Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Harley owner reviews 06 America

Hey rock, I mean pebble, crap !!! Stone ! thats it Stoner, what did ya start with ?
Yamaha mini enduro for me.

Anymore the only HD riders I get attitude from are patchholders (and wannabes) and the few guys around here who are riding $30k+ pieces of bike-in-a-box assjewelry (Big Dog, American Ironhorse, etc.). Their shite doesn't stink, apparently.

Back in the sixties my uncle sold Hodakas, bultacas, ducatis, and nortons,[ if I only knew then what I know now] he took a little Honda 50 in on trade , step thru, tank under the seat, cant remember the model but that little thing would go anywhere. My cousin raced Hodakas and Bultacas and used to give me pointers, I never raced..{on a track } but we used to go watch him .

Hey...I live in Poser central, SoCal, where 90% of the riders are clueless to the history of motorcycles. Little guys riding 1800cc bikes, big guys riding Sportster Lows, Japanese cruiser owners wearing HD garb, Leather clad riders on cell phones...I've seen it all. Come to Poserville. Most people around here can't even pronounce Triumph. They think its some toothbrush or something.

Thought I'd toss this in too. Had some work done on my bike at a local custom chopper shop that's making a good name for itself in town. All three mechanics took it out for a test run and all came back impressed with how fast it runs up through the gears with so little apparent drag. They jumped it up on the thruway and came back appreciative of a cruiser style bike that winds up more like a sport bike. (with the obvious difference at the top end of course)

They also had similar things to say about how it handled. The old timer is all sport bike. He kept trying to convince me to trade it in on a Sprint or one of Trump's other non-cruisers because they handle so well. (Like "handling" is the primary reason we buy them). Then HE took it out for a ride and said, "well, looks like you got the best of both worlds there". He couldn't sign off on the thing though without ripping the forward controls. But hey, gotta leave him with his bias at least partially in tact.

Just thought I'd let you know that our bikes do seem to geta lot of respect from others who know bikes even when they're committed to other marques or styles. 'Course, for you new guys, we've all known THAT for years.

BB

Holy crap Hodaka ! I had a Superat back in the day and a Bultaco Pursang 250 with right side shift.
O.K. I'll start from the beggining.
1. Sears mini bike,2.5 hp Tecumseh
2. Yamaha Mini Enduro
3. Kawasaki 90 enduro
4. Suzuki 185 enduro
5. Hodaka Super Rat
6. Honda CB175
7. Honda CB350
8. Honda SL350
9.Yamaha XT500
10. Honda Elsinore 250
11. Bultaco Pursang 250
12. Maico 501, death wish on dirt
13. BMW R75-5, sweet machine, never shoulda got rid of it
14. 02 Kawasaki Sherpa/250 enduro
15. Ninja, what the phuck was I thinking
16. The keeper, 02 America

What a tough life !!!!!!!!

Buuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrpppppppppppppppp !!!!!!!

Ok , I aint gonna list thm all but my BA is #14

You still logged on here too ? Addiction is a terrible thing aint it ??
What up ? Cant remember what you rode or fingers just getting tired. Hey man, I grew up in the 69's & 70's but I can remember "my first love"
Maybe we should hypnotize you and get the answer.

I think its funny, after reading the thread on the history of what everyone owned, that some of the people who are outspoken against Harleys, never even owned one Go figure!!

I've only riddin 2 HD's in my life. One was a FXABCDEFG I repaired for a friend and had to test ride after repair. The other was a 98 softail springer that I was considering buying but after riding her I chose not to. Too much vibration for my phucked wrists and shoulders.
Buuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrpppppppppppppp !

I don't care what they think. I just pass them, with a wave of my right fingers from the throttle, or maybe a wave of the left - but they better look quick because I'm not hanging around for them to gawk. Most Harley's I come up on are travelling much slower than I.

You go Pebbles!!!

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Truth be told, I ain't trading in my Dyna for one of these anytime soon...But it's a cool ride!!!!!

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Obviously sufferring from "Milwaukee Madness" when exposed to a superior motorcycle and still won't give up on his outdated, overweight, underpowered, overpriced piece-o-mediocrity.
Don't get me wrong. I love Harleys too, and I may buy one someday as a third or fourth bike. Maybe the RoadGlide - yeah, that's me.

Stone,
I haven't posted on the "previously owned" thread, due to excessive ownership. I have owned 3 Harleys - a '62 panhead, '76 sportster, and an '87 superglide. If you gave me a brand new Harley today, I'd sell it and buy a motorcycle. Harley is all about image, sound and a perceived history. The history part is mostly sound, image and thinking that making something twice as big after it breaks is engineering.
I think that the members here recognized that early. Therefore, not many with HD experience. I was stupid enough to have bought 3 of them - they didn't change my miserable life - I had to find a motorcycle.

