Does anyone at all here like Harleys?

[andburg]

m5psm said:

andburg said:

Happy to drop you some better pictures of that area of mine if you have trouble.

Drop me a PM if you want me to.

Cheers
Messaged you… I think

Message not received, I’ll just stick them in here.

As for giant baggers, meh just don’t fancy one for Yorkshire B roads. Have tested a road glide special and was left wondering if the front wheel was attached

[Pothole]

Mr Tidy said:

Have you heard of the Yamaha VMAX?

Not the V Twin one, no.

[andburg]

Hopefully these help

[m5psm]

andburg][url said:

Hopefully these help

Yours is mounted differently with a lower rear fixing bracket. May need to fabricate something similar. Cheers

[Almighty]

[Supercilious Sid]

gareth_r said:

Lately I have become unreasonably interested in "performance bagger" videos on YouTube.

Which leads to wondering if there's any way to squeeze those 150+ torques (© J. Clarkson) into a normal motorcycle. I suspect that it might be possible with a Quaife gearbox à la Spirit of Semtex, but I'd want something a bit more 1960s in appearance (but not in brakes and suspension) and, if I'm honest, a fair bit less powerful than that S&S 143.


This is Spirit of Semtex btw

Spondon?

[gareth_r]

Supercilious Sid said:

Spondon?

.

http://people.exeter.ac.uk/pbhook/harley.htm

[BroadsRS6]

Mr Tidy said:

BroadsRS6 said:

S and S do a 143 cubic inch motor for late model HDs, with 162 bhp and 151 lb-ft on offer with the right set up.

That capacity, i believe, is 2,340cc of badass V Twin grunt and i am sure it will feel bloody rapid and sound evil.

That sounds pretty pathetic to me!

In my biking days I had a KH500 that produced about 60 bhp and an RD 250LC that had about 35 hhp.

Even my 4 wheel BMW 325ti with a 2.5 engine was rated at 192bhp!

Just badass noise for the sake of noise. bolted to a 2 wheeled tractor IMHO.

Well that thinking is pretty pointless. I have a 125cc bike with 40 bhp. I have a 5 litre car with 760 bhp. GP bikes can get 300 bhp from just 1 litre in peak tune.
We are talking about an engine with just 2 cylinders, which is revving to 5,000 rpm only and all about grunt not outright power. 162 bhp is amazing from a V Twin with a massive stroke and designed for stump pulling not a race track.
Otherwise you may as well say the biggest ship engines are rubbish as they only have 109,000 bhp from 25,480 litres of turbocharged 2 stroke!
BHP per litre is only one aspect of an engine. For a Harley it's about the 15th most important aspect!

[Supercilious Sid]

gareth_r said:

Supercilious Sid said:

Spondon?

.

http://people.exeter.ac.uk/pbhook/harley.htm

Thanks- that is a very interesting read. The frame reminded me of the Spondon Ducati frames hence the question.

[Pothole]

Supercilious Sid said:

gareth_r said:

Supercilious Sid said:

Spondon?

.

http://people.exeter.ac.uk/pbhook/harley.htm

Thanks- that is a very interesting read. The frame reminded me of the Spondon Ducati frames hence the question.

All that knowledge about polar moments and mass centralisation and he built a bike that tries to kill him...

"What's the bike like now? Well the steering response is great, and the motor goes like hell. I still can't get enough weight over the front to stop it spitting me off though. As I write this I have two broken toes, my right leg is broken above the knee - having stuck the bone out of the side, it's also broken at the hip (and held together with an internal titanium bar and four bolts), all four fingers on the right hand were dislocated at the wrist - which also got broken, and I have injuries to my thumb, shoulder, neck, chest and head. How? well, it highsided me straight into a trackside gatepost at high speed."

[Supercilious Sid]

Pothole said:

All that knowledge about polar moments and mass centralisation and he built a bike that tries to kill him...

"What's the bike like now? Well the steering response is great, and the motor goes like hell. I still can't get enough weight over the front to stop it spitting me off though. As I write this I have two broken toes, my right leg is broken above the knee - having stuck the bone out of the side, it's also broken at the hip (and held together with an internal titanium bar and four bolts), all four fingers on the right hand were dislocated at the wrist - which also got broken, and I have injuries to my thumb, shoulder, neck, chest and head. How? well, it highsided me straight into a trackside gatepost at high speed."

It certainly appears an un-tamable beast (I'm also sure I have seen it at a bike show).
Maybe this is the solution?
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=78...

[Legacywr]

Not sure why power, or lack of, is being discussed on a Harley thread? It’s far from one of the main considerations when buying one.

[Northernboy]

Legacywr said:

Not sure why power, or lack of, is being discussed on a Harley thread? It’s far from one of the main considerations when buying one.

Lack of power, build quality, geometry, comfort, tank range, and brakes are all pretty relevant when considering a Harley. If you are just looking for people to say how great they are there's probably an owner's group where the dentists and lawyers will indulge you.

[Legacywr]

Northernboy said:

Legacywr said:

Not sure why power, or lack of, is being discussed on a Harley thread? It’s far from one of the main considerations when buying one.

Lack of power, build quality, geometry, comfort, tank range, and brakes are all pretty relevant when considering a Harley. If you are just looking for people to say how great they are there's probably an owner's group where the dentists and lawyers will indulge you.

Nope, you don’t buy a Harley because you’re looking for the most powerful bike you can?

[Northernboy]

Legacywr said:

Nope, you don’t buy a Harley because you’re looking for the most powerful bike you can?

I would be surprised if any brand has a significant number of buyers who are looking for the highest power output alone, but it's a feature of the bikes. Why do you think that no-one cares about it, given that as per the conversatin here they clearly do?

[Legacywr]

Northernboy said:

Legacywr said:

Nope, you don’t buy a Harley because you’re looking for the most powerful bike you can?

I would be surprised if any brand has a significant number of buyers who are looking for the highest power output alone, but it's a feature of the bikes. Why do you think that no-one cares about it, given that as per the conversatin here they clearly do?

I think they’re trying to defend their inferior product, which it is

You either get Harleys or you don’t

[Northernboy]

Legacywr said:

I think they’re trying to defend their inferior product, which it is

You either get Harleys or you don’t

Oh, I get them. As above, they are very popular amongst middle-aged men whose children have moved out, whose wife doesn’t sleep with them any more and who want to pretend that they aren’t getting ready to die of old age. They want something shiny, with tassels, that’s more about being parked up than ridden.

Then they do a couple of decent models that normal bikers like too.

[Supercilious Sid]

Northernboy said:

Legacywr said:

I think they’re trying to defend their inferior product, which it is

You either get Harleys or you don’t

Then they do a couple of decent models that normal bikers like too.

Well they had the perfect opportunity to break out of their traditional market when they acquired Buell. That got spaffed up the wall.

[Northernboy]

Supercilious Sid said:

Well they had the perfect opportunity to break out of their traditional market when they acquired Buell. That got spaffed up the wall.

I wish I'd had a chance to properly try a buell. It'd have been great to see what was hype and what was reality, but they disappeared awfully quickly.

[Supercilious Sid]

Northernboy said:

I wish I'd had a chance to properly try a buell. It'd have been great to see what was hype and what was reality, but they disappeared awfully quickly.

I took one out for a test ride for a morning. I found it fun but found the components and build not really up to Italian spec specialness. I liked the perimeter brakes though.