Join C.A.H.O.G.(R) At Your Local Harley-Davidson Motor Company(R) Dealer

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Cycle Asylum > Join C.A.H.O.G.(R) At Your Local Harley-Davidson Motor Company(R) Dealer

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Nazis make great engines! But then, I'm not a Harley owner.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2011 16:18

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 10:32

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

I'm not too sure about reliability but from my experience test riding them, they're pretty drat fun. Torque is fun.

# ¿ Nov 15, 2011 00:21

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Armyman25 posted:

The shear amount of HD merch is crazy. I think you can basically live your entire life utilizing HD gear.

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# ¿ Nov 16, 2011 21:36

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

I actually gotta side with Daniel J. Layer on this one. Putting a light that says ABS on a vehicle without ABS is misleading. We all know whether or not it really has ABS because we're technical type people who work on bikes and read bike forums. Most people aren't, and shouldn't be punished for not being so.

I'm aware that a lot of vehicle manufacturers do this, though.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2011 21:16

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

I still think that's misleading. If it's an unlit light for heated grips, ok, cause who gives a poo poo. But ABS is the most significant safety feature you can get on a motorcycle and it can easily mean the difference between life and death. There should be no ambiguities about poo poo like that. Especially since we're talking about a couple dollar part (plastic dashboard face or something) that would not bankrupt a company to make 2-3 versions of.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2011 23:47

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

babyeatingpsychopath posted:

There are no ambiguities. I get into my brand new car. The ABS light doesn't come on with the rest of the lights on the test. I go to a gravel parking lot and lock the brakes up. I go to the dealer. "Your car does not have ABS." Confusion forever and irrevocably resolved.

Even if I only drive the car in straight lines on Saturday mornings with no wind, rain, or clouds, I test the nondestructive safety features at least once. If you don't and haven't done this, then you are irresponsible, and can't prove sound judgement, and aren't allowed to have the government make your judgement calls for you at someone else's expense.

There are no ambiguities to you because as I said you're an automotively minded guy who went out of his way to test something that no normal person would test or should be expected to test. Does an airline expect you the layperson customer to test whether their seatbelts or oxygen masks work before you consent to go up in the plane? No, they're just supposed to work, and it's supposed to be abundantly clear even to technologically ignorant people what they are and how to use them.

DILLIGAF posted:

Come on, that is a crock.

My Jeep has a controls for blue tooth phone connection right on the face panel for the radio, but since I didn't choose to pay for the navi system, that option is not available to me.

So if I get in a wreck and can't reach my phone, I should sue Chrysler cause I can't call 911 using hands free?

I know what options came on the vehicle I bought and if you are too stupid to even read the contract you are signing (much less choose the options you are paying for) then you should have NO right to sue later.

Pretty sure I addressed this point when I mentioned the heated grips. Bluetooth cannot be construed as a life-saving device, which ABS is specifically designed to be.

I'm not saying I endorse this guy's lawsuit, I think he's a loving idiot too. But I think it's immoral from a manufacturer's perspective to make products that have user-interface ambiguities about life saving safety components. I don't think you should gently caress around with that stuff. And it [ABS] is way more significant on bikes than on cars.

# ¿ Dec 18, 2011 04:09

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

KozmoNaut posted:

There is no ambiguity. It's a shared gauge cluster and the text "ABS" is on there in black on black, only visible in direct sunlight or if you're specifically looking for it with a flashlight. Starkly unlike the actual available features on that particular bike, identified by actually lighting up and being visible in normal conditions.

If it really is that hard to see then I withdraw my complaint. I only care about what's obvious to the owner. I've never seen a Harley's dashboard that's offered with ABS up close so I wouldn't know. I'm envisioning a dashboard plate with the letters ABS in high contrast lettering and an LED next to it that just happens to never light up if it doesn't have ABS. That's the kind of thing I'd have a problem with.

# ¿ Dec 18, 2011 17:17

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

http://www.bulova.com/en_us/watch/harley-davidson?collection_id=871

Aw yeah.

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# ¿ Mar 4, 2012 18:26

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

sigtrap posted:

Or, in a year we'll be able to buy Indian chainsaws.

Not too far from reality, Indian did make outboard motors at some point. Although I think they only made like 12 of them.

And Harley made snowmobiles

# ¿ Mar 9, 2012 21:47

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Iowa?

What happened to Mass.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2012 00:47

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Yeah but that's bullshit. Indian was from Mass. California might as well be Macau.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2012 22:19

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

You guys are mean to Harley.

# ¿ May 17, 2012 19:11

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Harley is gonna be water cooled soon :911:

# ¿ May 21, 2012 02:55

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Yeah, I mean ALL of them. V-rod is a separate model line of its own.

# ¿ May 21, 2012 03:04

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

2ndclasscitizen posted:

There's some patent drawings floating around of H-D's water cooling solution for the non-V-Rod models, they're basically just going to be water cooling the heads and tucking the radiators pretty much totally out of sight. Air-cooled engines are not long for this world anyway, emissions standards will kill them off sooner rather than later.

