you think you were at Nürburgring.

The Streetglide looks way better, that has to be the ugliest Vulcan I have ever seen, maybe one of the ugliest bikes period! :sick:

Cant go wrong with HD!!!!

I embrace knees in the breeze help fellow bikers be respectfull.


I think that HD would be a nice touring bike and if you do not like it clean it up and sell it for more than you gave. just my .02

busted knuckle wrote: I realize Harley is probably a four letter word for most on this site. I am going to be buying a new bike for this year. My kz will not be ready to ride in time. I am trying to decide between a 1994 harley davidson street glide and a 2005 vulcan 2000. the vulcan only has 343 miles on it.

Any specifics on why you chose those two to pick from? This extremely general question will just end up in a flame war without something more to go on...

Very few Japanese motorcycles have any lasting value. Yes a KZ does, no a Vulcan does not. Very few Harleys do not hold their value.Harley ran an add in the 1980's that showed a motorcycle junk yard jammed full of Japanese bikes. It said "Can you find the Harley in this picture"? Then it said "Of course not". I have had 7 Kawis and 6 Harleys. I presently own a 1982 KZ1000CSR and a 2012 Harley Streetglide. Go for the Harley, you will not regret it.

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configuration

HDDAN wrote: Very few Japanese motorcycles have any lasting value. Yes a KZ does, no a Vulcan does not. Very few Harleys do not hold their value.Harley ran an add in the 1980's that showed a motorcycle junk yard jammed full of Japanese bikes. It said "Can you find the Harley in this picture"? Then it said "Of course not". I have had 7 Kawis and 6 Harleys. I presently own a 1982 KZ1000CSR and a 2012 Harley Streetglide. Go for the Harley, you will not regret it.

I'm not convinced. For as much as they cost new, the resale value generally isn't that great (I'm not suggesting the Vulcan's resale is great either). For example; how much did a 2005 V-Rod cost ($17,000 or so), and shouldn't a person trying to sell one in pristine condition with less than 1 thousand miles be able to recover more than half what he spent on it (assuming HD's hold their value)? If resale value is the priority - buy gold coins.

I respectfully disagree. After this response I will leave this thread because i am not here to be an agent for HD, I am here because of my 1982 KZ1000M2. On July 16th 2011 I traded in my 2007 FLSTC Heritage Softail. It sold for $18,500.00 in July of 2006. I traded it for a 2012 FLHX Streetglide that sells for $20,500.00 now. I had 45,000 yes, thousand not hundred, miles, on my Softail. I got $14,000.00 for a trade in.That works out to 75%. If you read my post, you will see that I said "most Harleys", the V-Rod is not one of them. Most Harley riders do not like the V-Rod because it is not a traditional HD. It was designed to try to lure away some Japanese motorcycle riders from Hondasakiyamzuki into Riding American motorcycles. Let me re-iterate the fact that I have owned seven Kawasakis, my present used KZ1000M2, a new 1981 Kz750E, a 1984 GPZ1100, two (one got crashed into at Laconia in 1988}1986 Ninja !000Rs, a 1989 Ninja ZX10 and a 1991 Ninja ZX11.

I think the V rod is a very different kind of Harley. Just reading the latest Cycle Canada the other day and towards the end of the editorial I read ".........Harley has, in the V Rod perhaps he best general purpose motorcycle engine in production.....Unfortunately it has never developed the following it deserves...It didn't sell. It was a shame" and I tend to agree with the writer. If I had the $ I would very seriously consider one but unfortunately the traditional HD rider will not.

but unfortunately the traditional HD rider will not.

...as an owner of a Harley Davidson, I can say emphatically that you are absolutely 100% correct.

...as good a bike as it actually is, you're reduced to the likes of a bastard child if you own one.

...Harley riders won't ride with you, because to them it's NOT a true blue Harley Davidson.

...Japanese bike riders won't ride with you, because they HATE Harleys. Just start a topic around here about how great a Harley is and see what happens. Sheer pandemonium would break out!

...English bike riders will tolerate Harley riders, because Harleys are basically old school, as are most British bikes. But, they are few and far between.

...BMW riders, forget it! They're still hung up on that us vs them WWII issue.

...you've got somewhat of a chance with Italian riders, they like V Twins. This way, that way, as long as its a V. Only problem is, there's even fewer of them than Brits.

...short of that, you have to turn to other V Rod owners for comfort. And there just aren't many of them around. Yep, with that kind of isolation, you just might turn out to be the next Ted Kaczynski if you own a V Rod. Very sad, indeed.

... :silly: :lol:

Just to bring this further off topic - I would never consider to waste a minute of my limited time riding with people that care what I ride. They represent a personality I will not have anything to do with. I will ride with anybody regardless of what kind of bike they're on as long as they are nice people.

And I find that most people are like me, luckily enough. What matter is that we ride, not what we ride.