What do you guys think about Harleys?

[SaltyNuts]

Love them?

Hate them?

Some good models, some bad?

They are starting to grow on me the more I research bikes. Love them softails...

 

[snoopy7548]

Hate them. Honda Grom, on the other hand...

 

[WilliamM2]

Slow, loud, heavy. I'd never have one.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Some of the newer Harleys are actually attractive bikes for a change. The classic Harley look, OTOH, has not aged well.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Love them?

Hate them?

Some good models, some bad?

They are starting to grow on me the more I research bikes. Love them softails...

Have you ever ridden one? I thought I wanted a Harley once, turned out I just didn’t know what I wanted.

 

[Greenman]

I like much of Harley style, not a fan of their engines.
I owned a V-Rod for many years, bullet proof powerplant that was reasonably modern. They didn't sell enough of them to maintain the line.

On the flip side I don't like sport bike's at all. Uncomfortable riding position, no place to carry anything, to lite. Their one selling point is extremely high performance, something that I would never use.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Harley's are notoriously unreliable. Even the newer stuff, which folks like to tout as the best they've made, is WAY more unreliable than any Japanese bike. The older ones, which established their reputation for leaving you on the side of the road, were even worse.

Yet Harley lovers would ride nothing else. I've never understood it. Loyal to the most unreliable motorcycle you can buy, and very anti-other bikes in the process.

I like them...they are cool looking and sounding. But if I were to get another bike, it'd be one of the Japanese cruisers that have a V motor in the Harley style.

Sport bikes are fun for about an hour, but terribly uncomfortable as mentioned previously. If you're over 30, you probably won't be happy with one.

Edit: Just noticed your many threads about bikes.

You need to go ride a few. They handle VERY differently, from style to style. A bigger sport bike is the last thing you need. It WILL kill or maim you. At the very least, it'll scare the piss out of you if you're lucky.

My personal suggestion: Get a trail/street bike. Basically a civilized motocross bike. They make them. Get one of those, they're easy to ride and handle nicely. Get one and get used to riding...don't go get a huge CC one, either. They will all scoot plenty fast, so don't get caught up in performance.

Something along the lines of a Honda CRF300L. It will be far more bike than you need as a beginner, and has the added bonus of being able to hit the trails, too.

Then start checking out cruiser style and sport style once you're accustomed to riding.

 

[Commodus]

They're iconic, but they're chunky, slow and horrible for the environment. The only Harley I'd consider now is one of the company's LiveWire electric bikes.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

If I bought another bike, it'd probably be the H2 SX

 

[JulesMaximus]

I have ridden a couple of them. They are heavy and slow and I am not a fan of the riding position with the forward controls. Short people seem to like them but I find them archaic and historically they are not very reliable. Hard pass for me, I would never buy one..

Doesn’t help that most of them dress up in their leather and denim pirate outfits. It’s a ridiculous look that really doesn’t offer much protection in a crash. Denim by itself is almost completely useless, you might as well be naked. Don’t get me going on the half helmets…

 

[Vic]

Harleys are the only 1000cc-plus bikes that regularly get walked by cars. That is all.

 

[Greenman]

Harley's are notoriously unreliable. Even the newer stuff, which folks like to tout as the best they've made, is WAY more unreliable than any Japanese bike. The older ones, which established their reputation for leaving you on the side of the road, were even worse.

Yet Harley lovers would ride nothing else. I've never understood it. Loyal to the most unreliable motorcycle you can buy, and very anti-other bikes in the process.

I like them...they are cool looking and sounding. But if I were to get another bike, it'd be one of the Japanese cruisers that have a V motor in the Harley style.

Sport bikes are fun for about an hour, but terribly uncomfortable as mentioned previously. If you're over 30, you probably won't be happy with one.

Edit: Just noticed your many threads about bikes.

You need to go ride a few. They handle VERY differently, from style to style. A bigger sport bike is the last thing you need. It WILL kill or maim you. At the very least, it'll scare the piss out of you if you're lucky.

My personal suggestion: Get a trail/street bike. Basically a civilized motocross bike. They make them. Get one of those, they're easy to ride and handle nicely. Get one and get used to riding...don't go get a huge CC one, either. They will all scoot plenty fast, so don't get caught up in performance.

Something along the lines of a Honda CRF300L. It will be far more bike than you need as a beginner, and has the added bonus of being able to hit the trails, too.

Then start checking out cruiser style and sport style once you're accustomed to riding.

Clearly you've never ridden a V-Rod.

 

[Vic]

Clearly you've never ridden a V-Rod.

