Harley-Davidson turned it’s back on the “Biker” a loooong time ago, toward the end of the AMF days, forcing Mom and Pop shops like the “Hog’s Nest” to close because “Hog” was trademarked! HD is a big corporation now, and they sell to people with lotsa cash. Doctors, Lawyers, Jay Leno… Right now H-D is the Cats Meow, but lets not forget when they had to run, sniveling to the US Government to have a tarrif placed on import bikes 750cc and above. Why? Because the junk they were producing could not compete with the smooth, reliable, imports… Honda, Ducati, BMW… All a H-D is now is a status symbol, capable of riding from bar to bar in search of the coldest Budwiser in town. Spend all day polishing, 1 hour riding, and 3 hours tightening things.
Thanks for the Info, never thought about a getting a “rice burner”. Price is a big consideration when I do get a bike.Saw a Honda Rebel? Guess thats whats its called at a traffic signal and it looked pretty sharp. Guess I’ll be surfing the net this weekend and checking some bikes out. Would like a nice bike to get back and forth to work (15 miles one way) on those nice Carolina days and putt around town on sundays. Any recommendations will greatly considered , price under 8K.Thanks for the time.
“Weakness Gives Birth To Strength”
I disagree. I have a hot rodded sportie
and I put 600 miles on it over the last
week and it didn’t even burp once other than
I let it run outta gas (my fault).
Anything past the Evo engine is a good one
including the Evo and the TC88.
Quality issues are a thing of the past.
Mine rides solid all day long.
I would never ride rice again.
Brock
I’m disappointed to say I just checked
with Muzzy. I thought their parts were
more or less interchangeable between
the ZRX-1200 and the ZX-12, enabling
me to build a 1361 cc “Lawson Replica”
that could easily be tuned to over 200 hp,
but which would have stump-pulling torque
and awesome midrange if tuned for about 160-170. Unfortunately though the big bore / stroker kit is available only for the ZX-12.
Brock, other than prejudice based on land of origin, isn’t it true that any Harley would be greatly inferior in riding comfort and all measures of performance than a stock ZRX-1200, while costing more? 
I have to agree with MDLP. Harley will always
deserve some residual anger over their using the government to force non-Harley riders to pay a large tariff intended to protect the sales of their then-utterly-crappy products,
for the most part severely shafting riders who had zero intention of buying Harley in any case. There probably are a LOT of riders who remember that. It was a disgrace and cannot be condoned. Frankly, they deserved to go flat out of business for that “trick.”
Name one time a Japanese manufacturer ever did anything like that to you?
Bill,
The Paradox is that Harley is going mad
high tech with the Revolution engine and the
ricers are pushing out push rod, air cooled
twins (e.g. Yamaha Warrior, nice ride).
Yes, Jap bikes handle better, are faster,
perform great and run circles around
Harleys.
If I had the need for speed a Hayabusa would
do or even if it had to be a cruiser, an
old V-Max kicks ass and takes names.
But I want to look cool, to sound cool, and
be cool with chicks now that I am single
angle. And the “potato potato” sound of
a HD is sexy. Plus, the technology is
so old and simple, even I can break down
the top end of a Harley and do a lot of the
work myself. I’d like to see you sync 4
carbs on a a rice rocket. Never mind
removing all the plastic and let’s not forget
the computerized BS.
Bottom line is, you buy for your needs.
Going far and often? Try a new Goldwing. Sweet bike. Or the ST-1100 (soon to be 1300) is THE sport tourer (to hell with the Ducati ST-4). I had a Kawaski Concours and it was the sweetest, most comfortable ride and from a utility point and value point, the best buy on the market.
But today, I am a bar hopper in the nice
weather. I want to be see and heard. I
rarely ride over 65MPH and most trips except
this weekend are under 20 miles so even
a raked out hard tail chopper would have worked
for me.
Buying a motorcycle is like picking a woman:
we all have different needs 
Brock
Does anybody know if Confederate and Titan motorcycles are owned by harley. They are also way too expensive, but I was just curious. I can’t beleive I never heard about that deal with Harley and the import shit. It kinda pisses me off. That’s no different than what some of those supplement companies are doing to trick the consumers. Now I have a better feeling about shopping for a different cruiser. I really love the sound and look of Harley, but there are some good bikes out there that aren’t Harley or Japanese.
Moto-Guzzi has a pretty nice cruiser that definitely has a nice sound and an original style… definitely not a harley knock-off.
Triumph also has a pretty nice cruiser that looks a bit different as well, but the engines are a bit small for my taste. The new BMW cruiser, though way out of my price range looks like the Ronnie Coleman of muscle bikes! For the money and my purposes, a Yamaha cruiser will probably be the way to go, but I do have to admit that I love the cool, bad-ass factor of the Harley. What I’ll end up doing is getting a new Yamaha for my reliable ride and another old Harley to play with and have as my fix-er-up hobby. Old bikes have more character anyway!
What would you guys suggest for a first bike? I’ve been told to be conservative on the cc’s for my first one. All I need it for is to travel around town, basically to get me from school to work. I was leaning toward crotch rocket, sporty bikes?