I would imagine it would take a bit of work to make it a runner though at that age with so little use. I would expect rubber parts such as fork seals and carb internal orings etc would need replacing due to drying out from sitting so long.
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I would imagine it would take a bit of work to make it a runner though at that age with so little use. I would expect rubber parts such as fork seals and carb internal orings etc would need replacing due to drying out from sitting so long.
Definitely tempting though... but I would probably lose my license before I finished the first tank of gas :D
This is a cranky one. One of the riders had this at the Pike river tribute 29 memorial run back in 2016
9 liter cummins v8 diesel. Trans and diff out of the truck as well
Handled way better than you would think (apparently and also went like a scalded cat
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I was down town about 6 months ago and I heard one start up in the car park. I nearly leapt out of my skin, and was instantly transported back 45 years in time:D:D:D
Went over and had a chat. Had been immaculately rebuilt. Mine had aftermarket expansion chambers on it and was a real cackle monster, but to hear this tripple 2 smoker burbling away at high idle almost brought a tear to my eye:P
Just bought one identical to it this arvo Mrs Finnwolf bought the one with the Orange Crush coloured petrol tank.
I also took a GT for a spin, pleasantly surprised at how these low velocity bikes went, utter fun!
Bless the Harley Davidson for holding such good resale value, it helped well into the price of the two Royal Enfields!
Cool man, sweet sounding twins
Nice.. they look alot like the early BSA Lightning 650s - or the Bonnies.
Yeah man, if my wife would let me ride one of these would be my bag I reckon
Sitting out in Akaroa one sunny afternoon, a 916, a ZX10, and a Busa - tatty older lookin feralish thing wearing a german helmet with a Harley sitting nearby, it gets up to leave and comments out the side of its mouth as it sticks the cranking handle in the Massey Davidson "that jap shit wouldn't suck the skin of a rice pudding" silly fucker didn't even get that one of them wasn't a japper anyway, didn't cotton on that any one of the three bokes could easily have ripped out his lungs and used them to tie him up. He didn't seem to hear the laughter as his steamshovel fired up and clanked off down the road.
Unfortunately at large proportion of the harley owners are too close-minded and are ignorant to other types of motorcycles regardless of brand or style. I appreciate all types of two wheeled thingamajigs , ok... even harleys and what they are designed for they do perfectly well at. I once had a big arse Indian in my shed for 2weeks testing it after doing some mods and this thing was a battleship. You had to plan ahead about a km for any manouvre you thought you would need to do including but not limited to slowing down and cornering. But when it came time to give it back after all the cruising around I had done I found myself trying to find an excuse to keep it for a bit longer. Weird.
It refreshing to meet some on here that aren't and to be honest the "tuff fashion" aspect of Harleys relay put me off. A friend of mine also worked in one of the dealers and witnessed the terrible quality control. I do appreciate some of the top level cruisers are about as close to a sofa on two wheels as you can get and on a long trip of straight lines the biscuit thin seat on an RGV250 is going to get mighty sore quickly.
Funny you say that as I always thought the same until I met a guy who owned a Harley and a gsxr1000 and he always rode the Gixxer on long distance rides...he reckoned the harley was to uncomfortable on long trips. Maybe that's why harley guys insist on stopping at every pub on the way? ;)
lol I must admit the Harley riders who don't wave ( and that's most of them) think there're too cool to wave at a non Harley. Guys like that are only into the macho image of them and not into bikes at all. Otherwise as mentioned, if you are into bikes you can appreciated different horses for different courses. Maybe I should put some ape hangers and highway pegs on the Bandit. That should make it handle like crap but at least I'd get a wave from the "cool" guys :)
He must have been a softy - I rode an Electraglide Classic in the USA, I did 400 mile days (700km) and never felt stuffed/sore at the end of the ride, done Nelson to home in a day on my Dynaglide and again (apart from being damp from the rain) felt ok at the end of the ride.
I DO feel concerned for those that feel a need to bag a guys choice of motorcycle.....
we always used to give each other a hard time over all the different bikes we rode but it was always light hearted and we all knew it. We were all just happy to be out riding.
Even now I still give my bro shit over driving a FORD ...Found On Rubbish Dumps ... Fixed Or Repaired Daily ... Fcked On Race Day etc .... and then my parents bought one , christmas for me and my ford digs....lol
And i'm not even a big holden fan.
I dont own a harley and probably never will. Dont get me wrong, I dont have anything against harleys. I was bought up to make the most of every dollar I earn, and it is just that anything I can do with a Harley, I can do on another motorcycle for half the price. The only thing no other motorcycle can do is "BE " a Harley. For what they are I feel that you pay a premium for the name. Seeing as I dont really care too much about brand and that its job is what needs to be done, then other brands simply provide much better value.
