I hate too say it....but talk me into a Harley

After owning three Hondas, a BSA, a Norton, a Ducati, a Yamaha, and a Moto Guzzi, I bought my first Harley three months ago, and it's great! Go for it!

What other bike can you do this on?

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I had two Hd's.
Great bikes. The best finish and build quaility of
any bike I've ever owned, and by virtue of having
a belt instead of a chain, the most maintenance
free. Parts are half the cost of any other bike and
with so much interchangabilty and dealerships
every 5 miles it seems, you will never be off the
road for long in the unlikely event you do have
problems. A Harley is an absolute breeze to work
on too. The open-pipe faux thuglettes give HD a
bad image, and everyone who DOESNT own a
HD have 25 horror stories about them, but both
are easy enough to ignore. I say go for it . . .
Get a J&P Cycles catalogue, have fun! My only advice
would be not to consider a Sportster, just go straight
for the FL 'Bagger or Road King.

Regards,
LM in KY

I've never owned or ridden a HD so I can't say anything about them, except that they seem pricey. If you have the $ and that's what you want, then go for it.

I have seen some lesser expensive alternatives that are really worth looking at. If I had $7k right now, I'd buy this X :

http://www.vtxoa.com/forums/showthr...-miles-Columbia-SC-hard-bags-fairing-etc-****

Go set on a few Victories.....Cross Roads, Cross Country.....Vision if you can get over the "styling".

low seat height, crazy comfortable.....vtwin power....yadda yadda.

Buy a Victory..

Watch the series of Vids made by Arizona Victory here (they also sell harleys too)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGkFPUeNUqc

after a few minutes its quite clear Harley is obselete

I was looking at the Switchback also. But I couldn't get around the price. I ended up on a Victory Cross Roads.

I'm the same hight, and inseam as yourself, and I was recently looking for a better two up bike than my R1200GS, and started looking at the Harley touring bikes. I test road an '08 E-glide Standard, an '08 Street Glide, and a '12 Street Glide. They really were nice bikes. Looked great, nice fit and finish, and the dealers really did treat me well.

The '08 E-Glide standard was a little strange for me the first time I'll pulled away from a dead stop turing at the same time. Maybe because of different rake and trail than I was used to. Once I was used to that, which was pretty quick, it was a piece of cake to ride. I did some parking lot maneuvers, which were quite easy and then got on the highway and cruised. The comfort was great. That slow turning twin almost hipnotic at 70 mph. With stock pipes, it wasn't very loud either.

The '12 Street Glide was rougher as others have said, and with the stubby windshield buffetting was pretty bad. The 103 engine was really nice, and brakes were quite nice as well. It would have needed a taller shield, and a new seat to be really comfortable. However, with a price tag near 21K, it would make more sense to buy a classic with all of that already included for the same price. A much better value.

I did enjoy the Harley's, but In the end, I found a very nice used '09 R1200RT, and never went back to the Harley. I live closer to a BMW dealer, and I already had the tools and no-how to work on the bike myself. The wife likes the RT as well.

What's there to talk you into?
You like the bikes. You know you want one.
Go ride some demos and buy the one you like, then ride the crap out of it.

Best advice yet . . .

Why are people posting about other bikes in
a "Talk me in to a Harley" thread? Dontcha
think the OP might have thought of that when
he determined he needed a new 20k bike?
Just sayin' . . .

I bought a Road Glide Ultra this time as it is the best in handling of any of the Harley Baggers. It moves the fairing away and does not feel as confining as an E Glide. It is a signifigant improvement on windy days as well. I have owned 8 E Glides and have not one bad thing to say but the Road Glide Ultra has all the add ons I wanted and the lower fairings are vented and work well in the real world.

I would try a Road King an E Glide and a Road Glide. If you want a smaller bike than these the new Dyna Switch back works like a smaller Road King and is about 90 lbs lighter than a Road King. They are a new model for 2012 so there are not many used out there. Our dealer cant keep them in stock and has several sold by deposit for future delivery. My wife is 5ft 4 and can flat foot and she likes the lighter weight. I like the old school look.

As far as the Harley lifestyle it is what you make of it, I am any thing but a pirate , I ride nearly 20,000 miles a year and have ridden more than 40 years, I have ridden all over the world including Europe, Austrailia New Zealand and from Alaska to Mexico. I ride with stock pipes and wear ballistic nylon jackets and pants, I do enjoy socializing with other riders regardless of there choice of bikes, It is there money and they can spend it as they decide.

It seems the people who have the most trash to talk dont own or ride a Harley. I do see more people trying to turn the Metric bikes into Harleys by adding Harley style fairings and bags but they are never going to have a real Harley going that way. Again it is thier money , they earned it and can spend it as they want.

Find a bike you like and ride it with out worrying about others opinions.

I love Harley's. I have had several; inc,using my favorite bike of all time, my 2007 road king custom.

But unless I got a truly ludicrous deal on a used one that someone else had already dumped thousands into upgrading I would never buy one again.

Why? Price vs. performance. It takes those thousands just to get the bike to be able to compete with competing cruisers. I have a 2009 Yamaha stratoliner s now and if i don't look at the logos it feels just like my king. Except it cost me $7100 in November with 6000 miles on it. I got it because I wanted a cruiser to go WITH my moto guzzi griso and cost less. If I were going to go with only one bike though I'd probably splurge a wee bit - a Triumph Thunderbird. Blows away the road king in every way except one - that Harley "mystique". But triumph has its own rep and mystique, unlike the Japanese cruisers, so I think it would satisfy all needs. If you want a basic cruiser get the big bore thunderbird storm. Or you can get the touring model and pay a tiny bit to have the big bore kit put on. Tons of customizing, although nothing can touch the hd there. Best part is the price. You can get a nice regular model, say a 2010 with almost no miles for around $10,000. Add a thousand if you want the storm. BMW of Pittsburgh has a beautiful tbird listed for $10,500. I'm sure right now they would drop that price as they have had it since summer. I would buy a storm, and add on what I wanted. On and triumph has one of the better forums out there www.triumphrat.net.