I see guys on the ferry to CT sometimes that love to rev their motors as much as possible inside the boat just to annoy the cagers? Or prove theirs is louder? Whatever... lots of posers down here...

Snobbery? I aint the 1 putting down other peoples bikes!!! I see this is your 1st bike, so youve been riding for 4 yrs at the most, ive spent the last 35years riding wrenching and talking motorcycles, I've sure had my problems with Triumphs but i still love them,As far as electrics, triumphs long time electrics supplyer is known as the prince of darkness! The last yhing i am is a snob, i dont care what the fu*( you ride , it aint my business so you dont see me putting down anybodys ride. I AINT THAT FUC 78o NARROW MINDED, As far as owning a harley aint about riding that dont even make sense. I bought mine to ride and logged a lot more miles on a harley than youll ever rideI've easily got over 100,000 miles on mya44 on the seat of a harley, so there aint no way your going to convince me or most other LONG time riders

Hell, I ain't anti-Harley. Even had one (once, long ago, in my misspent youth). The problem that many people have isn't really so much the bike, though it is to a point (more on that later) but with those particular HD owners that have bought into a marketing campaign and act like they're badasses with all of their HD logos on everything. I say, hey, let 'em have their fun, but I'm still gonna laugh at 'em . A lot of HD riders do like to ride, and several of my friends fit this category, aside from the good natured ribbing (or maybe along with) everyone respects everyone else’s choice of ride. The HD riders are just as unimpressed by the posers as anyone else and in fact give them more grief than the non-HD riders do.

Now about the bikes: The '69 Snortster was the fastest (1/4 mile) production motorcycle of its day. The big problem is that HD corporate decided that instead of keeping up technologically with their competition, or even leading the way, they would market an image (see previous paragraph). So while other manufacturers were on the leading edge of performance, HD was being left in the dust. They finally, though somewhat reluctantly, moved into the 1980s with the V-Rod, but after so many years of cultivating the image thing, it was met rather lukewarmly. They won't even let Buell have that engine to put it in a bike where its potential could be realized. The sad thing is, that with the resources HD has (or should have), they could compete in every bike market, sport, dirt, dual-sport, etc. and still make the FCKDUP style bikes for that market.

But they dont need to , they are experiencing record sales to old and new riders alike, theres a whole bunch of people more than satisfied with the evo technology, they're not pushing the race thing, its more about cruising, Like Harleys saying {If I have to explain then you wouldn't understand} Just wondering, Do you have any Triumph riding clothes or shirts or what nots? I do , and I wear them proudly when i ride my triumph, when i was riding a harley i wore harley clothes.

I aint quoting any ones ******, why build a different bike when you dont fuc$@# need to

Only cuz there aint a valid explanation and i deal with common sense

The problem is that most of the people we have been talking about don't use common sense. Nobody is questioning common sense, but buisness is buisness, and they are in it to make money however they can and they will market the bikes however they can no matter if the NEED to or not.

Stone...you are beating a dead horse here. I tend to agree with you that HD riders are no different off their bikes than anybody else. Every motorcycle owner loves their ride. I do, you do, we all do. I ride to cruise nights on occasion and I have never had my ride put down by a HD rider. In fact they ask questions about my ride out of respect and interest. On the road, however, I have been snubbed by HD riders,Far East bike riders, and yes, Triumph sport bike riders. Don't care. I was taught to be nice to everybody regardless what I get in return. I try to compliment everyones bike and show interest. Even if I'm not interested. You make more friends that way. I say let people wear what they want to wear and ride what they want to ride. For every person who doesn't acknowledge or validate our Triumphs(like we need that?) there are 10 folks who do. The sun has just come out...time to ride.

RIGHT ON! I'm heading out too. I think what my problem is, motorcycling aint a hobby for me its a lifestyle, but every thing i say is all in good fun. So try not to judge me til youve walked a mile in my shoes.

Hey Bigbill , Call Willie G. and tell him he needs to become a leader in technology and if he quits counting his $ long enough to take your message he can pass it on to the shareholders and they can all have a good laugh.

One of the guys I work with, Paul, has a beautiful '96 black and cream Dyna, which when he rides it to work, he parks next to my BA out front of the warehouse. This M/C parking area also serves as a makeshift smoking area for the employees.

More than once, while I'm out there ruining my health, I've had customers stop, look at both of these beautiful bikes, and comment about how they find BOTH machines to be great looking.

When they find out that the red Triumph is mine, they often ask that most pertinent of questions....."Which one of these beauties costs more?"