If the Harley name means that much to someone that they are prepared to pay for it (or steal it....???) then so be it. That is their call to make, all I ask is that you remember to wave at all the other riders out there when you ee them and show us that you are a rider too....
I always wave when I pass a Harley but it is difficult to see if they wave back as my mirrors aren't very big.
Well I never saw this thread heading in this direction! Have to agree there are some extremely narrow minded harley riders. Part of that is the reason I enjoy owning a harley in my 20s, to buck the trend. Anyone on 2 wheels has my respect and gets a wave. The ultimate goal is to have more than 1 crotch rocket in the shed and enjoy them all for what they are. That being said, how many guys who have bagged harleys have actually ridden them? ... the torque factor is a fair amount of fun.
You want the coolest bike with the biggest torque and the shittiest handling?...boss hoss v8 ... Fck yeah, I want one...
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Harley? Girls bikes... :thumbsup:
Saw a Boss Hoss in christchurch 3-4 years back. Holy crapazola! 350 ci corvette motor in a bike frame with 2 spd auto plus reverse. 320-455hp depending on model. :o Hate to go round a corner on it but it WAS certainly different!! Harley a baby compared to that machine..
Yep keen to try a Harley...
To much is never enough is it ? Jap sports bikes are way too much for the road but they still sell the latest and fastest, more powerful bikes
Should I say or should I no.......
The harsh reality is: 99% of road warriors on liter (and 600's) sport bikes, are completely unable to exploit what they ride to it's potential, and it is frightening to watch some of them try, and ride way beyond their ability to control their own destiny.
The Akaroa GP, the Rimataka hill and the Takaka hill are three classic examples of places you will find sport bike riders "proving" something
The need to get a knee down to "prove" speed is utterly deluded, and in the real world, on a twisty road with potentially hidden variables, leaves most sportbike riders exposed without the tools need to cope when it goes wrong. Local statistic on the Akaroa GP is an average of one rider every year killed in a single bike crash on the Hilltop section.(this excludes bike vs car, bike vs camper, bike vs towed boat) It goes wrong, rider target fixates and the only tool rider has is grab brake,,,,,, bang!
There are riders on sport bikes on the Akaroa GP that turn up to track days ( public "have a go days" run by Motorcycling Canterbury on Ruapuna and Levels) convinced they could show Stoner the way round the track, at the morning briefing everyone is told the guys in their group wearing dayglo vests will be racers doing laps for people to follow and get the idea about the "how" and they are available for riders to talk to between sessions to get advice and on track coaching during the day.
So, you go out in the "fast" group to circulate and observe, you watch someone doing it all wrong and you buzz in in front, turn in the seat to get eye to eye, tap the tail of your bike in the universal signal to follow - try to slow them down some, and try to show track positioning, where to be looking, when to be turning, braking, where to be apexing ect, there are ways to demo this stuff on the move that work quite well after a chat in the pits, but...... plenty of these guys get all offended and blast past you on the straight bit and try to leave you in their dust, shows the boys on the the pit wall "hey you see me go past that guy?! fuck I'm fast". So you go past them at the next corner and go around it looking back at them with the upraised palm signal that is universally understood by all, give it another shot at lead and follow, often getting the same result, most of the go fast sport bike mob just don't believe they get it wrong and need help.
Same guys riding a thousand miles an hr on public roads.
The "Akaroa GP" is named after the thousand mile an hr sport bike mob that thrash it (Chch - Akaroa and back) every weekend.
A lot like the Harley thing, a small minority makes you hate them all.
I totally agree. With the group I used to ride with which includes an ex nz 250 gp national champ and a current top street race rider , we used to have something we called the newbie curse. Now don't think we rode dangerously or at breakneck illegal speeds everywhere because we didn't , but we all enjoyed the hills and rode the corners quickly but completely controlled and what we felt was safely. But generally it was that any new riders that joined us often had an off within the first three rides with us trying to ride beyond their safe skill set. Including I might add the current top street racer...who binned twice in those three rides. Hence the newbie curse. It got to the point several people would stay back with newbies on our rides to keep an eye on them and take any perceived pressure off them to keep up.
And as previously mentioned we wouldn't ride with people we thought were a danger to themselves or other people and there were a few of those about.
And from my experience riders are slower when trying to get the knee down rather than letting it happen naturally but they don't seem to understand that.