While I don't have a Harley, (Honda Shadow Aero) they are great bikes. I'd go one further in suggesting that if your local Harley dealer does rentals, rent one for a few days so you can see if the bike really fits for your riding needs.

Have owned several HDs, and liked most of them. But make sure a bike that looks comfortable really is. Yes, the advice to test ride or even rent is sound. I found my E-Glide to be surprisingly uncomfortable on long trips. The seat looked and felt great, but I couldn't really move around as much as I wanted. They are really well made bikes. But as others have pointed out, not the only bikes out there.

I bought my first one in 2010 after 45 years of wanting one (FXD Super Glide) and loved it for 14,000 miles, great bike but I could not resist wanting to go down every dirt road I passed so it went away to be replaced by a R1200GS this week coming. I threw $1500 at the suspension but it just is not up to bad roads IMHO. Depends on what you are looking to do with it, my wife was sad to see it go by the way and would not have minded if I had replaced it with a Road King which I considered quite seriously.

HD's are great if thats the ride your looking for. It sounds like it is. Ive owned them, raced them and they have been in my family since the 60's but they are not for me. I like something a little lighter and easy to work on and I dont ride two up but if I did I woud sure concider a HD for the same reasons you are. Go for it and like one of the other posters said never look back and ride the crap out of it.

The Harley touring models (as well as the Switchback) meet a lot of what you described you're after: 2-up comfort, low to the ground, and good aftermarket support.

I added the FLHX to the garage because my wife just wasn't comfortable on the FJR to enjoy riding with me for more than an hour. We hunted for 2 years for a used touring model that we were willing to buy, and tried out several. Pre-'09 models felt wishy-washy to me in corners. The Road King was more flickable to me, but I didn't like the gauges mounted low on the tank. The Ultra was comfortable but noticeably heavier to me. We ended up with the '09 FLHX, backrest, 10.75" VStream windshield, and Sundowner seat. The stock seat was not comfortable for either of us.

Hindsight being what it is, I often think I should have gotten either an Ultra or a Road Glide Ultra. The Street Glide has a lot of buffeting to deal with above 45 mph. Much of it is coming from under the tank. I imagine lowers will eventually get added, along with a 14" VStream windshield. Passenger floorboards will eventually get added - and they are not inexpensive ($380 for matching "Streamliners"!). Adding a tour pack like I want is going to cost a bunch (tour pack, mounting hardware, backrest, lights, speakers, lights, etc...), but so far we have not needed it, and hope to get by without it. The spoked wheels on this bike are tubed and hard to inflate with the cage of spokes around the valve stem, and I'm always wishing I had tubeless mags. The suspension on the Street Glide is 1" shorter than other touring models, and although I keep the rear shocks air'd up for our weight/cargo, I often think of getting a suspension that is a little taller and more comfortable. So if I add all those "wants" up, I see that I've basically got an Ultra that I'm interested in. Oh well -- this one is what we were after, we got a fair deal on a garage queen, and my wife and daughters love going for rides with me. I didn't know I'd enjoy it as much as I do. It's a really fun bike to take out on the road. The cruise control is sweet! It's fun listening to some tunes or a ball game while taking in the country roads. The paint color isn't my first choice (big purple metal flake), but it's not like all the rest of the bikes out there, and you might be able to use that to negotiate a lower price .

So go try them out, have some fun, ask questions like you're doing, and enjoy the time you and your wife have together on the bike. Also recommend seeing the Ride Like a Pro series, adding Pat Hahn's book, and lots of parking lot practice to whichever model you end up with!

'fooz

Ride what lights you up.

This one lit me up to the point that I know there will be another one.

Enjoy.

No doubt. Always nice when someone willingly confirms their idiocy. Now when I see his name I can just skip the post.

Fly out to Portland in the Spring... I'll pick you up at the Airport, put you up for the night at the Oxford Suites and pick up the tab for your first service at the dealership of your choice as you make your way back East.

I'll start by saying that I've never owned a Harley(all my bikes have been Japanese), but I've ridden quite a few in my 50 years of riding. My brother and best friend both ride Harleys, so I've lead or followed one for 1000s of miles. So why after all this exposure to HD have I never purchased one? Money?, no. Lifestyle, no. Apparently I just don't "get it"according to HD riders. I just don't want one no matter how hard I try. I just don't like them. To me, they are boring, ugly, slow,overpriced, old fashioned parade bikes. Most of their owners around here are low life, loud mouthed drunkards.who seem intent on going deaf asap. Not the bikes's fault of course, but this is an additional turn off to the brand. The dealers and salesmen there are another turn off, they have a condescending superior attitude that is as annoying as it is misinformed. The parts guys are plain rude. The cashiers are pretty young girls who know nothing and don't know how to sell. The low priced accessories (made overseas) are the only reason I ever go to a dealer anymore. I get all my tires and other gear at Cycle Gear, where everyone (including the ladies) are informed and helpful.
So even though I'm personally acquainted with many HD riders who don't fit the ugly mold I described, I can't bring myself to buy a bike that has such a negative image on top of poor performance for so much money. I've spent much more on my Corvettes and boats, so I do buy costly toys, just not ones that would make me feel stupid.IMHO.