Ahem.....well, modesty forbids me of crowing about MY good sense in getting the most "bang for the buck"....but YOU GUYS know what I'm talkin' about, huh?!

Cheers,
Dwight
(BTW...Paul's thinking of selling his Dyna, and buying an Electra Glide, and if I had the extra 12-large layin' around that he's asking for it, I'D BUY IT[always DID think the Dynas were HD's best bike]...it only has 6k on the clock...pracitically NEW...really no miles at ALL...wonder why THAT is?!)

Hi all
my comment to this : I drive (on raini weather today )to
this meeting http://www.mf-kaputt.de/ there was enough Harley-rider's and say 's : oh you got a very impressed ,cool Bike only the Sound is bad ...like a E-Motor you hear nothin......
ride safe
PETR

See, there's another form of snobbery, I've-been-riding-longer-than-you-so-shut-up snobbery...

I,m assuming that was directed at me, I don't want you to shut up, I'm havin too much fun sparrin with ya , My point is you have to put things in perspective, Harleys do need to be worked on because they are machines, but so do triumphs. more harleys are worked on every day cuz theres more of them on the road, but our bikes have their inherant problems too,I see where some people have to clamp their brake levers down or their brakes don't work, some cant ride in the rain cuz their bike cuts out, some are starving the top ends for oil, some have carburator problems, flooding out1 cylinder, now theres a relatively small # of members on this site, and none of these problems are isolated, if they were then you wouldn't get so many responses when you ask what did you do about this problem. The reason i,m pointing this out isn't to say Triumph is an {inferior } product but just to put things in perspective. And i definitely aint a snob cuz ive ridden longer than you, but ive owned triumphs harleys bsas etc, and to me experience is a pretty good teacher. The majority of people dont think Harleys an inferior product. OK I'm done beatin this dead horse, think i'll go ride my iron one

The only real problem I've had w/my bike is that anytime I
stop it, I have to answer a bunch of questions. I love it.

Charlie

I really tried to stay out of this one, but.. I have to back up stone here,My wive rides a yamaha my son rides my old bmw and I ride my tba... it dont matter as long as your in the wind.. bmw riders tend to spend more on their jacket than I would spend on a weeks road trip... harley riders tend to wear chaps when it's 95 decrees outside... and alot of the triumph riders on this forum seem to really get their panties in a bunch if they think someone did'nt wave or slighted them or their bike in some way... if I had the coin I'd buy a big ol hog with a hack on it so me and my dog could go for a ride...it ain't what ya ride it's that you ride

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Just wondering, Do you have any Triumph riding clothes or shirts or what nots?

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no

Well, my 2 cents on this DRAWN OUT sparing match,,, I say its a draw,
EVERYONE GO AND MEET AT DINQUAS AND DRINK HIS LATEST BREW... ........

Just for the record, my TBA is my third bike, 1.3 yrs old 16,000 trouble free miles on it.

As another note, My brother who is all of 5ft4/or5 just bought the 1200 sporty Low. He has tried 2 other bikes trying to find one that fit his style.(SIZE). first choice was a T-100 then a BMW 1200GS(way too big for him) I tried to get him on the america but he still felt it was too heavy.
he is very happy whith his purchase,,,,,Now I want to go and ride w/ him for the "Lets see who gets more attention at Hooters" factor.

The biggest thing I have run into is that since Triumph doesnt try to compeat w/ harlys advertising budget, and couppled w/ the fact they were gone so long,,,,, is that the "general population" of the USA hardly even knows who the company is. Idd love a great big union jack w/ the Triumph logo on the back of my trucks window. or maybe Ford could partner up Bloore and create a triumph F-150

I think if you really look at it,,,, WE MAY BE THE SNOBS

Im with the JUST RIDE crowd. I have had to ride a battered old 250 yamaha exciter during a Toy Run. Hell I had a blast! (It did actually perform better than a new buel blast, more rpm to play with and no rev limiter set TOOO LOW)

CHEERS

Pain Heals, Chicks dig scars, and Glory lasts forever.

I'm not really sparring with you, Stone, I'm just trying to provoke you, see how long I can keep you going.

Now, now, good Friar!

IS THAT any way for an "executive" of this fine fraternal order here(that's generically speaking of course ladies...I didn't forget about you) to behave?!!!

Why, at this rate you'll have us Triumph owners being seen as elitist snobs whose intolerant views about what constitutes a "real motorcycle" AND a "real motorcyclist" seem as bad as those OTHER PEOPLE!

Yeah! YOU know who I'm talkin' about!

NOOOO! NOT those beanie helmet wearing, LOUD as hell open straight-piped HEAR me AND LOOK at me types!

I'm talkin' about the BEEMER set, you friggin' idiot!!!!

Cheers,
Dwight