Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire A 20 year old Harley emerges from a long nap.

You sound like a good friend of mine who bought a Harley after we both retired. He spent a fortune on his new Harley, bought a whole new wardrobe at the local Harley shop, got some tattoos and headed to the big rally in Sturgess with some other Harley addicts. He made it from Austin to Denver where he broke down on the freeway on a Sunday. He finally made it to Sturgess and back after he got his Harley fixed. I told if he had planned on taking long motorcycle trips he should have bought a Honda. I never got tired of hearing stories about his Harley misadventures for the next 20 years.

That second one looks like she might be 20.

I ride a RoadStar, but would love to find a Evo dresser.

No twin cam for me.

Are you doing a full restore or just pulling one out of hibernation?
I pulled my brother's ignored 1975 Sportster out and cranked it up after 25 years under a pile of junk in a garage. All I did was put in new points and plugs, replace the oil that was on the floor (for real, it had all drained out). Oh, a new Chinese "H-D" coil.




I wish people didn't make a contest out of it all the time.
I like them, had them, but forgive me; I don't want to sleep with your wife either. It ain't personal.
I was a Marine Sgt, don't need a brand of bike or fiberglass stock to prop my gonads up. Hey, you aint' special for buying one, my gay millenial neighbor has some Harley Touring thing. Wears a retro Bell helmet and dresses like Eric von Zipper.
Take my Harley hating posts tongue in cheek, like my posts about 260 Creedmoor and 280AI.
I don't hate sport bikes either, just the young guys who can still bend up like a pretzel without arthritis kicking their buttocks'.

How's that ?

My experience has not been bad with H-D in regard to breakdowns considering the miles I've put on them. I live in Pa. For background, I've ridden them to 49 states. First longish trip was to Juarez in 85'. 2002 rode around the perimeter of the United States. 2006 made a solo run to Alaska. Rode them to all four points of the compass in the United States as far as you can go on paved road. All of the lower Canadian Provinces from British Columbia to Nova Scotia plus the Yukon. Death Valley to Denali.

Broke down in Delaware riding a 1983 XLX100 Sportster in 1983. Control module went out. Had been giving me issues for days before but thought it was a fuel problem. My bad.

Fried a battery in 1985 on a 1985 FXWG in Buena Vista Colorado. Bought a replacement at a gas station there (Sunday) same day. Not the bike's fault I reckon. This bike had wires to the ignition switch break their connectors and bike would not start after a gas fill-up in Kentucky 17 years later. Back on road rikki-tic. Same year the switch itself failed in my garage. Ignition pickup split open and bulged out whitish silicon material. Left me sit less than a quarter mile from my house. Sold bike for what I paid for it 17 years earlier.

2002 FatBoy traded at 75K. Made the perimeter and Alaska runs. No issues.

2008ish. Moncton, Canada. Heavy rains gave me sporadic operation on a 2007 FatBoy. Rode it to a dealership there and they traced it to wiring for my auxillary lights which were installed by my dealer in Pa. Back on the road in a short time with no charges.

I don't have any tattoos.

284 just visit your local dealerships parts room and read the genuine HD parts made in China,India etc.Course they won't actually let you inside that parts room.For every HD that's ridden 50K,5500 metric bikes are ridden 100K just look at the market if HD was this superior brand why do metric brands have market share? Why does HD have a plant in India? Read the fine print "Assembled in Usa" don't mean "Made in Usa".

There are people that ride Harleys, and then there are people that wish they did, but make one excuse or another why they don't.

Probably loves his made in Mexico Ford.

Ya
It pisses me off every time I go get parts for mine at the dealer and they have to take the made in China tags off of everything.

I'd worry more about living in Caliotoe than Harley parts made in China

Rather than start an argument may I suggest that you look into the number of vendor items used in the assembly of,say, a USA automobile.

You stated that the bikes aren't made in the USA which in fact they are.

I do not worry about the Parts being made in China.
As for Communist Mexifornia well that is where I am right now but not for ever.

Everyone wants American made not just by name only.

At one time (I do not know about the present time)
Toyota was the most made car in the USA but people would not buy them because they were Japanese owned.

We can all find faults with everything if we look far enough.

I am a Harley rider. What others want to ride is their business and I do not look down on them for choosing what they want. That is their choice.

Bull chit.
Other than the chrome bling name me one hard part that is made in China.
Japan yes,
The suspension and gauges are made in Japan.
Frames, powertrain and sheet metal are made in the US.

My old 1972 Harley TX-125 took three years to rebuild and most parts had to come from Italy.
I got no problem riding foreign bikes.

Many years ago when I started working for HD I stated that their plants in the future would no longer be manufacturing facilities but rather would be assembly plants. This was met with hostility and disbelief but it has come to be the norm for many of our industries.

There are many, many components that go into the making of Harleys from Australia,Great Britain, Japan, Germany, Canada and even Switzerland but China made parts are in there as well.

Welcome to the new USA manufacturing base. I believe it's here to stay.

Perzactly !!!

You do not have a clue what you are talking about.
I have been in the motorcycle business for 45 years. I own a shop.
How many photos do you want me to upload of Harley parts boxes? I see them every day.

...my "semi-bagger" also...2002 T-Sport....

Should be on the road next week....