Harley Davidson Articles

1. If money is a problem, then stop putting it off and buy what you can afford to buy. Buy new, if you can, or at least a used low mileage bike (with a one-year warrantee if you can). The bike you need to look at is the Sportster if you can only afford what this bike will cost. Get the largest cubic inch engine available. At this writing it is 1200 cc. The Sportster has problems; it vibrates badly, but the 2004 model year and beyond will now have anti-vibration features and that is good news. It also has a small gas tank so you will always be on the lookout for a gas station, but the gas tank on the Sportster models are slowly increasing in size. It is a small bike, so it is easy to learn to ride it (though just as dangerous as any bike can be and is a very fast accelerating motorcycle). It is quick due to its power to weight ratio, but let's keep this in perspective. It is not considered a fast bike, just that it is faster than the bigger heavier Harley's. It will not stand a chance with other brands of bikes of even lesser cubic inch engines nor will it match the brute power of the V-Rod. The Sportster sounds great with aftermarket exhaust pipes. The biggest problem? You will outgrow the bike and want a bigger Harley that handles and reacts slower and rides smoother and has larger tires for a smoother and safer ride and that has more compartment storage options.

2. Consider not buying a bike with one of those skinny 21 inch front wheels. They look cool, but they bite into every crack and groove in the road and often, the shocks on these bikes are inferior and make for a terribly sloppy ride, and you better hang on because deep or wide cracks in the road can rip the handlebars right out of your grip creating loss of control and a crash to the pavement. This "fighting the road" will wear you down and taking a long ride will be awfully tiring.

3. Don't buy a bike with spoke rims. Yes, they look fine, but if you get a flat tire away from home you have a big problem. Today, you just can't pull out your old set of tire irons, peel back the tire to patch the tube because the rubber sidewalls are very stiff. Tires must usually be mounted using tire mounting machines in a shop environment or use at least three long reach tire-irons, rim protectors and compressed air to get the job done. The problem is the tube in spoke wheels going flat there is no practical way to fix a flat tire on the side of the road or a freeway. Get a bike with mag wheels. Now you have wheels with no tube involved. If you get a flat tire? You can plug it yourself with a tubeless-tire plug kit and inflate the tire with a portable CO2 canister designed to inflate tires. Or, you can call a tow service and they can fix the flat right on the spot for you with a plug, just as they would do to a car tire. Any service station can fix your flat tire. At least you are not waiting for a tow truck to get you to a dealer on Sunday with no dealer open. With the mag wheel and the plug repair kit with at least two compressed air or CO2 cartridges for each tire and you are on your way in just a few minutes; but get a new tire as soon as you can. It's not a good idea to ride with a plug in your tire for any distance. Drive at lower speed and with caution. Plugs do work, but if the plug fails the tire will go flat again, and flats on a motorcycle are always risky business. A lot of people ride bikes with spoke rims, until they get a flat tire and learn the hard way.

4. Accessories: Will they fit your bike? How much will they cost? Don't assume that all accessories will be available for your bike. Some bikes can't even carry saddlebags due to the shock absorbers blocking the mounts, etc. Now, you may never want saddlebags or a windshield, but if you do a lot of distance riding, you will eventually be forced into getting saddlebags and a windshield. Keep in mind, you want a bike you can't outgrow, so get a bike that can handle the accessories when you want them. It's not fun dishing out $17,000 (or much more) and find out you can't put the options on the bike, or you got to spend a horrific amount of money to get them to fit.

Consider buying add-on accessories from the dealer instead of aftermarket. I could write an article on why. For starters, everything will fit right the first time. If you buy aftermarket some parts don't fit with other parts and when you try to return the ill-fitting products you will be refused and be stuck with items you can't use and don't want. This can easily set you back $1,000.00 not counting the anger you will feel how business treats customers these days. Plus you will be out shipping and handling costs and back to square one wondering why you are being mistreated. Accessory shops that also install the products are okay as they will guarantee compatibility. In that case you may save money, but if you try the mail order route to save money you will likely not like what you get in the mail and not be able to return it for a refund, even if you use a credit card you are out of luck. Yes, you may pay a premium for dealer installed options, but everything will fit, look and work just fine and that alone can save you a bunch of grief, time and money.

5. Consider not buying a Softail Standard or a Deuce or a Fat Boy (and I had a Fat Boy when riding this article). Here's why; these bikes look cool, but look at the price tag. You can walk away with a nice Road King for less than the price of a Fat Boy, likely equal to the price of a Deuce, and only a couple thousand more than the Softail Standard. Save yourself a bunch of money and grief and go look at the Road King model, it is Harley's best value. I bought a new Softail Standard and found it a bike that handled dangerously at times and the forks could not take typical road bumps. I upgraded to the Fat Boy and this bike rides nice, but vibrates at all speed, even though it is a balanced twin-cam engine. It's tolerable, but annoying for long rides beyond one hour duration on the freeway. The vibration gets worse above 60 m.p.h. Your next Harley should be the Road King or Electra Glide. The engine is rubber mounted and isolated from the frame = very little vibration felt and already is outfitted with many options: windshield, saddle bags, light bar, etc.