I like two wheels and I like fast on NZ roads - perhaps y'all may wish to see Mr Jay Lawrence showing the way?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KubGVzd64rg
I've never met the guy but holy fuck this is good
I used to work with him. Very nice guy and very very fast.
The fellow that makes Briford Trailers was importing them I think....
I remember being involved with speedway many years ago (I ran the club BBQ but did not race....) and when the bikes ran it was interesting. There would be Japanese bikes and Hogs. One of the rules was no brakes(?) or no gears(?) anyway, if the hog got out in front then while it was slower up the straight away as soon as it got to the corner it would out accelerate the japanese 4 cylinders then stay in front on the corner slow down and boom out of the corner. The japs would not keep up with the acceleration. But if the Japa bikes got out in front they just stayed fast and the Hogs would never catch up. Different horses for different courses.
I like both, but the one thing I find determines what I buy is the price. I simply get more bang for my buck from japanese.....Anyone have a cheap 4 cylinder 250cc-400cc crotch rocket near Chch??????
Finnwolf how do you find the RE after the Harley ?
I can’t find it, it hasn’t arrived!
Now I’ve finished being a smart-arse.... on the test bike ride I found it was almost a scooter in comparison to the Electraglide Classic bulk.
It did go well, still pulled on an uphill in 6th gear.
The indicators took a bit of getting use to as the Harley ones self cancelled and the right hand indicator/left hand indicator switches were at the respective hand grips, whereas the RE has then on the one switch.
Having six speeds will be handy as while the RE pulled better than I thought it would my Harley had enough torque at low revs to tow start a bulldozer, rarely had to drop a gear to overtake, it spoilt me in that respect.
The Harley was not quite new enough to have ABS but the RE has it. ( had smoke coming of the front tyre of my HD Dyna T-Sport one day when avoiding a lamb that ran out on the road - ABS would have been handy!)
At the end of the day it’s horses for courses and the RE put a smile on my face, in the test ride it pretty much ticked all the boxes - went well, felt nimble/handled well, gearbox felt good, had a nice classic style.
(and the centre-stand will be a handy thing)
For a LAMS bike it actually pulled not too bad.:thumbsup:
I must say I do like the look of the Royal Enfield. I think the guy who imports them is over Taranaki way so was thinking of going over for a test ride one day. How was the seat for comfort Finnwolf ? I can't decide if I should sell the Bandit and buy 1 or just buy 1 and keep the Bandit. I do like the torque of the Bandit, in 6th gear at 100mk/h just twist the throttle to overtake any tintop with ease. No chopping down like I had to on my CBR1000.
Oh how does the Himalayan go Tim. That was the model I was looking at a while ago
If you are highway hauling, the Himalayan is not for you. 90km max is realistic, possibly closer to 80 for extended periods. Redline should see it reach 120 but I have never even tried that with mine. It feels better at slower speeds. More like its comfortable rather than working. In all honesty for the dodgy roads (or tracks(?)) they are built for speed is not really an issue. They handle terrain well and run on the smell of an oily rag. The 15 litre tank will get me over 350km comfortably. The newer one may even be better at both speed and economy with the shift to Fuel injection. Very practical. I use mine as my daily to get to and from work as I have a nearly 40km commute, most of it on 80km roads making it well suited for it. And at $7500 brand new they are not an expensive bike. Mine has the fancy trekker panniers and a givi topbox just to finish the ensemble off...
@rugerman what size bandit do you have? I was thinking about something like that in the stable next to the Virago and the RE. That or the V Strom though I was preferring to stay under 600cc.
@Finnwolf I found mine pretty good from Chch to Blenheim recently. Timewise it was a longer trip as I sat mostly around 80km letting stuff past as soon as I could. You can also get an after market touring seat, along with a myriad of other bits and bobs for them. And most of it is pretty good value. The Panniers were on the dear side but they are Givi Trekker side boxes fitted with RE racks for RE which is why they are dearer, but ironically Givi trekkers are dearer still......
I was servicing the enfields for a while and must admit found them very , ummm , shall we say pedestrian in the power delivery in the early models. Not saying that is a bad thing necessarily. I seriously considered one in the cafe racer style when photos were first released as the look really does it for me. Then one came in for a service and I rode it. I was unfortunately disappointed again with power and never bought one. Now just to clarify I always have had classic triumphs along with my sports bikes including 500 from late 60 early 70's and don't expect much from the older machines but was still underwhelmed by the cafe racer.
So basically ride one first before selling the more powerful machine just in case it's not quite what you were expecting.
Once you've had power it is hard to "step down". I am always disappointed when I get on my KLE500 after riding my KTMs.