Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Millineals may kill off Harley Davidson

Millenials are going to kill off a lot more than Harley.

What I also meant about the BMW's in Europe is that they sell a gazillion of them over there so it's likely a pretty justifiable business on it's own; what they sell here pales by comparison.

You are right about the cam adjusters.........didn't know about the S&S ones, so that's a good tip (S&S is a big customer for us too). I thought the general design life of the H-D ones was supposed to be around 25-30K?, so 35-40 would surely be pushing it.

You are also 100% right about the Amsoil & temps..........same is true for Mobil 1 V-Twin. Harley Syn3 is pure schitt, not full synthetic either & I would not run it in my bikes unless it was all that was available.

MM

I'm running mobil 1 V twin and my EVO runs pretty quiet at temp with it. but everybody that I know that has ran both amsoil and mobil v twin say they like Amsoil better. One guy told me he liked royal purple too.

Looked at the national bike challenge website, ya gotta create an account and log in for a 30-day free trial? WTF?

I'm afraid I ain't one of the spandex and helmet crowd, tho I ride often enough, mostly while I still can to push back the day when I can't.

If I were looking for custom frames I do have a thing for Bob Jacksons out of Leeds, UK, and I regret not stopping in when I was cycling over there last summer.

Most recently I'm a tad giddy about a late '80's Specialized Rock Hopper I picked up for not much at all in a pawn shop last week, hardly ridden at all since it rolled out of the store 30 years ago and still all original. Rigid mountain bikes of that era are valued for their quality steel frames of course, already it wears a luggage rack and a good set of 36 spoke wheels I had on hand, waiting on a Chris King headset and bottom bracket. Its gonna be my go-to urban commuter, people set 'em up as "adventure tourers" too.

I am happy to see Greg Lemond is apparently back in the business, having been run out of his Trek contract way back when by that lying prick Greg Armstrong.

Birdwatcher

A KLR ain't really a dirt bike, more like a dirt road bike, unless you go slow and methodical.

That being said, its a $6,000 bike that will haul you in comfort 1,000 miles a day on the superslab, pulling 80 all day long (been there done that, repeatedly). It also makes an awesome urban commuter; light, agile, reasonably quick, and able to handle crappy road surfaces, plus in slow traffic the cooling fan kicks in over the radiator and it doesn't run hot.

Most fun of all though, get on a winding motorcycle road and run with the fast boys With only thirty horses at the back wheel ya gotta hit every shift, line and braking point just right, but done right it can be done. Leaned hard over and flogged the first thing that's gonna touch down is the handlebar (if that happens you've pushed it too hard ) Don't bother looking at the tach, that big thumper will tell you all you need to know.

All of that and they run forever

I give 'em two thumbs up.

Birdwatcher

For two seasons our pro-stock bike was sponsored by Royal Purple. I ran it in two test sessions and wasn't happy but ran it anyway. First race it was puffing bad in the finial and losing power. Got it back to the shop and did a tear down. The piston skirts were galled up, titanium valve stems galled. The motor looked like it made a pass or two with no oil pressure. The data logger showed 60 psi all the way down the track on all runs. A 160 ci pro-stock motor couldn't make 8 passes (2 miles) with that crap in it. I went back to buying our own oil (Red Line) and using it. We took their free oil (and sold it in the pits to competitors) and cashed the travel and contingency checks but I never put that stuff in my race motor again. The only time we ever had a oiling problem again was when the oil pump drive gear broke during the burn out. Backing up the bike I could see the guage needle pegged at zero. Staged the bike and made the pass with no oil pressure. Tore the motor down at the shop and the pistons, valves and guided looked better than the ones from the Royal Purple motor that ran with full pressure.
I have taken apart TC-88 motors that had RP ran through it for a few years. They were the dirtiest engines I have seen. Black/purple goo everywhere. I'll take just a good conventional oil over it any day.

Moble 1 is good oil. My problem with it is they will not sell to me unless I buy a truck load at a time and the general availability of it. The V-Twin oil can be hard to find. I advise my customers to use a good oil that they can get readily. If it to much of a hassle to find the oil people will push the limits and not change it enough. Amsoil is available at most auto parts store and most all aftermarket shops. Heck, call your local dealer and he will drop a case off at your house.

That's a cool ride right there Ron.

http://www.2040-motos.com/_content/cars/images/3/8503/001.jpg

This is the same type of bike I learned to ride. Same year even.
1973 Harley Davidson TX-125. Wish I still had it, it was rare when I owned one, rather now. Took me 3 years to rebuild due to problems getting parts.
This one is listed @2500.00 I think.

http://www.2040-motos.com/Harley-Da...-2-stroke-aermacchi-restored-look--8503/

(Last Harley I ever owned)

L learned to ride on a '48 EL, hand shift foot clutch. Not every lesson but partially, It was my brothers. He did things like ride a W from Denver to LA in November, and vice versa, run flat out from here to the springs at all of 75 or 80 on the old 2 lane. That said, you could get seriously hurt on one of those things in traffic. I think the decline in he men came with electric starters.

