This is topic Any Motorcyclists Out There? in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 04-16-2001, 12:11 AM:
I started riding at 30 in 1974 on dirt bikes, gradually switched to street riding as off road places became harder to find. Presently riding 83 Honda Magna V45. I usually ride 5,000 to 7,000 miles a year. It ain't what you ride it that you DO ride! You're never too old, one rider I know is 80, he started in 1937.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 04-16-2001, 04:15 AM:
The last time I was on a Sui-Cycle was in 1985. I had one too many near-misses because I had my head up my butt when driving them too much. It was a 1983 Harley Hog FLT 80CID machine. I sold it, and never rode any motorcycle since then.
Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 04-16-2001, 12:42 PM:
I ride my 93 Harley all the time. Have been trying to find a way to do all my service calls on the bike as well but that darn R-2 case is so unmanagable! And I refuse to give into a gigantic Rice Burner!
If ya want a great place to ride come on out to the SLC area and join me. There are many great mountian rides out here that never seem to end. A favorite of mine is to go from Salt Lake City, to Kamas, UT to Evanston, Wyo. for breakfast and then back. Restrooms seem to be in just the right spot for this sort of jaunt. The mountains, and in particuluar the area around Mirror Lake are stunning. Elevations here go to well above 10K feet so bring your oxygen mask just in case.
Mark @ GTS
Posted by Paul Turner (Member # 832) on 04-16-2001, 05:22 PM:
1973 FLH Shovelhead. It's an everyday rider when the weather here in the NW cooperates. After i hit 35, the cold makes every bone i've ever broken scream, so the rain suit got traded for a comfy chair inside. Been riding for over 20 years -- started about the same time i started threading projectors. From right here in the middle of the Willamette Valley, there's great riding any direction. Do all my own work on the purple beast and am just breaking her in after a top-end rebuild (actaully, she's listing proudly on her side-stand in front of my theater as i type)-- so Im doing my best to keep from lettin' her roar when i come outta a corner (at least for another 500 miles). Every once in awhile I think I should get a newer model that doesn't require as much work, however the thought of giving Harley Davidson a dime of my money makes me cringe. So, much as with my old Motiograph AA, I'll stick with it as long as she keeps going.
Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 04-16-2001, 11:36 PM:
Mark, I serviced office machines for 27 years & tried at least a hundred times to get tools & parts tied on whatever bike I had at that time. Never was able to get everything I needed on at once. A sidehack just wouldn't be the same. Had a Harley many years ago & sold it along with everything else motorcycling. Later when I got back in, they were just too damned expensive, looking for a junker to put back together.
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 04-17-2001, 12:08 AM:
Trouble with the Harley Hogs is that a truck had to follow them - to pick up all the nuts and bolts that fell off those damn things. I also had a 1969 Electra-Glide. That thing vibrated so bad that you could not sustain a cruising speed for more than 50 miles before you HAD to get off.
Generators would fail promptly at 1,000 miles. Clutch push rods failed faithfully every 500 miles. Windshield cracks developed almost as soon as the engine was started.
Saddle bag covers (made of genuine Chinese plastic) bounced down the freeways faster than they could be replaced. 25,000 miles, the crank pin fails. (better than 1968 - they only got 10,000 miles before they failed), not to mention hydraulic lifters that collapsed whenever they felt like it.
A Seattle police officer lost his life on the freeway when the front fender fell off, and jammed the wheel. It was traced to a factory defect - the bolts holding the fender on were too short!
Ah, yes - the good old Harleys in the AMF days...The Hog shops could not even keep up with the demands of engine rebuilds in new machines.
The HOG dealer said that was normal for the 1968 and 1969 Electra-Glides..
The 1970 models were a little better. Trouble with them - they didn't have anough power to pull a gnat of a lump of crap!
Posted by Paul Turner (Member # 832) on 04-17-2001, 02:23 PM:
Now, now, Paul. I happen to have an AMF Harley and any part that has ever fallen off i've been able to bungie on the rear rack 
. I just went out in the parking lot and had no trouble at all pulling a gnat from a lump of crap with my bike, tho the gnat put up a good fight. Most of the AMF bikes were of a wide range of craftsmanship. However, if they are running today, they've been gone thru -- like mine. There is such a wide selection of aftermarket parts, so you can make a Shovel do whatever you need it to do. My FLH has duel plug heads, Dyna ignition, belt primary (kills a lot of the vibration), and the original paint. I weight 240 and my partner comes in under 150 -- going two up anywhere isn't a problem. And it has been as reliable as an anvil. just had the top off the engine (after 25k)and the bottom end is still tight after 60k. That ol' Bendex carb just keeps getting rebuilt and going! BTW, I did install the retrofit kit for the front fender mount. . . . The truth is the only time i ever had something fall off the bike was after i was stupid enough to let a dealer work on it. Nothing quite like watching your fish-tail muffler bounce away in your rear-view mirror. The dealer was a collosal dick about it. years later, i ran into the mechanic who did the work. he said the owner of the shop hated Shovels so much, he made him rush the job and add hrs to the bill. Ah, the attitude that made harley what it is today . . . .If you're looking for a great way to spice up your day, try hauling cans of film on a bike! I never have but once watched a kid wire two cans buy the handles to a Yamaha 650 at the depot. No idea if he made it home. I keep expecting his story in the Darwin awards.
