Why do you prefer harley??

This is true. Most of the people that I ride with don’t care what kind of bike you ride. It’s just about two wheels, wind, and having a good time. But there is a couple of guys that knew a few years back, they were members of a MC that claim you aint squat if your not on a Harley. When they ride, the club rules require that they wear their colors, I thought several times about trying to get a Wal-Mart greeter’s vest with the big smiley face on the back, then agree to go for a ride with them and half way through the ride put on my colors. “Hey it’s a Harley, I am wearing colors and you can’t outrun me, so what you going to do.” O well it never happened because it is harder to get a Wal-Mart vest than I thought. Apparently there is company policy about nonemployees having them and they cannot wear them outside the store except for Wal-Mart sponsored functions.
My feelings are take pride in your ride, and give others the respect to have pride in theirs.

There is this older gentleman that I work with who has had his endorsement for years. As he told me, he was a GoldWing kinda guy. One day I showed him some pictures of my bike, one of it when I bought it, during its evolution, and of course of the final project. All of a sudden one day he comes up to me and says that he is now looking at buying a new Harley. We have many conversations about motorcycles and how that now, his son, who is a metric owner and some friends of his are also metric owners are all wanting to buy Harley's! I think that this is curious and is what spawned this thread.

I agree, I like to wave at all people that are on a bike, but I have just noticed that those on a metric kind of tip their nose up at the Harley's. I can't say that I have passed another on a Harley and received a snooty nose.

I remember just about a month and a half ago, I took a ride to my home dealership. On my way back, my bike quit because my dumbass let the fuel run low. Anyway, a Harley stopped and asked if I needed some tools? I said no I didn't think so. Then all of a sudden he goes, "did that just come out of the shop?" There we were sitting on the side of a very busy highway talking about our bikes. How cool is that? Would never happen with metric owner of my experience.

This is a good thread. What I like about it is that you're getting folks from all walks of life sounding off on why they like what they ride and a bunch of people here have been on all types of machinery..Bridgestone ,man there's a blast from the past.. had a 69 dual twin 175 nothing but trouble with it but when it was on it flew.. What impresses me most is that the folks here are really being happy who they are..no party line just get on the bike and ride. That's special, I hope we never lose that.

What we are doing in this thread is part of the reason why I bought mine. I wanted to be a part of something, something that nothing mattered except for the two wheels.

I remember how mad my wife got at me when I first joined this forum. She got mad because she thought that I was going to spend all of my time here and not with her. Well, she is right to the point that I really like talking to you guys, even though I am a greenhorn and may sound dumb at times, but I guess I do not care, but to me, this forum is part of the experience, to learn about bikes and to swap stories.

She does pop on here when I am work. basically to make sure that I am behaving myself. :roflmao::roflmao::roflmao::gah: That is ok, she will at some point I am sure. My wife needs to warm up to certain things at times. Kind of like buying the bike. When I first met her and when I first started talking about buying a bike, she wanted no part of it, didn't even want to ride on one. Well, lets just say it was systematic for me. Now, she has her endorsement, she want the Sporty and said that I can get a different one.

Next time you meet a group of those “metric kind” if the first one doesn’t wave, then you thrust your hand high in the air and wave like you are trying to get someone’s attention from across a crowded room. They still probably won’t wave, but they will sure remember that you did. Might even get them to start thinking about waving then maybe, just maybe someday they will have the courage to release their white knuckled grip on the bars and wave without fear of wrecking.

It is funny that you mention the word "group" when it comes to the GoldWingers. I guess I cannot say that I see more than one of them at a time.

My story runs a fairly similar thread to a lot of others here. Had a few cheap Japanese bikes when younger, had kids (and no money) so was away from bikes for a while. I would whine like a lost pup when I saw one though.

Purchased the first Harley, 1200 sporty from my Uncle. The first ride, I was hooked, damn, that think took corners well! It was fun, got 50 MPG, and looked good (better after I added to it). I remember giving my son a ride once, and even after telling him the passenger had to stay with the driver, he almost wiped us out on a curve when he counter leaned. That thing was leaning so far he was afraid he would fall off! Fortunately, I outweighed him by 75 pounds, so was able to keep in control.

Bought the Dyna last Sept. Already on the third rear tire (my one complaint, it does eat tires). Put on 13000 miles, and lovin' the hell out of it.

1) Mostly made in USA!
2) Other bikes may be better performers and technologically more advanced, but there is something to be said for tradition and nostalgia. If you want the better performance, get a V-rod.
3) Why buy a copy when you can buy the original? Too many of the Japanese bikes look just like Harley's from 100 feet away.
4) Rugged, good low end torque, and easily customizable.

Live to ride, ride to live, and keep the tires on the road!

Another thing that makes me like HD a lot is that they do break, not that I like the down time or spending the money to fix it, but it gives me the opportunity to become intimate with my bike, to know every square inch of it. When I bought my bike, I did not know a lot about bikes, and I still don't know all that much about them, but I am learning and I am learning fast. Thanks to everyone here and other people. Now when I am work, there is a guy there that has a nice bobber (in progress) and he and I can sit an d talk all day about the Sporty. It is awesome!

With the metrics, or whatever, they are built to withstand a nuclear weapon attack, how is one to get intimate with their ride, if they really know nothing about it??

Growing up I rode friends bikes (mostly dirt bikes). It wasn’t until I was 29 while I was living south of Albany, NY that I bought a 81 Kawasaki LTD 1000 for 200 bucks. I wanted a project bike and to ride this beautiful area of the country. As it turned out all I had to do was clean out the carbs and install a better set of handle bars. I rode that thing to Philly and back 20 or 30 times over the next couple of years.

I sold it for 1,000 bucks to buy a computer and to finish college. Once I graduated and paid off some loans I was ready for another bike. The two bikes I wanted where the Honda Volkerie (about 12 grand) and the Road King Classic (about 16 grand). I went back and forth for months and couldn’t decide. One day I just got madd at myself and yelled in the mirror “WHAT THE F--- DO YOU WANT? …. I WANT THE DAMN HD!” I said. So I bought this black 1998 RK Classic and I never looked back. I still have it and it runs better today than it did when I bought it.

I don’t see to many Honda Valkeries any more.

Sorry buddy, but I have to disagree on this one. Some of my friends and acquaintances have metrics, and they have seen more shop time than my Harley's. When you look in the post here about problems with Harley, you see a common theme, something that was customized of aftermarket not working right. One thing you never see is 'I am having problems on my completely stock Harley.....' mostly because there is no such thing! We cannot blame the manufacturer for stuff we changed.

Even the issues I have had with my old sporty were self inflicted. You are right though, with customizing and such, we do get to know our bikes better, the in's and outs.

I stand corrected.

Yeah, I can't say anything bad about that LTD 1000. It ran fine. It had a lot of extra wiring since most of them where built as cop bikes. I learned a lot about wiring and removed all of the circuits I wasn't using - mostly out of necessity since I had a few shorts. It also had the rubber isolated rear wheel/chain back then so it was nice that HD finally picked up on that in the last couple of years.

If I have to explain to you why I ride a Harley
You probaly wouldn't understand.
FTW.....................:rant:

I swing my leg over, turn the switch, hit the starter, and it jumps to life. Only my big block Mopar comes close to that feeling. Then there's the look on my brothers face when he sold his honda and showed up on his Heritage. It's something you feel, see, understand.

No need to say any more. I like that Attitude.