|
Hmm all this time I thought the MSRP on Harleys was supposed to be justified by excellent finish and build quality.
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2021 05:19
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 8, 2024 00:52 |
|
|
Some of the poo poo on it really annoys me: 1. Rain sock comes off easily, so have to zip tie it on. 2. That a rain sock is loving needed at all for the air filter, why not do what Japanese manufacturers do and bung the filter somewhere where it doesn't get rained on? 3. That paint on the forks, wtf. 4. Occasional moisture in speedo, wtf. 5. Throttle was rattling until I told Harley off to fix it under warranty, and they did fix it (after trying to argue first that "it's normal for a Harley!"). 6. Why is the battery such a pain in the rear end to get to? It's a 20 step process or some poo poo. 7. Stock mirrors are super short and positioned in a way where you see 95% shoulder. I had to get the extender brackets AND the long stem mirrors to have working mirrors.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2021 08:58
|
|
|
Steakandchips posted:Some of the poo poo on it really annoys me: I have never used a rain sock on my bike. But I also don't live in a place where it rains heavily and I very rarely ride in the rain. If you are using a stock air filter its likely the rain sock is not actually needed. Usually only the after market air filters that point out into the air stream need it. As far as the battery goes, it looks like its only mildly more annoying to get out then the normal dynas. Also on a brand new bike I'm not really sure why you need to get to the battery. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v46lis2gGho As far as the moisture in the speedo, mine does this as well after I wash it and it sits out in the sun. But again I don't ride in the rain and the bike is always garaged so this doesn't affect me that much. But I could certainly see that being a worse issue for a bike that sits outside all of the time. Mine will also do it if its really humid outside.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2021 17:17
|
|
|
It rains a lot here  and it's needed from what everyone else tells me.I don't need to get to it any more as I had the dealer put in the leads for the GPS and extra USB, when he was doing the heated grips, but I'd like to have DIYed it. On a separate note, I'm getting cruise control added shortly. Just booked a slot with the dealer.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 18:59
|
|
|
There seems to be a weird debate in one of the other threads on the value of cruise control, I assume because it's one of those things that you can get on a Harley you don't find as frequently on other bikes. Anyway I love cruise control, both when I'm going long distances and when I just need to do something dumb like fix the strap on my glove while riding or open a vent on my jacket. Great choice.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 19:10
|
|
|
Thanks mate, good to know you had good experiences with H-D's CC. I am not sure what to expect, so your positive experience is making me feel less like "hmmm, am I going to waste £350"! I mainly want it for motorway miles. Also, post some pics of your Harley(s)!
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 19:13
|
|
|
Steakandchips posted:Thanks mate, good to know you had good experiences with H-D's CC. I am not sure what to expect, so your positive experience is making me feel less like "hmmm, am I going to waste £350"! I mainly want it for motorway miles. There's some past bikes on the first page of this thread, but this one still looks about the same.  It has the RDRS, and other than P&A catalog stuff I've also upgraded the lovely rear suspension and the lovely rear lighting situation.  All the lights are Custom Dynamics LEDs. I don't know what loud pipes do, but more lights definitely help. The only other upgrade I would conceivably want is the front suspension, but it's not as bad as the rear to the point I feel like I need to do it right away. I may also replace the headers, not really for sound or performance, but to move the heat coming off the exhaust. I have a friend with the same bike who wants to get the 131ci crate kit, but I've never gotten going from a stop thinking this bike needs to go faster. It's plenty fast, but that's not at all what it's for. I love this stupid two wheeled boat. I wanted it to do just about anything I can do in my car, just on two wheels, and it accomplishes that perfectly. If I'm traveling long distances, or my wife wants to join me on the back, or I'm going to a meeting and need to take my trunk so I can store my jacket/helmet on the bike, I can do all of those things comfortably. And it has a tighter lean angle than the sportster, so it gets around just fine.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 19:46
|
|
|
That's a good looking boat! I remember the Horde sticker, aye, from previously! The rear lights, particularly the registration plate lights, look great. I feel the same way about the 131, sure it'd be nice, but the Fat Bob doesn't need one at all, and certainly not at £10k. How do you feel about the stock mirrors? Did you get extenders/long stems/both like I did? I found the Fat Bob's stock mirrors absolutely garbage by how far in they were, showing me 90% shoulder. With the extenders and long stem mirrors replacing the stocks, they're perfect. I would have liked to try out other brands, but there's not that many out here.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 20:00
|
|
|
Steakandchips posted:That's a good looking boat! I remember the Horde sticker, aye, from previously! The rear lights, particularly the registration plate lights, look great. I actually quite like the stock mirrors. I took this from eye-level just sitting on it in my garage.  Might be because I've replaced the stock bars with ones with a better angle, could be my physical dimensions, but I only get a little bit of my shoulder in there. And I can fully see behind me from each mirror. I picked up extenders at one point to see if there was any other way I could angle the mirror that I liked/looked cool, but I wound up just going back to stock.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 20:10
|
|
|
I'm glad the stock ones work well for you! 