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 04-17-2001, 07:08 PM:
Well, Paul, I will admit the FLT I had was a fine piece of machinery, but that '69 Electra-Glide was a hunk of junk. I had a '61 FLH Dual-Glide I traded in on the Electra-Glide. I should have kept that old Dual-Glide! It was a fairly reliable machine.(PS - I was "lifted" over the handle bars a few times because I got a little cocky about NOT retarding the spark!) 
Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 04-18-2001, 12:34 AM:
Harley has come a million miles in quality control from just about the worst to among the very best. They kept the concept and designed a modern bike around it and learned from the Japs to make it not leak, charge the battery, and start on demand while not pissing off the Harley nuts. The water cooled engine designed to a great extent by Porsche is due out in the next couple years. Ever tightening exhaust emissions will eventually make air cooled bikes of all makes a thing of the past.
Posted by Dave Cutler (Member # 515) on 04-22-2001, 07:07 PM:
Just got sight of this thread thought I would chime in. I have been riding for just over a year now. Got me a 1993 Honda Shadow to ride for now. Lovin' every minute of it!
Posted by Jonathan Worthing (Member # 803) on 05-01-2001, 05:41 AM:
The 2nd love of my life is my Kawasiki Z400
Twin. Built in 1974 & Re-built sevrial times
After. She smokes when she starts, but she will do
500 miles non-stop without any problem. For a 27 Year old bike thats not bad.
I Say It's the 2nd love of my life because girlfriend may reads this. 
A fun passtime is find a Harley Club & park
my Z4 Right in the middle of all the shiny
bikes & watch the harley owners stand in frount of it so people don't see it.
Try it yourself it works,or in the UK it dose.
Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 05-01-2001, 12:23 PM:
Jonathan,
Over here in the states they would take a dim view of that and be more likely to pick it up and throw it into a nearby dumpster.
I own a Harley but I also have nothing against rice burners...have owned several of them. At some rallys over here they literally do that, and, or run over a pile of them with a bulldozer. My wife rides an 81 Yamaha Maxim 650. She stays away from heavy machinery and road construction areas!
Mark @ GTS
Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 05-01-2001, 11:49 PM:
I haven't ridden a bike since I was a kid, racing dirt bikes through the corn fields back home in PA. (Can you say, "Hodaka"?? ) 
I spend a lot of time on the road and I see more and more bikes now that the weather is getting warm. I'm kinda' jealous, actually.
One thing I think about (And I have a LOT of time to think these days) is what bikers pet peeves are when they are on the road. I'm not talking about some idiot cutting them off. (Good bikers are probably used to that by now. ) What I'm thinking about is, "Do you hate it when people (in cars) ride too close?" Y'know. Stuff like that.
I like to think I'm a pretty good driver but I'd like to know stuff like this. If I'm unwittingly doing things that people riding bikes don't like or things that are dangerous I'd like to know.
Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 05-02-2001, 09:34 PM:
Of course I ride...
Started out when I was 8 aboard a Yamaha GT80. Rode it til I outgrew it, then went without for a year or so. Picked up another Yamaha from a neighbor, an Enduro 100. Rode that thing everywhere... on the road illegally, thru the woods, everywhere...I also picked up a Honda Trail 70 around 1985 or so that was already 10+ years old.. Got it running and rode it for a while for shits-n-giggles, then left it out back of my grandfathers shop in the weather to rust. Wish I'd jhave known the damn ting would have been worth $$$$ these days!
Oh well, next bike was a street bike, '85 Yamaha Maxim 700, shaft drive.. for a cruiser, I was fascinated how easily I could carry the front wheel thru the gears!
Picked up a late 80's YZ250 to play with when I was about 20 or so.. A few years later, I bought a '89 Yamaha FZR600... rode it for a few years, sold it, and stopped riding for a couple years.
Picked up a '93 Honda CBR900RR, which is currently torn down in my garage awaiting a complete rebuild. Also, picked up a '93 Honda CR250, which I sold to my roomate. Bought another CR250 (98 model) a while back...
Yeah, I ride... 
And for those who have a negative image of motorcyclists.... 
------------------
The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese!
Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 05-06-2001, 09:59 AM:
Current advertizing, promotional info. tries to connect today's Indian, Henderson, Triumph, etc. to long histories. Those companies folded long ago. These bikes have NO history and no connection to the past. These are new companies trying to sucker stupid people with an old name.
Posted by Paul Turner (Member # 832) on 05-07-2001, 01:45 PM:
Saturday I was at a motorcycle rally to try to get it legal in OR to pump your own gas into your bike so some adolescent with the IQ of a fern doesn't have to do it. Lack of self-service in this state gets old some days. I saw a couple of the "New Indians." They didn't even remove the S&S insignia from the side of the "Harley aftermarket" mills in those bikes. Indian went out in 1953. A name a big fenders don't give it the heritage of a real Indian. As beautiful as the new bikes might be, i can't help feeling a twinge: this is not the same bike used by our miltary and that crossed our country before the interstates. the alt.harley NG is buzzing with the new Indian filing chapter 11. so it goes.