Thread: Getting power out of a harley

Originally Posted by 300CALMAN

I need a "more than like" button for that one.

To me Harleys are always going to be a cruising bike for crossing Australia or Arizona (stopping at every gas station on the way) so I cant see much advantage in making one go fast with 1930's technology engines. However, due to their bad name for reliability I would take a BMW any day for a cruiser. That would be my advice if you don't want a japanese bike. I have to say I do have a soft spot for Ducati's also but they are also expensive on the upkeep.

I remember in Australia reviving a fair amount of abuse from Harley riders while riding my RZ350, they usually abused me at the lights (rice burning tinny jap crap etc) and definitely jumped ahead for the first 50m or so but once the power valves opened they got left in the dust.

Got a mate with a warmed over big engined harley who wanted a drag with my crossplane R1 yammy. We lined up and he let rip.... I counted out 5 seconds then did the same. I passed him like he was going backwards as I clicked into second just on 160 kph .... We both new it was one-sided but he was amazed at just how fast a modern sportsbike is. I even converted an old die hard harley fan I have ridden with for 25 yrs. He was died in the wool harley man and we were riding back from the races. He was on some 1340 'sport' model...it had factory fitted flash 'normal' style rear shocks which apparently made it the sport model. I was on my T595 trumpy cruising round a longish corner with one hand on the throttle bar and the other fiddling with my helmet strap. Next thing I know he wasn't there anymore , so I turned round and found him parked on the side of the road trying to roll a smoke with shaking hands. He followed me round the bend and ended up riding up the bank when he ran out of ground clearance. Two weeks later he sold the harley and he bought a ducati monster...