Sport Tourers; Where Art Thou?

Let's see now:

Harley's are sport tourers
And sport bikes are sport tourers
And Wings are sport tourers
And UJM's are sport tourers
And Adventure bikes are sport tourers
And no doubt thumpers, hacks, and scooters are as well.

Now that we've got that straightened out it would appear to Rider's origional premise that sport touring bikes are the most common on the road. I guess then the problem with that pesky sub-set of ST's/FJR's/C14's/RT's etc is that they are just overkill. Then again moderation has never been the watch-word of serious long-distance riders either, likely why so many of them have one of those bikes.

Absolutely hilarious! I had not seen this before. Thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXA338ro1mo

Harley is actually a good marketing campain....... that's it. Bikes...... they are ok, at best. I would be more likely to buy a Victory than a Harley.

I hold no loyalty to a brand, nor a version, you my friend need therapy. BSA, NORTON, Triumph, and dear I say Indian, all competed, and won, not just on pavement, dirt, and yes board track racing. At least know what you speak of for the brand you appearantly represent. Harley was comissioned to make copies of the bmw's during WWII! WHY!? because they were crap, and the boxers ran better, forgot to mention that one mr. copy..... The ones that were sent there were sent back because of the amount of failers, the boxers stayed there, working, Go look it up, Also my grandfather was there, and the amazing part is he had one, then he came home, looked for a boxer and Hardley would only sell the one they wanted to make, a V, he never owned another. sorry to burst your T-shirt company.

30th anniversary addition Hyosung GV650............. V-rod ............ Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...... yep lines match, no way they could have used the design cues.....

do you have a clue what you are talking about or are you just shitfaced hammered drunk.

Nope..... but you sure, are not smart.

Nope, no boxer here.................

yes no shit the XA isn't exactly a secret. neither is the fact that they only bulit 1000 of them and by the time the decision would have been made to build more the war was winding down so the Army didn't ask for any more and Indian didn't build any more 841's and most of them ended up being sold to the private sector so for you to imply that they played a big role when they were just a very expensive project which bore no real fruit is as ridiculous as the rest of your warped nuggets of two wheeled wisdom.

Why all this nonsense about Harleys this and Harleys that...it's simple, they just don't make a sport touring motorcycle...end of story. It seems to me that BMW started the ST segment with mostly competent bikes comfortable enough to ride all day and bags to hold your stuff. I loved my R1100RS...mid 500s on weight, pretty agile, all day comfortable (with a Sargent seat) and mostly bulletproof. After that, ST bikes started gaining gaining a lot of weight and seriously need to go on a diet. What's left in the field of <550 lb bikes with sporting ambitions and good bags...not much?! Must we all ride ADV bikes? When my Futura is no longer possible to keep on the road due to no parts availability, I have no idea what I'll replace it with...a Stelvio maybe!

let me help you out there sonny.

You can call a pig a cat all you want ... but in the end it's still a pig.

guess again.

OMG. Thank you. For a moment there I thought the drama was over.

I don't care to get in a pissing match here, but what was ignorent about my post? Every company responds to competition, even Harley-Davidson.

I seem to recall that one of their "responses" was a 45% tariff on Imports over 700cc, courtesy of the Reagan Administration.

Personally I could give two shits if they had disappeared, they haven't built a bike that interested me since the XLCR. As to their treatment of Erik Buell, well they can go f*ck themselves.

Forgive me, Rider, for taking your thread even further off topic here, but I just wanted to throw out there that my dad was one of the Army's test riders when HD delivered some of these to the Army down south. Can't remember now whether it was a 6 pack or a case of beer he lost when he bet he could break this thing in a day... Dad loved his 45s, but had to admit this thing was pretty tough. Shame HD never built a civilian version IMO.
We now return to your regularly scheduled programing.

and for the record....it's post's like this that make threads that stray off topic worth all the...pain that some of us must endure. if your dad did testing of the XA (which is about all they saw unlike what some people might have you believe) that is pretty cool.

yes obviously any Harley ever made isn't a "sport tourer" but it's the concept of that very idea that is worth debate.

like it or not harley is the bedrock that all foundations of other brands are built on and we are talking massive rock formation. the original post by Rider even backs that claim up. it is allowing yourself to at least consider what his observation really means that brings you, me, or even Rabia to concede that even in their lumbering century old existence they (Harleys) are very big shoes leaving very big footprints along the trail of riding in the USA. to look at where they are post Y2K and not consider the roots laid down on board track, Dodge City, dirt track, road racing, hill climb, (which was HUGE in the 30's) all the very essence of the history of the motorcycle story to this point, particularly dirt track, the most under appreciated motor sport on the planet, is to go through life wearing blinders.

yes a FJR1300 will smoke a Road King from here to wherever hands down. doesn't mean anything if you consider that the Harley is doing what its been doing for over 50 years except now it's got fuel injection. getting there first doesn't always mean you won.

Yeah, I always thought it was pretty cool too. Apparently the Army just turned the guys loose on them at a base in Georgia? One of the Carolinas? Sorry to say I can't remember. My brother has all of Dad's letters now that Dad wrote from boot camp to Berlin. I do though have a couple of his photos from his days as a motorcycle messenger in England. And his leather puddin' bowl helmet.
Ok, Rider, now I'm done. Really.