Harley davidson or vulcan

Not all Harley owners,(at least the ones I know of) think like that. Obviously HD's marketing dept and the cool factor is working very well. There is way more harleys on the road than Metric bikes. At least there is here. I really like the way my Vulcan rides. For a big bike it handles very well and vibration isn't even close to a harley. But........ whatever floats your boat..

Last post for me on this thread.
1. Unless you have owned a Harley, shut up. You do not know what you are talking about.
2. My modern Harleys were smoother than any Kawi that I have owned or ridden.
3. I am not critcizing Kawis like the anti Harley folks here are with Harleys and I have earned the right to my opinions by owning 6 Harleys and 7 Kawis.
4. Resale only doesn't matter if you plan on keeping the bike forever. I trade my Harley every 5 years like clockwork. Therefore, I would like it to still have some value. When I was trading my Kawi sport bikes every 2 years, they did NOT retain a very large percentage of their value.
5. I LOVE motorcycles. All motorcycles. I will ride with anyone whose riding ability I trust. I rode to the worlds largest Harley rally with a friend in 2005 that was riding a Yamaha Road Star. He was RIDING it, not towing it like all of the insufferablee yuppie wannabes. Once again, I am on this site because of my 1982 Kawi KZ1000CSR, not my Streetglide.

I have an 01 Fatboy, when I purchased it I had been looking to get a zx-11. My brother in law had a 96 Fatboy and after riding that a few times I thought what the hell lets see about a Fatboy. I went to a local dealer that had an excellent reputation for not gouging people. This was in August of 2000, still in the days of waiting a year for a bike. October of 2000 I get a call from the dealer telling me my bike was in. It now has around 35,000 miles on it. It has never had so much as one hiccup. Before I owned it I felt the same way about the bikes/riders of Harleys and all the stereotypical stories that some have posted here. Sometimes you will meet a person who fits the stereotype, but out 100 riders 99 of them are great people. I will ride, and do ride with any make or model of bike and if I don't think the person is a fruit cake I will trade up and let them ride my Fatboy. So go for the Harley, you won't regret it.

p.s. Don't ask to ride my z1

HDDAN wrote: Last post for me on this thread.
1. Unless you have owned a Harley, shut up. You do not know what you are talking about.
2. My modern Harleys were smoother than any Kawi that I have owned or ridden.
3. I am not critcizing Kawis like the anti Harley folks here are with Harleys and I have earned the right to my opinions by owning 6 Harleys and 7 Kawis.
4. Resale only doesn't matter if you plan on keeping the bike forever. I trade my Harley every 5 years like clockwork. Therefore, I would like it to still have some value. When I was trading my Kawi sport bikes every 2 years, they did NOT retain a very large percentage of their value.
5. I LOVE motorcycles. All motorcycles. I will ride with anyone whose riding ability I trust. I rode to the worlds largest Harley rally with a friend in 2005 that was riding a Yamaha Road Star. He was RIDING it, not towing it like all of the insufferablee yuppie wannabes. Once again, I am on this site because of my 1982 Kawi KZ1000CSR, not my Streetglide.

In an earlier post you wrote " 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...."

Just can't let it go, eh? :laugh: Don’t worry, we won’t tell you to “shut up” just because you hold a different opinion (no matter how lame it may be). Just my opinion, but if you have to trade the bike in every 5 years like clockwork you're always riding a new bike; many of us consider a 5 year old bike an infant. My best friend owns a 2010 Ultra Glide he paid about $25k for and he loves it. He puts about 7,000 miles on it per year. Watching that thing shake at idle I would consider buying one if I needed a paint mixer like they have at Home Depot. If you’re going to tell me your Harley doesn’t shake I say BS; they ALL do. If you don’t believe it, look in the mirrors of any Harley when it’s idling and tell me what you see. My friend has replaced the exhaust, put in a new computer to reduce the overly lean (hot) condition that all new Harleys have, and added a bunch of bling - all this stuff from Harley dealerships at mega bucks. Of that stuff, he only considers the rather expensive programmable computer as a must to reduce the excessive heat. The only actual mechanical failure he has had on his 3 year old bike was losing the brakes when the rear brake line wore through where it rubs on something under the engine – dangerous and inexcusable in my opinion – even my 35 year old Kaw has spring sleeves protecting the brake lines. My friend likes his bike a lot, but he absolutely hates Harley Davidson the company. Every year Harley Davidson will tell you last year's model was crap but this year's model is perfect; this drives my friend crazy. Also, as a mechanical engineer, he knows very well that Harley shouldn’t be putting bikes out that run excessively hot and then offer an accessory to tune them so they run at a normal temperature. But like you, he loves his Harley, and that doesn’t make him a bad person. He also loves my KZ650-C1 and is amazed at how advanced the Kawasaki technology was 35 years ago. Ed

I think that the attitude of people not riding with you because of what you ride is slowly beginning to change. This being bike week there's a lot of group riding and on my way to work yesterday I saw a group that pretty much had everything covered. The group had about 30 or so bikes in it and while they were mostly traditional Harley's there were some V-Rods a Goldwing Trike, some Asian cruisers, a couple of BMW's, a 1098 Ducati, a ZX-14 and a couple of Burgman 650 scooters. It was one of those deals where if you can keep up you can ride in the group it was actually pretty cool and kinda restored my faith in my fellow motorcyclists. I even got a thumbs up from an old guy on a shovel head as I was sitting at the light on the ole girl. It was a good day!