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 20:38
|
|
|
Any Sportster tire recommendations? I think Michelin Scorcher 31 are the stock tires on the 1200 Custom.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2021 02:58
|
|
|
Some nerd needs to write me a script that looks for 'Harley' and 'tyres' in every new post and automatically shits out a post from me that's just the words 'pirelli night dragon' matrix falling down the page forever. The scorcher, like all factory fitted tyres, is hot garbage wherein they spent most of their effort trying to get the tread and sidewall to match HD's marketing demands. The commander is what they would make if they weren't concerned with that poo poo, but it's still ultimately hamstrung by being a michelin and has nothing to recommend it over a pirelli. If you genuinely don't care about how the bike rides and just want the hardiest tyre you can get, continental and metzler make some squarish truck tyres I can't recall the name of, they last forever cause they're made of a proprietary teak/granite substrate.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2021 04:08
|
|
|
OK, fair enough. I believe the 1200 Custom specs 130/90-16 for the front, 150/80-16 for the rear. My go-to in Canada is FortNine, they have the front in the right size, but looks like they don't carry the rear. The only 150mm width rear is 18" if I'm reading the tire code correctly (150/70-18), and it looks like the only 16" rears are 130mm or 180mm. The Pirelli site says the only 16" rear is 180/70-16 From some brief internet HARLEY FORUMS searching, doesn't look like a 180 will fit. Looks like no night dragons for me 
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2021 14:45
|
|
|
epswing posted:My go-to in Canada is FortNine For tires, also consider Pete's Superbike in Quebec
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2021 15:57
|
|
|
epswing posted:OK, fair enough. I believe the 1200 Custom specs 130/90-16 for the front, 150/80-16 for the rear. Go to a different shop and get the dragons in the right size.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2021 16:15
|
|
|
epswing posted:OK, fair enough. I believe the 1200 Custom specs 130/90-16 for the front, 150/80-16 for the rear. https://www.pirelli.com/tires/en-us/motorcycle/all-tires/sheet/detail-night-dragon-gt That page shows you can get the right size in "GT" for the rear.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2021 16:24
|
|
|
Steakandchips posted:Go to a different shop and get the dragons in the right size. I didn't mean for it to be a "which shop to use" problem but a "the OEM doesn't make the tire size I need" problem. But... 40oz of fury posted:https://www.pirelli.com/tires/en-us/motorcycle/all-tires/sheet/detail-night-dragon-gt I didn't even notice the GT option, thanks! And it even says on the page, "100% mixable with all Night Dragon front tires" Thanks for coping with my tire ignorance, hog-thread! epswing fucked around with this message at 20:11 on Apr 19, 2021 |
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2021 17:52
|
|
|
Phoned the dealer and he's going to yank out the old heated gear lead, and replace it with 2 other brand new ones I have, so a working one and a working spare. I'm also putting in a backup Optimate SAE lead as well. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2021 14:22
|
|
|
If you’re handy with a soldering iron. Put only the SAE lead in. Then turn your two heated grips connectors into SAE dongles. Then, you’ll only need one lead attached, and it’ll always be sealed and dry (ish) until you replace the spare. And you’ll never need to spend more £££ when your backup rusts through next winter. Horse Clocks fucked around with this message at 17:48 on Apr 23, 2021 |
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2021 17:43
|
|
|
The heated grips are Harley proprietary ride by wire ones and I have no idea how they connect, nor am I going to go loving with them when they were £200+ and labour on top to get fitted. Unless you meant my two heated gear leads... My heated gear can already connect via SAE via an adapter I have, which works fine with Harley's built in SAE charger port, but that's a bit further down and slightly more of a pain to reach. Also Harley's SAE lead is fused with a 7.5amp fuse, which is lower than what I need for my entire heated gear kit on a cold day (but it works fine for just the jacket). A fine suggestion though, thank you.