6. Get a bike with large front and rear fenders or you will forever be cleaning the bike more than you want to. Those short-skinny fenders look cool, but they sling dirt and mud and water all over the engine and frame and yourself. It is not fun. Remember, it need not rain to ruin your day. Water in the road from a construction or fire hydrant flush will dirty up the bike real nice. If the fenders are too low the bike will need to be raised very high to remove the wheels to replace tires, so this can be a factor for those who wish to change their own tires, so you will need a motorcycle lift that will raise the bike high enough to do the job. Also, consider a bike that has too many accessories to be removed when installing tires and brake pads; saddlebags, luggage, wind deflectors, fairing, exhaust pipes. If these items must be removed on tire change or on other maintenance work, your dealer labor bill will be higher than other bikes.

7. The bike should have a throttle stop or friction device to regulate the throttle at highway speeds, tour trunks or saddle bags, a tall windshield. They say the top tip of the windshield should level with the tip of your nose, but I find your head on windy days will be vibrated badly as the air flow is no longer laminar. Try to get a windshield that adjusts up or down and you can be seated behind it like a shield looking through the windshield. This way the rain and hail will not plaster your face creating serious pain. Of course, wearing a helmet with a face shield will stop rain or hail on facial skin.

8. Stay clear of the Sportster, the Softail standard model, the Duece, the Night Train and other similar models. These bikes are expensive and they have poor features. They really do look good on the showroom floor due to their cool style, but for actual touring use or long rides you will need to buy too many accessories to make the bike work, and when all is said and done, they won't work well for you at all. The Fat Boy is another poor choice. I bought a new one and it vibrates badly at and above 60 miles per hour. The engine is counterbalanced, but is solidly mounted to the steel frame without rubber isolation. It's a nice bike for cruising the mountain roads near Sturgis, but forget driving on fast freeways with it as it will vibrate you to death. It's a strong, persistent and annoying buzzing of the handlebars and vibrating foot rests that wears you down forcing you to cut back to 55 miles per hour to ride in comfort. Harley offers a high performance Screaming Eagle Fat Boy model. If the engine is not rubber mounted to isolate vibration, this monster will likely vibrate so badly it will be of no practical use for anyone who plans to do any interstate riding. Heritage Soft Tail models are okay, but you should just buy the Road King instead.

9. The best Harley to buy? It is the Road King model. For the money you spend you get the most features and a high quality ride. Just about everything you need is already on this bike and the price is usually dead on right. The Electra Glide model has a full fairing and larger storage systems, but it is not needed for most riders, unless you plan to do a lot of highway touring. You simply can't go wrong with a Road King with mag wheels. The Electra Glide is a step up from the Road King and well worth your consideration.

10. All said and done, you now know the best Harley to buy. But if you look at the v-twin competition you will find for the price you would pay for a Harley you will get a lot more bike and a ton of extra power from the competition. If you attend a motorcycle rally you will find eye candy "custom bikes" with "big cube" v-twin engines at equal or less cost than a stock Harley in many cases. That is if you want a custom bike which is never good for any highway useage. If you look at the competition v-twin cruisers, you will pay a lot less and get much more of a machine. Of course, they are not Harley's, but if you must have a Harley, at least now you know which one to buy. Many Harley Davidson dealers are also authorized dealers for Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Victory or Suzuki cruisers. Hey, not everybody can afford a new Harley.

11. You should, when buying a used motorcycle, have a mechanic you know and trust test drive it before you buy it. His expert opinion will save you a great deal of money.

12 You should read a lot of motorcycle magazines including back issues so you will be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the motorcycle you plan to buy. Harley made a V-rod motorcycle to capture the sport rider and create a bike that can keep pace with environmental regulations, but it has failed in the USA as it does not look like a typical Harley and does not sound like one. Traditional Harley riders will not touch it, so many are switching over to Honda VTX, Yamaha Road Star, Victory, Suzuki Boulevard and the Kawasaki Vulcan V-twins. Many are buying custom bikes with big inch motors like TP Engineering, S&S, Patrick Racing, etc., and these custom bikes are highly respected.

13. Here's a real handy item to have and it is free Checklist To Buy a Cruiser Motorcycle on the JamesRussellPublishing.com Motorcycle Website. Just print out this free guide and use it when shopping for your new or used motorcycle. It will save you money, time and grief.

http://www.jamesrussellpublishing.biz/motorcycleadvice.html

James Russell Publishing