Thursday 19 April 2012

Live to ride...

 Yesterday I decided to take a test ride on the new Harley Streetglide (nearly £18 grand... WT??) with the new, puny 1690cc motor. 
What a pussycat. I got up to 75 before I realised the hi-fi whip antenna was caught up on the front bumper of a Ford Focus that had been parked up at the dealers and which I was now towing. Then to top that I found a pizza delivery moped, complete with spotty yoof rider, had been sucked into the air cleaner. Apart from that it pulled quite well from 35 in 6th. Went back and went into the BMW dealer next door (owned by the same franchise) and was rather taken by the R1200R. I think I’m going all minimalist in my old age.
 

13 comments:

TonyF said...

I might get my bike out this year, but then again, I have been saying that for the last 10 years!

Old BE said...

£18k takes you to within a whisper of the car I want: the Golf GTi.

Hogdayafternoon said...

TonyF: Whats it worth on Ebay?

Blue: £18grand is more than a mile away for me, let alone a whisper :(

TonyF said...

I dunno, what's a Spada 3 worth? And a Mondial 200 Constellation? Hm, maybe I ought to get on with these projects.

Quartermaster said...

The Beemer is twice the bike the Harley is. In my considered opinion, Harley makes an inferior machine. Any of the rice burners are better bikes. I've owned Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha bikes, and wouldn't have traded one of them for a Harley.

If you have the money, the BMW is the bike to buy. If I had the money, that's what I'd buy.

CI-Roller Dude said...

I'm still amazed at how nice any HD looks even sitting still. In police motor school we all cried when a student crashed one. We'd run over and look at the bike first...then see if the officer was OK.

Hogdayafternoon said...

QM:
I had both until we moved house last Sept. A BM 1150 GS, same model as Hizzoner's. I loved them both for totally different reasons, but I feel in my bones that a change is coming. The BM is most def a technological gem and for this rider approaching the age when things hurt for longer, its a couple of hundred pounds lighter :-/

CI-RD:
Willie G Davidson can craft a mean style. he retired recently, at 78, I wonder what will follow?

Quartermaster said...

My Silverwing is about 575lbs fully loaded. Add me and it goes near 800lbs. If I had the money, I'd buy either a high end BMW or the gold standard of touring bikes, the Honda Goldwing with the full monty package (radios, cruise control, etc). I can live with the Silverwing, however. gets nearly 60 mpg and I use it for my work commute when the weather is reasonable.

Justthisguy said...

Actually, I rather like the BMWs of the last few years, with their strange suspensions which make them look like insects.

However, what I really lust after is a Triumph 3-cylinder bike. You do know those have wet sleeves, don't you? That is the only way to make a liquid-cooled engine.

The neighbor across the street has a rather nice Hawg, all black with solo saddle and no gaudy stuff on it, but it can't hold a candle to the Sportster I saw the other day. That one had low bars, fat tires on both ends, and rear-set pegs. There wasn't much to that bike besides wheels, frame, and motor. I salivated.

Justthisguy said...

Qm, If I had my druthers I wouldn't throw a leg over a bike which weighed much more than 300 pounds. That's about the size of my old Yamaha 2-stroke street bikes. Oh God I miss 2-strokes! Ring, dd ding, d ding ring ding Forevar!

I will say this: One of the nicest bikes I ever rode was a Honda 90 belonging to my old Sweety, which she had had bored out to 125cc. That was a perfect grocery-and-commuting bike. Very mild-mannered, it was. Her legs are even shorter than mine, and she was able to put both feet down when stopped. Harleys are good that way, too.

Why don't they make bikes like that anymore?

Justthisguy said...

Say, Hog, do your police connections allow you to go into registration archives and find out who owned which bike back in the '20s and '30s?

I hereby bet you one dollar, even money, that Dorothy Leigh Sayers rode a Scott Squirrel.

Hogdayafternoon said...

JTG: My old school tie connections wouldn't even give me the name of the lady who brewed our tea. The merest mention of using the intel system to look up something sets into action a system of checks, double checks and probably rings an alarm bell at Professional Standards (Internal Affairs to you). Why they don't even like checking up on criminals these days.

Re 2 strokes, I agree. I once rode a Kawasaki 750 triple followed by a Suzuki 500 twin - both two strokes, which is exactly what they almost gave me.

Quartermaster said...

Those two strokes had some kinda torque. I got on a small one (can't remember the model) grabbed a handful of throttle and I thought it was gonna leave me behind.

I haven't forked a bike as small as 300 pounds since my first bike, a Honda CB-200. I took a 1000 mile trip on it just before I went to Flight School in '76 and was reminded of the joke book title, "40 Days In The Saddle by Major Ashe Burns." The Silverwing I've got now doesn't do anything to me except get me there.