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2021 18:03
|
|
|
There's also this thing: https://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/hotwired-sae-dc-adapter?sku_id=1134691
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2021 17:27
|
|
|
Strife posted:There's also this thing: https://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/hotwired-sae-dc-adapter?sku_id=1134691 Indeed I have one of those.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2021 21:51
|
|
|
Went to Harley Glasgow today and got cruise control fitted to the Fat Bob, and the heated gear leads sorted (old one had blown a fuse, wtf, no wonder contact cleaner and brushes etc were doing sweet gently caress all). While that was all happening, I test rode the Fat Boy and the LiveWire. Fat Boy: * The demo bike had 0 miles on it, I was the first one to ever ride this year's model, which was interesting, I have never ridden a brand new bike before. I put the first 17 miles on it or so. * Pretty. * Comfy, foot/leg angle was nice. * poo poo front brakes, absolutely dog poo poo. It has 1 front disc compared to the Fat Bob's 2, and seriously, if I am doing 20mph on the Fat Boy, and I loving reef on the front brake due to a sudden red light, I expect to come to a screeching halt, not gently glide past the stop line by a loving meter. Bob stops on a dime in comparison. * The angle of the ends of the handlebar impinges an outer nerve on each of my wrists. So, a nice bike, but no, not a bike I'd buy. LiveWire: Oh my god. It is perfect. It knows where you want to go instinctively, riding it is a pure melding of mind and machine. In the first 60 seconds, I reached for the clutch once when coming out of the Harley car park, but after that the idea of a clutch lever and gears was completely forgotten; Harley have knocked it out of the park with the LiveWire, it is effortless to ride and ride well. The throttle is mindblowingly good. I might buy one in a year or two. UUUuuuunnnnffffff. Pics from today of both the demo bikes:       
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2021 19:51
|
|
|
Single brake Harleys can be ok but not when they've got a solid manhole cover for a front wheel, I never noticed those only had one, that is terrible. I can't wait to have a go on a panam, it's been ages since I got remotely excited about any new bike.
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2021 19:58
|
|
|
Slavvy posted:Single brake Harleys can be ok but not when they've got a solid manhole cover for a front wheel, I never noticed those only had one, that is terrible. I didn't see a dirtglide at the showroom, probably none in Scotland yet. Have you tried a LiveWire yet? If not, you really should.
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2021 20:12
|
|
|
I haven't even seen one, the local distributor seems reluctant to try selling them. There is gently caress all electric charging infrastructure here and basically nobody interested in a 35 grand e-bike. I have also never seen a zero, brammo or energica in person, electric scooters are only just starting to make some headway and then basically only in the cbd - nz is like 95% rural and inbred, and anything you could possibly want to see is always an hour away by car from wherever you are. There's just no market for them atm.