As for HD being put out of business, they will do it themselves by not adapting to the market. Why did they scrdap Buell? There are a lot of us who can see past the end of the 4 lane pavement so want something Like the KLR, V strom, or what have you.

Another thing to consider is the expendable income of younger people.

My bike before the KLR was a Triumph thunderbird, loved to look at it but the ride sucked. I used to watch all those foreigners fly into anchorage, rent KLR's and drive the haul road up and back. They all looked happy and got bit by the adventure bike bug. I use mine for communiting, rides to the beach or lunch with my wife, but I really love getting of fire/forest service roads and finding new hunting/fishing spots. Great relief from a week of mental anguish at work.

Cherohala Skyway. Connects the Cherokee and Nantahala national forests. It's very different from the Dragon for sure. It's a much higher speed road. Highway 28 from Lauada NC to Stiles is just silly fun. Smooter transitions than the Dragon, slower than the Cherohala. Right in the same area. The last time I rode the Dragon, I did it on a 650 CC scooter (Burgman) I had a blast carving through the hordes of Harleys.

[img]https://scontent-dft4-2.xx.fbcdn.ne...a61f65113def9a2aff52c3ff&oe=59EE0BA6[/img]

That's what I ran on mine for a while before I put the Thunderheader on. The TH woke up all the stuff I'd done to the ignition, fuel feed, carb, and cam.

Just love how ANY thread with the words "Harley Davidson" in them turn into a Harley bashing. Truth is, most of the young riders I know love my bike. They just can't afford one. I tell them if they really want a Harley to get a used EVO.

My experience is similar to Redneck's. I've owned at least one bike from all the Jap manufacturers and loved every one of them. Funny thing is, I never hear Harley riders bashing other manufacturers' bikes. Can't say that about everybody else.. or non-riders that have never even owned any bike.

My bike will be 21 years old Thanksgiving weekend. I'm the original owner. I see Dave's and Longhunter_1's bikes still going strong, too. Same bike as mine. Can't say the same about their contemporaries from other manufacturers.

Rage on though, haters. It's entertaining as phugk.

Mopeds are coming back!

Exactly. It's like blaming the Boomers for not buying bikes 30yrs earlier.

H-D enjoyed a huge upswing in sales because the Boomers finally retired, and had the money and time to go play. It'll happen again with the next generation assuming JellO's party doesn't fuqk things so badly that Boomer-type retirements aren't possible in the future

If I drove home a new red Corvette it wouldn't be because of my mid-life crisis, it'd be because it took until mid-life to afford the damn thing.

Perhaps you have been stone-deaf for many years, are you running straight pipes?

Edited to say: Um...... that was definitely not my experience. Perhaps I am old-school.

I got into re-enacting rather late in life, sorta like the Harley-boom demographic.

I call my generation the Jeremiah Johnson demographic. We are the people who saw that movie and were blown away by it, it spawned a whole movement. Well, we are passing, 'round here at least participation is dwindling year by year and most all of those still turning out are well gone towards geriatric.

Motorcycles? We are also the Easy Rider generation of course. I guess one had to be there to witness how significant that movie was in popular culture. Like lots of youths my brothers and I had the Peter Fonda Captain America poster on the wall. Outlaw Bikers were our heroes (prob'ly because we didn't know any, one of us DID go that route, it weren't pretty) How many times over the decades since has one heard "Born to be Wild" at most any Harley event?

I dunno what the epochal cultural icons are for the Millenials. Hard to think of any.

Birdwatcher

AGREED! I hear nothing from Harley riders about other bikes, except that they suck, rice-burners, jap-sickles, crotch-rocket, wanna-be Harley, doesn't look or sound like a REAL bike, might be ok for some people, , must be slumming, bull-picky.
I was a motorcycle courier for several years in California, on a Interceptor and don't recall ANY favorable comments from Harley riders, but quite a few negative ones.

The head service guy at Rice Lake HD told me the same thing - at the 25K service he said when I bring it in at 30K he's going to change the tensioner pads and the compensator (IIRC - I know rifles, not HD internals.. )

Thanks for tip on Amsoil. I've been running only HD Syn3 in both bikes. For some reason I have not trusted Amsoil in anything.. If you say it's good stuff - I'll be a believer.. Thank you.

Last time I rode the Dragon I came upon a group of young riders at a sharp curve, standing next to their parked crotchies and waving at us, warning about a crash.. One of their TT-wannabe brothers 'carved his way' right into a ditch.. They were waiting for the ambulance.. I - and my HD - motored on...

Harley's are just to expensive.