Revolution engine was water cooled and 60 degrees, which solved all the problems with the traditional Harley engine design. But purists hated it, so it was discontinued, and Harley's latest and greatest engine (Milwaukee-eight) is back to air-cooled and 45 degrees.

 

[WilliamM2]

Clearly you've never ridden a V-Rod.

Yeah, slower in the quarter that a 25 year old Japanese 600cc. We won't even talk about handling

Considering it was built as a drag style bike, mid 12's are ridiculous.

 

[Greenman]

Yeah, slower in the quarter that a 25 year old Japanese 600cc. We won't even talk about handling

Considering it was built as a drag style bike, mid 12's are ridiculous.

It's weird that people don't like Harley's because they aren't sport bikes. I never even thought about riding out at the edge of my ability's as I had no desire to be an organ donner. It just seems dumb to me to base a buying decision on a performance level that's useless. The only reason for it is to win a dick swinging competition.

Harley's are heavy, which makes them surprisingly easy to handle in windy conditions, not so much if they fall over.

I loved my V-Rod, beautiful machine, bulletproof engine, reasonably comfortable to ride for an entire day. Respectable 0 to 60 times, outstanding 60 to 0 performance. Unfortunately the Bay area isn't a pleasant place to ride, so I sold it.

 

[WilliamM2]

It's weird that people don't like Harley's because they aren't sport bikes. I never even thought about riding out at the edge of my ability's as I had no desire to be an organ donner. It just seems dumb to me to base a buying decision on a performance level that's useless. The only reason for it is to win a dick swinging competition.

Harley's are heavy, which makes them surprisingly easy to handle in windy conditions, not so much if they fall over.

I loved my V-Rod, beautiful machine, bulletproof engine, reasonably comfortable to ride for an entire day. Respectable 0 to 60 times, outstanding 60 to 0 performance. Unfortunately the Bay area isn't a pleasant place to ride, so I sold it.

Where did I say sportbike?

 

[deadlyapp]

Where did I say sportbike?

Either way when you bring up quarter mile times you're purely talking about performance, especially when saying japanese 600cc which is almost exclusively a sport bike or hybrid.

Anyways - getting back to the question at hand - the only harley I ever found moderately attractive was the sportster. I had a friend with one in college and he was a good enough rider that he could basically stay with me on my ducati while canyon riding.

 

[SaltyNuts]

Hate them. Honda Grom, on the other hand...

LOL. You and those damned Groms that can't even do highway speed LOL.

 

[SaltyNuts]

Thanks everyone. A lot of you are talking about their reliability. Some including their engines. But as far as engines go, everything I've read about the Milwakee 8 engines they have been using for a few years now says they are bad ass engines, have not seen reports of reliablity propblems with those. Did I miss something?

Thanks!!!

 

[SaltyNuts]

Revolution engine was water cooled and 60 degrees, which solved all the problems with the traditional Harley engine design. But purists hated it, so it was discontinued, and Harley's latest and greatest engine (Milwaukee-eight) is back to air-cooled and 45 degrees.

Vic, what is inherently problematic with a 45 degree engine over a 60 degree engine? I understand they can have different power characteristics, but never read that a 45 is more "problematic" than a 60 degrees, that sort of thing. And as I said in my prior post everything I've read on the M8s makes it seem like they are awesome engines!

Thanks!!!

 

[snoopy7548]

LOL. You and those damned Groms that can't even do highway speed LOL.

58mph is pretty dang close!

 

[Greenman]

Harley killed the best engine they ever built. The Revolution engine was bullet proof. I know of several fellows with over 100k on the clock and no issues.

 

[Vic]

Vic, what is inherently problematic with a 45 degree engine over a 60 degree engine? I understand they can have different power characteristics, but never read that a 45 is more "problematic" than a 60 degrees, that sort of thing. And as I said in my prior post everything I've read on the M8s makes it seem like they are awesome engines!

Thanks!!!

A 45 degree single crankpin V-twin is inherently unbalanced with uneven firing intervals. This creates the beloved "potato-potato" sound that Harley fans love, but it also creates a lot of NVH and worsens reliability. Along with aircooling.. fans love them, but it's 1950s engine tech with FI and power-robbing counterbalance shafts. And that's why these things are as big as 1.9L and only making 90hp.

You want my opinion, if you're a novice biker and looking for a cruiser, you should get an used Honda Shadow. Sure, it lacks the cool factor, but it's way cheaper, much more reliable, and a lot easier to ride.
Or if you really want to go cool with a V-twin and don't mind some reduced reliability, then get a smaller Ducati, like a Scrambler.