That's why they're doing it. Even BMW has a road ready prototype of a water cooled boxer already.

I'd make fun of Harley's future water cooled heads with finned air cooled cylinders, but that's exactly what my Ducati is. It's still idiotic though.

# ¿ May 21, 2012 03:17

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

I remember hearing somebody commenting critically on an HD marketing thing a few years ago, can't remember the details, but there was some HD internal memo about leveraging their brand image or something, and the guy said, "You already have a customer base who tattoos your logo into their skin. How much more leveraged can you get?"

# ¿ May 21, 2012 14:16

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Deeters posted:

If you guys are willing to believe a "I know a guy who knows a guy" story, those water cooled head ideas have been floating around Harley for years and have repeatedly been shot down. Emissions probably will eventually force it, but I wouldn't expect it any time soon.

Yeah but I know for a fact it's true that BMW has a water cooled boxer in road testing now, and my understanding is the reason behind this is European emissions regulations, forcing all manufacturers to go water-cooled in the very near future, just like you said. Surely this applies to HD too if they ever want to sell bikes there in the future.

# ¿ May 22, 2012 00:43

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

I feel bad, cause if Harley people invaded a BMW thread, I'd want to stab them all with a drive shaft. So here's a Harley I like

http://www.pipeburn.com/home/2010/11/17/harley-sportster-cafe-racer.html

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# ¿ May 23, 2012 03:26

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Marv Hushman posted:

Hot drat, where do I sign up?

I'm not convinced those are all BMW owners. I only see a couple Aerostiches.

# ¿ May 23, 2012 05:42

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

I know a fair bit about BMW subculture. Oakleys and Hooters, no. Athletic wear and NPR, yes. And none of their exhausts will ever wake you up at night.

# ¿ May 24, 2012 03:14

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Hold on, are those inverted forks? On a Harley? This isn't the America I was born in

# ¿ Aug 17, 2012 00:58

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Jim Silly-Balls posted:

I live in Milwaukee, and this poo poo makes me so drat mad, because I really want to root for them, but they keep pulling the dumbest moves.

Hey now, they bought Agusta from a couple Italian dudes for 14 million and then sold it back to the same 2 Italian dudes for like 1 million 3 years later. As an Italian bike owner, I appreciate what H-D is doing for Italian private industry.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2012 03:46

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

I picture that guy doing nothing but wearing sunglasses, hanging out at casinos, and occasionally talking on his cell with random CEOs to trade something for another few million for the last 20 years. With "like a boss" written in front of him in Italian.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2012 14:29

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Trying to imagine what it looks like to change the brake fluid on that thing.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2012 13:26

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Ulysses is a rad bike, too. Guy I work with owns one, I rode it a couple times. Lots of fun, comfortable, sounds cool, my only complaint was the GM-style low quality switch gear.

# ¿ Sep 23, 2012 02:51

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Raven457 posted:

I'm sorry, but this is hilarious.

As a Ducati owner :smug:

, I found that hilarious too.

# ¿ Jul 24, 2013 01:05

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

HaB posted:

Right but if I make a car and call it a Turbo, and it doesn't actually have a Turbo in it, but I'm still selling it as a Turbo - I'm pretty sure that's like...illegal.

You should see the Chinese scooters I work on. Quite a lot of them say "supercharge" or "turbo" on the side. Some even say "ABS" on the brakes. They don't have ABS. That should be loving illegal.

# ¿ Nov 16, 2013 20:37

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Not sure I remember that one. On a related note, BMW early model ABS systems (80s) often break these days and they're annoying as hell. They blink multiple red lights at you incessantly. And it's like $2000 to fix a system like that. I've seen a number of those bikes with electrical tape over the lights on the dash.

# ¿ Nov 18, 2013 03:03

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

High Protein posted:

Ironhead known problems: the engine is poo poo and breaks all the time every time.

I know this is a dick thing to post in a Harley thread cause I'm not a Harley owner, but as a Ducati owner :smug:

, we've worked on a bunch of ironheads at the shop and everyone who worked on them hated them. I think the biggest complaints were about the transmission actually.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2014 02:40

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Sorry for being a dick posting this in the Harley thread when I have nothing useful ever to contribute to the Harley thread, but when was the last time HD made a bike as light as 500lb? Wouldn't that have been like the 50s/60s 750s?

# ¿ Jul 2, 2014 00:26

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

I generally have a high opinion of Shinkos. Only once can I remember a manufacturing problem with any of them.

# ¿ Jan 13, 2015 03:30

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

I rode one with mid pegs and low bars once, it felt awesome.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2016 01:16

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 10:32

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

clutchpuck posted:

Motorrad does the same thing and it is an abomination.

Pretty sure BMW abandoned this a couple years ago. But they did have it from like 1984 until then.

# ¿ Jun 12, 2017 03:04

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