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2021 21:45
|
|
|
Steakandchips posted:LiveWire: This review right here is how you know that in two years when you want to buy a livewire, your only option will be used ones. If Harley does anything with perfect and reliable accuracy, it’s murder great bikes.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2021 16:46
|
|
|
Hah! I might use the Scottish Government's £10,000 6 year interest-free electric motorcycle loan to pay down 2/5ths of the price of a demo LiveWire, and put the rest on a 2.9% personal loan... Maybe. See how flush I'm feeling in a few months.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2021 16:58
|
|
|
This might be better suited to the rant thread but currently it’s too alive with talk of trains, planes, helicopters, and Hunter S Thompson criticism. Holy loving poo poo the average HD dealership just simply can’t handle advancing technology. My brother bought a ‘21 street glide and wanted them to enable CarPlay. Now, CarPlay requires the WHIM (wireless headset interface module) to work properly - otherwise you can’t talk to Siri. It still works without it but you can’t handle phone calls and getting audio to play in your helmet is kind of finicky. John Maxwell posted a video a couple years ago showing how you could enable CarPlay in the shop computer and just select ‘no headset’ and it would work. They tried, and failed. Told him he needed the $350 WHIM. I happened to have a brand new one so we installed it in his bike. He went back to the dealership and they still couldn’t get it to work, telling him he probably needed to buy the $400 HD branded Sena headset for it to work. I don’t understand why HD announces these features but doesn’t make sure the individual dealers know gently caress all about them. I’d love a Livewire or Panamerica, on paper. In person it’s probably just too much of a shitshow to deal with your average dealer not understanding how batteries or radiators work.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2021 00:15
|
|
|
HD do training courses and online classes for their techs, but the dealers are always too dumb/skint/lazy to send them.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2021 01:51
|
|
|
Strife posted:I don’t understand why HD announces these features but doesn’t make sure the individual dealers know gently caress all about them This reminds me of Jensen Beeler's podcast, when they talked about how HD dealership staff just didn't have any training/motivation to sell "different" bikes like the XR1200 and mostly stuck them in the corner or under the stairs on the showroom floor. The fate of the Pan America similarly rests in the hands of dealerships that will either know how to sell them, or won't. Doesn't surprise me that they don't have any staff who understand how CarPlay works. Culture is hard to change, I guess.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2021 01:53
|
|
|
Strife posted:This might be better suited to the rant thread but currently it’s too alive with talk of trains, planes, helicopters, and Hunter S Thompson criticism. I mean you realize this is not something that is specific to harley. All car dealerships are mostly the same exact way.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2021 02:08
|
|
|
epswing posted:Culture is hard to change, I guess. Whitegoods and mattresses are both currently going through the same "we're gonna make more money treating this as any other retail commodity instead of a special snowflake scenario where a customer who has shown up to buy something must be convinced to buy what they are here to buy, by a person who thinks of the transaction as a conflict during which they must defeat the customer" that home computer stuff went through a decade ago, so it's probably only a matter of time.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2021 05:11
|
|
|
Valt posted:I mean you realize this is not something that is specific to harley. All car dealerships are mostly the same exact way. Ask me about having to show the people at kia NZ how to use their scan tool system because I spent months plugging into cars and playing with it while they stared in consternation at engrish instructions from korea the made no sense.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2021 05:59
|
|
|
The 1200 Custom is probably one of the less sporty Sportsters, how can I make it more sporty? I’m growing accustomed to scraping the pegs on what feels like every other corner, but it’s still pretty annoying. I plan to swap the forward controls out for mids (or perhaps further forward mids), but that won’t change the point at which harder parts (exhaust on the right side first?) start touching. What would the next step be, taller rear suspension?
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2021 04:03
|
|
|
epswing posted:The 1200 Custom is probably one of the less sporty Sportsters, how can I make it more sporty? I’m growing accustomed to scraping the pegs on what feels like every other corner, but it’s still pretty annoying. Yes, exactly. Definitely mid pegs, probably shorter ones (so they don't scrape so easy), and a taller rear. That'll also help with the absolutely godawful stock suspension you find on a Sportster.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2021 04:17
|
|
|
epswing posted:The 1200 Custom is probably one of the less sporty Sportsters, how can I make it more sporty? I’m growing accustomed to scraping the pegs on what feels like every other corner, but it’s still pretty annoying. Taller shocks, non-idiotic front wheel with the associated non-idiotic fork fix pretty much all of this. After that it's small stuff like getting high headers etc. If you aren't prepared for the cost and pain of ditching the 21" front wheel, doing basically anything else is completely pointless and I wouldn't bother.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2021 06:22
|
|
|
Slavvy posted:Taller shocks, non-idiotic front wheel with the associated non-idiotic fork fix pretty much all of this. After that it's small stuff like getting high headers etc. If you aren't prepared for the cost and pain of ditching the 21" front wheel, doing basically anything else is completely pointless and I wouldn't bother. As of 2012 the 1200 Custom comes with 16” wheels, front and rear. Mine’s a 2015 and I’m putting those 16” Night Dragons on soon.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2021 11:03
|
|
|
Ooooh in the case it's shocks + fork inserts and then 
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2021 11:54
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 8, 2024 00:52 |
|
|
Slavvy posted:Ooooh in the case it's shocks + fork inserts and then Something like these? https://fortnine.ca/en/progressive-suspension-monotube-fork-cartridge-kit
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2021 15:12
|
|