My street glide does not go down the road at "idle", at highway speed it is dead smooth, ask your friend.
My Softail;s even idled dead smooth, they were the "B' engine.
I trade them because in every five years because they have 50,000 or more miles on them and I like change. I can also afford to. I traded my Kawasakis every two years because they became obsolete. I bought six of them new. Examples of this being the 1984 GPZ1100 that I bought in it's last year was suprceded by the 900 Ninja the same year, the Ninja was supercede by the 1000R in 1986 which was superceded by the ZX10 in 1988 which was superceded by the ZX 11 in 1990. Read the chasis posts, I did not want to get into this pissing contest. I cannot get rotors for my 1982 KZ1000M2. If I were looking for rotors for a 1982 Harley of any model, the dealership would have them or be able to order them. How many Harleys have you owned? how many have you even ridden? Do you really think that Kawasaki's Harley replica is better than the real thing? One last thing, Kawasaki bought my 1991 ZX11 back off of me because I was going to "Lemon Law" it. Within 1 week of buying it, the transmission stared jumping out of 1st and 2nd. They had to split the case of my brand new bike to fix it. In 1992 the starter crapped out and it was going to take them 3 yes 3 montha to get a part from Japan. They bought the bike back from me.

Keep buying new Harleys every 5 years if you like them; I'm happy for you. I wouldn't want one or the Vulcan or a Valkyrie or a BMW tourer; driving a big heavy bike is just not my cup of tea. Whether the Vulcan with a 52* V is better than a Harley with a 45* V with its inherent vibration can be debated until the cows come home, but to me it’s like asking if an International school bus is better than a Mack school bus. I wouldn’t want to run any of them down a twisty road. And yes I've ridden them (not the school buses), along with smaller Hondas, Norton, BSA, Bultaco, Yammie, Jawa, Yankee (you may not be familiar with that one - look it up) and who knows what other makes over the past 47 years since I bought my first bike. I feel very lucky that I bought a bike I really like, so I don't need to trade it in every couple years. If you get your vintage Kawasaki fixed up, and I sincerely hope you do, you may understand the feeling. BTW, check your other thread, I posting a link to a place that properly reconditions rotors. Ed

650ed: Every year Harley Davidson will tell you last year's model was crap but this year's model is perfect; this drives my friend crazy.

I agree with a lot of what you say, as well as HDDAN - you probably agree more than you think - but that is pretty rich, mate :lol: First, I have never heard or seen a Harley ad putting down their previous product. In fact, it's the contrary. Remember when they guaranteed you a full refund on your Sportster if you upgraded to a big block later?

Harleys change very, very little from year to year. Even when they design a completely new motorcycle, they make it to look like the old version. Only a limited few can tell a 2012 from a 1992 - most people will simply see a Harley. When it comes to what the other makers do, especially those who make race reps, then you can talk about this year's model making last year's version obsolete. When was the last time you heard Kawasaki say that "You should really just keep your old Ninja because it's every bit as good as the new one we have made" ? It's not how they make business. Not even H-D, really :laugh:

Not a Harley ad. It's what the dealership tells my friend, and as far as he is concerned they represent Harley Davidson. Ed

I don't dislike Harley's they just aren't my cup of tea. In this area there seems to be an attitude that if you don't ride Harley you are shit. It's not all Harley riders and it seems to be a mostly from the younger riders. Maybe it has something to do with having the big bike events as well as having what is claimed to be the World's Largest Harley dealer just up the road. I had a friend when I was attending Wyotech and he had a very nice Sportster. It was kind of a Cafe style that he had build into strong runner. I used to give him crap because here he was riding a HD but he was wearing a BSA hat. One day I saw him outside the Harley lab and asked how it was going and he told me that while he loved Harley's he came to the realization that he wasn't a Harley person because he didn't possess attitude that seemed to be prevalent in that class which I found ironic because the Instructor who had been teaching Harley for over 30 years had a bone stock completely unrestored CB750 as his daily ride. He had several old Harley's but the Ole Honda was the one that he could rely on day to day. To be perfectly honest I'd love to have a V-Rod or a XR-1200 it has nothing to do with them being a Harley it has everything to do with those bikes are more my style. I can appreciate a nice bagger but I just don't see myself ever owning one. I bought my Kz because of I reason. When I was a kid there were two bikes that got my attention and really turned me on to motorcycles. The first was my dad's friends Norton 850 Commando and the other was a Z1 that I would see around town. I had always loved the old Kaws so when I had a chance I got one. On another note Harley doesn't really change anything because that's not what their customer base wants. I was watching a show about the HD museum and they showed 2 liquid cooled V4 prototypes that they had build in the 80's when Honda came out with the V65 Magna because they felt that was the direction that they should go but in the end they didn't produce them because that isn't what their customers wanted. I know a guy that retired from drag racing Turbo/Nitrous Hayabusas and now rides a Bergman scooter with a trike kit but he also Has a Boss Hoss that is 574 Cubic inches and has 774 Hp and 700 lb/ft of torque. So in the end it doesn't matter what you ride. Just ride.

"Don’t worry, we won’t tell you to “shut up” just because you hold a different opinion "...

Shut up Ed.... :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Old Man Rock wrote: "Don’t worry, we won’t tell you to “shut up” just because you hold a different opinion "...

Shut up Ed.... :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

ok. ooops.