I just finished a test ride on a Harley FatBoy...low miles, perfect condition, as beautiful as a cruiser bike can be.
I won't say that it was junk, but if this is the Gold Standard, we are all delusional. While it ran perfectly, it was slow, noisy, and clunky.
Those who read motorcycle magazines and watch the related YouTube videos have undoubtedly seen comparisons between various Harley models and other competitors from Japan, Germany, and even the U.S. In most cases, the Harley is out-performed by virtually every quantitative measure, but the bike journalist writing the piece invariably says something like, "...but the Harley has that indefinable something..." and the decide that the Harley was "better." I have news for you - It wasn't. It isn't.
The basic Harley engine has been fundamentally flawed from the very beginning, and whether you are talking about the 74, the 88, the 96, the 103, or the next two liter bike they will undoubtedly produce, it will still be flawed. 45 degree v-twin, single-pin crank, air cooled. Gimmeabreak. With all their wonderful and costly innovations, they still cannot produce a bike that can match what the Japanese were doing more than thirty years ago, mainly with V-4's. And the sound? A Harley sounds good in one specific and uncommon situation: when it is accelerating away from you. At idle, it sounds like a motor designed by the Three Stooges. Other large displacement bikes can sound nice with the proper pipes, but like the look of the ugly old VW Beetle, people have got used to the sound of Harley's and convinced themselves that it sounds best.
Ironically, the Japanese have been trying for decades to capture some of Harley's monstrous market share by DE-TUNING their bikes and making them more primitive, in the hope that American consumers will notice. Honda even made a virtual carbon copy ("American Classic Edition"), but it never sold all that well. It was also slower than the other comparable Honda's.
But they can't take away any significant part of Harley's market share. Just because they are better than Harley's and cost less doesn't mean they will sell a lot of bikes to "comparison shoppers." BMW has launched a new salvo at Harley with a massive 1.8 Liter opposed twin. While the bike is beautiful to look at, somebody needs to tell the Germans that if you can't have forward controls or at least highway pegs, it will not work.
I'll be buying a new (old) bike in the next couple weeks, but I've crossed Harley's off my list. I can pick up a Kawasaki Nomad for less than four grand, or a Yamaha V-Star 1300 tourer for five. Who needs an overpriced Road King or Heritage Softail with that defective 88 motor? Certainly not me.
I won't say that it was junk, but if this is the Gold Standard, we are all delusional. While it ran perfectly, it was slow, noisy, and clunky.
Those who read motorcycle magazines and watch the related YouTube videos have undoubtedly seen comparisons between various Harley models and other competitors from Japan, Germany, and even the U.S. In most cases, the Harley is out-performed by virtually every quantitative measure, but the bike journalist writing the piece invariably says something like, "...but the Harley has that indefinable something..." and the decide that the Harley was "better." I have news for you - It wasn't. It isn't.
The basic Harley engine has been fundamentally flawed from the very beginning, and whether you are talking about the 74, the 88, the 96, the 103, or the next two liter bike they will undoubtedly produce, it will still be flawed. 45 degree v-twin, single-pin crank, air cooled. Gimmeabreak. With all their wonderful and costly innovations, they still cannot produce a bike that can match what the Japanese were doing more than thirty years ago, mainly with V-4's. And the sound? A Harley sounds good in one specific and uncommon situation: when it is accelerating away from you. At idle, it sounds like a motor designed by the Three Stooges. Other large displacement bikes can sound nice with the proper pipes, but like the look of the ugly old VW Beetle, people have got used to the sound of Harley's and convinced themselves that it sounds best.
Ironically, the Japanese have been trying for decades to capture some of Harley's monstrous market share by DE-TUNING their bikes and making them more primitive, in the hope that American consumers will notice. Honda even made a virtual carbon copy ("American Classic Edition"), but it never sold all that well. It was also slower than the other comparable Honda's.
But they can't take away any significant part of Harley's market share. Just because they are better than Harley's and cost less doesn't mean they will sell a lot of bikes to "comparison shoppers." BMW has launched a new salvo at Harley with a massive 1.8 Liter opposed twin. While the bike is beautiful to look at, somebody needs to tell the Germans that if you can't have forward controls or at least highway pegs, it will not work.
I'll be buying a new (old) bike in the next couple weeks, but I've crossed Harley's off my list. I can pick up a Kawasaki Nomad for less than four grand, or a Yamaha V-Star 1300 tourer for five. Who needs an overpriced Road King or Heritage Softail with that defective 88 motor? Certainly not me.
