Motorcycle Thoughts

I guess I don’t get it…

From L to R Rod, Baby, and Pearl

I realize I am just a customer that spent upwards of 20k for my motorcycle (twice) and have spent another 10k on the Sportster for the wife.

I guess I don’t get it…

I have spent literally thousands of dollars on stuff to make my beloved Pearl mine and more money than I care to admit on clothes.

I guess I don’t get it…

Maybe an open letter to the customer service department – no – to the owner of my favorite dealership: Century Harley-Davidson. Why do I have so many problems with your service department? I have had more problems getting these people to take care of my bike than I did with Honda dealerships. Apparently it is not just me either, my bro Rod B. has a beautiful 2006 Road King Classic, he calls her Baby. He has had problems with two different dealerships now. Bought his baby at Adventure Harley-Davidson in New Philidelphia Ohio. The bike has never been right. Took it to Freedom Harley-Davidson in Canton Ohio. They made it worse than before. It is much better now that he and I have taken matters into our own hands.

I digress, back to the problems I am having. Pearl has an occassional problem with an aweful noise on warm startup. The noise happens at random times, I accept that this makes diagnosis troublesome. (more…)

H-D on the Horn cover of Pearl

While I am not an economy and business expert, I do like to learn as much as I can about all things related to business and economy, after all they affect us more directly than most of us realize. I have studied the history of several of the most interesting businesses in recent history including Chrysler, Allis-Chalmers and International Harvester as well as Harley-Davidson. I watch certain stock tickers on my phone and on the computer one of those stocks is (of course) Harley-Davidson stock (NYSE:HOG). My iPhone and computer use Yahoo finance to supply the information, among the information is related articles as well as stock status.

Last year about this time HOG stock was down to over 8 per share, this is down considerably from some of the “norms” that Harley-Davidson has experienced. (more…)

close up of the air cleaner

The headlight

I went out in the garage with my iPhone and walked around the bike looking for great shots, fortunately it is not hard to come by. One of the goals was to get a shot of all occurrences of the Bar and Shield logo on the bike or where the “Harley Davidson” logo appears. I put these photos on Flickr, I think they look great, but then I took them. Here are a couple of samples.

You can see the entire collection on my flickr page here

I know I have pictures of Pearl as she progresses through the miles but the earliest I can find at this point is 5000 miles. So I will at least put this out there.

5000 mile mark

By 5000 miles I had removed the engine guard that was causing me all sorts of distraction. As I mentioned in the earlier post I have never had a bike with the engine guard and when I rode the bike I could not help but look at it. Besides it was additional chrome and bulk that I did not want. The bike already has enough heft with the fairing and the saddlebags, so off she came. The part of the bike has been sitting down in the basement ever since.

Custom Gear Shift Linkage - Slotted Black Anodized

When I bought the bike I wanted the shift linkage that I just paid $120 for off the Softail, Ron was nice enough to help me with that. The linkage was the new (at the time) black linkage with the milled out Harley-Davidson bar and shield logo. Harley-Davidson calls it Custom Gear Shift Linkage – Slotted Black Anodized

Again, I wanted this bike to be the anti-Harley Harley, but exactly what does that mean? Well to me the one defining characteristic of a Harley-Davidson is an air cooled engine. An aside here, I wonder how the new V-rod Revolution engine will fit into the future of Harley? Anyway, 45 degree air cooled single pin engine is a strong characteristic of a Harley-Davidson. (more…)

Well not quite new but new since the last post. Gone is the 2007 Softail Deluxe that wound up laid down at the begining of last year. That will be another post, I have pictures and a complete story. Nope, now I turned that in last year for a shiny new 2008 Harley-Davidson Street Glide.

Oh is this bike wonderful…

Ron Orvis

Purchased on June 7, 2008 from my favorite motorcycle salesman Ron at Century Harley-Davidson. I was looking for a Street Glide, I like the idea of having a radio, not that I use it as much. I was also not all that happy with the Softail ride and handling. The Street Glide shares it frame and suspension with the rest of the touring bike line up. One of the more important options that I wanted was ABS, none of the other Harley-Davidson’s have it but the touring bikes. On the Softail I noticed that it was very very easy to lock up the rear wheel. In fact it was so easy that I usually did not even notice it. I also believed that condition contributed significantly to the demise of the Softail. I loved the look of the Softail, but honestly after the Shadow-Aero and the Softail the retro thing had pretty much run its course. (more…)