Harley ride report

[stinkwheel]

Well, I'm just back from two weeks in the Florida Keys

While I was there I decided I would try out a Harley, given how I have been known to slag them off on occasion. I know speak from an informed position in saying they are everything I expected them to be.

The one I rented was a Heritage softtail classic. To look at the thing, it is everything you would expect from a cruiser style bike. Being mainly about aesthetics, it scores highly, there is chrome everywhere, shiny tank, shiny exhausts and not too over the top like some of them can be. The exhaust burbles at tickover and if you want everyone to look at you, a quick twist of the throttle gives you enough big v-twin noise to rattle plate glass windows for miles around. The view fron the riders perspective is quite nice too with a big meaty top-yoke, centrally mounted speedo and neat little bates style headlamp. It is all uncluttered with the filler cap on one side of the tank and a false filler cap that is the fuel guage on the other side resembling the older harleys two piece tanks.

The riding position is not too extreme, feet comfortably forwards, big squishy saddle and arms just below shoulder height. At 6'2" I was just comfortably seated, not cramped or stretched out. The ride is very soft, all your weight is on your arse and it just kind of floats along with you sat on top of it, potholes in the road or bumps are a pain because you can't really take the weight on the pegs as you go over them and it has a tendancy to bounce about for a while afterwards.

There is enough torque to tow the QE2, no rev counters necessary. The accepted riding style seems to be giving it a big handful in first and second to get the air intake valves flapping so everyone notices you then short shift into top and burble along. Changing lanes is a piece of piss, just wind on and drift across into the gap. Clutch was surprisingly light.

The brakes were bloody awfull. it is a big heavy bike and the single disc on the front hauls it up eventually but with no real sense of urgency and minimal feedback. This was accompanied on the one I had by a distinct 'clunk' from the front end if you pulled hard on the lever, much like if your head bearings were loose. I took it back to the shop to get this checked out and it seems it is just the fork springs flapping about inside the stanchions. Luckily the brakes are rarely necessary, rolling off the throttle causes rapid decelleration and assisciated popping, banging and flapping of butterfly valves from the huge chrome air filter cover.

Cornering was interesting, I am used to a supermoto and found myself "50p-ing" most of the corners. You feed in some steering effort and it leans over, wallows a bit, straightens itself out and then you take another bite of the corner.

On the roads over here, I would rapidly become frustrated with it but in the US, it makes perfect sense. The florida keys is a series of islands linked by bridges. It must be no wider than a mile at the widest point but is 200 miles long. As such there is only really one road (highway 1) running from Key Largo to Key West . The absolute maximum speed limit is 55mph, mostly 45mph and there are about four corners in the whole length of it. All the cars are big V8 automatics sitting with the cruise control on, some people even drive with their feet up on the dash. For this kind of riding, a Harley is excellent. The only difficult bit is pulling on and off the freeway into one of the shop carparks, you need a burst of acceleration to get out into the traffic flow as filter lanes are almost non-existant, again the Harley is great for this.

Protective gear in Florida consists of a pair of wrap-around shades and high SPF sunscreen with or without a bandanna to keep the sun off your head. I also opted for the 'high viz' Hawaian shirt. At 85 degrees in the shade and 80% humidity, leathers are simply not an option, even long trousers are too hot so it is shorts all the way. You need to be carefull not to burn yourself on any exposed metal on the bike when you first get on it and lipsalve is a must, I put some under my eyes too as the windburn was getting to me.

A harley will do over 100mph, but your bandanna flys off at about 85 and it is hard work keeping your feet on the pegs.

In short, if you want to ride a harley, do it in the US of A.

I had it for three days but it was pretty damned expensive and I has ridden on all the roads the Keys had to offer. After that I rented a little chopper thing with a 97cc honda cub engine and 4-speed manual gearbox which was a hoot, went just as fast and handled a lot better. The harley is the silver one
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[mr.z]

When i read the title i was worried it would read like...

"i've decided i was wrong all allong, i'm going to buy a harley right now and spend the rest of my life polishing"



Can't fault the sound though, meaty.

Good to see you made the most of it though (i'd have tryed to rent a boss hoss personally )

If you dont mind me asking how much did it cost alltogether?
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>RidingSkills<->Tech Tips<->MyBikes<

[stinkwheel]

The Harley was about $200 per day, the chopper thingy was $50 per day.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Annabella]

I'll bet you have interesting tan lines



At least the roads are nice and straight so you can see any hazards with plenty of time to get those brakes working
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[Stu_666]

No helmet young man

Was looking at Harleys a little while back over at their place in Southampton and I thought the same as you that for British roads they seemed a bit cumbersome. Also all the polishing would take up the best part of a Sunday. Looks v. nice though.

[mchaggis]

Good stuff. Sounds like a decent holiday, except the lack of corners. 200 miles in a straight line at 45-55mph max*? Oh dear.

How did you get on with the gear lever? Sitting on one of those at the NEC, I couldn't see a way to use it without lifting my foot off the board altogether or growing another joint halfway up my shin.



*The maximum you legally went, of course..
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[WildGoose]

suit you sir

nice write up, totally jealous like
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So in other words, he stopped you for being flagrantly in posession of a motorcycle in direct contravention of the Hippies, Darkies and People Whose Face I Don't Like The Look of (Police Powers) Act. 1976

[Keen]

Nice

Florida's awesome, I spent a year studying there at UF in Gainesville (about an hour and a half west of daytona).... I know what you mean about the heat, just after I got there (august) I bought a Kawasaki Ninja 250 (on ebay) and took the greyhound down to Miami to pick it up. I brought leather jacket, gloves etc because its a 5/6 hr ride back up to Gainesville. 5 mins riding in downtown Miami and I thought I was gonna pass out, I stopped, took my gloves off, packed the jacket and told myself I'd get geared up again before the highway (which I did, the heat is bearable if you go fast enough!) but in the 15 mins it took me to get out of Miami I burnt my arms raw. Its so hot it really feels like you're stood in a sauna all the time...
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"he who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man"- Dr. Johnson

[map]

Good write up - thanks for the info.
Looks like you enjoyed the trip, was it business or pleaseure?

As for the pics for some strange reason I now have a ZZ Top soundtrack playing in my head Thanks for that
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[feef]

Was riding with a mate who has a V rod at the weekend... that is a harley that CAN be hustled along a twisty A-road at a respectable rate...

the new StretRod would maybe be even nimbler, with a steeper headangle, shorter wheelbase and more sporty riding position..

not ALL harleys are bad.. but you DO have to clean it.. too much chrome!

a
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Mudskipper wrote: feef, that is such a beautiful post that it gave me a lady tingle
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[stinkwheel]

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