New 500cc Harley-Davidson?

[Hutch]

Exactly.  I had my share of Hondas back in the 80s.  Reliable, fast and nimble.  Now I ride a 1999 HD Heritage Softail and wouldn't trade it for three Hondas.

Question:  if Harleys are so bad, why does everybody clone them?

God alone knows.  I just wish there were more classic UJM's to chose from.  Suzuki, Yamaha, Honda, and Kawasaki are all wasting valuable resources making Harley-wannabe V-twin cruisers.

[Lee]

Whaddya think of this neoclassic?

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=174816702702465&set=pb.121584168025719.-2207520000.1378949869.&type=3&theater

[Levant]

http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/HW-india-will-soon-get-a-low-cost-500cc-harley-davidson-bike-4369967-NOR.html

The article doesn't say if the bikes will be imported into the US, as I don't think that information has been released yet.
My wife has been working on this project to get these new bikes into production for almost a year now.

They made a 50cc bike in the 60's, perhaps even before; I just remember wanting one but couldn't come up with the 300 dollar price tag.

[RoadKingLarry]

http://www.bloomberg.com/data-visualization/federal-reserve-emergency-lending/#/Toyota_Motor_Corp/?total=true&mcp=true&mc=true&taf=false&cpff=false&pdcf=false&tslf=false&stomo=false&amlf=false&dw=false/

Jeebus, can't there be a thread about H-D motorcycles without the typical douchebaggery?

Haters gotta hate. 

[charby]

God alone knows.  I just wish there were more classic UJM's to chose from.  Suzuki, Yamaha, Honda, and Kawasaki are all wasting valuable resources making Harley-wannabe V-twin cruisers.

Remember they make what they can sell a lot of and profit from.

Triumph is making some classic looking bikes, you could always get one of theirs.

[bedlamite]

Remember they make what they can sell a lot of and profit from.

Yeah, T-shirts.

[White Horseradish]

God alone knows.  I just wish there were more classic UJM's to chose from.  Suzuki, Yamaha, Honda, and Kawasaki are all wasting valuable resources making Harley-wannabe V-twin cruisers.

They are not. They actually do make them. There are vastly more bikes out there than what gets imported into US. Yamaha had the XJR in 400 and 1200/1300 flavors since 1998, but never sold them in either North or South America.

[dm1333]

My old Shovelhead Harley has a very poor power-to-displacement ratio.

The power-to-weight ratio is certainly worse.

Ask me if I care.

+1!  As far as poor power to displacement?  I'm thinking of buying one of these instead of rebuilding my engine next go around.

http://www.sscycle.com/product/Evolution-Big-Twin/Engines/V111-Complete-Assembled-Engine-p21079.html

Have fun trying to buy a complete engine for your UJM now, let alone 20 or 30 years after production stops!   

[charby]

+1!  As far as poor power to displacement?  I'm thinking of buying one of these instead of rebuilding my engine next go around.

http://www.sscycle.com/product/Evolution-Big-Twin/Engines/V111-Complete-Assembled-Engine-p21079.html

Have fun trying to buy a complete engine for your UJM now, let alone 20 or 30 years after production stops!   

I think was a thread a little while ago about someone wanting a imported bike from 1970's and parts were almost impossible to get. Got a 1940's HD?, they got parts.

[RoadKingLarry]

Got a 1940's HD?, they got parts

Which was a major factor in my switch to HD almost 25 year ago. At the time I had a Suzuki GS1000GL (shaft drive). It was a great bike, low maintenance, almost as low maintenance as my Harleys, almost as easy to work on as my Harley's. The bike was only 10 years old. Everytie I needed a part for it the dealer woul have to order it, for oil and air filters to speedo cables and brake pads.
I've never had any problems getting maintenance items for either of the Harleys I've owned.
It's not as bad as it used to be but the aftermarket support simply doesn't exist for 25-30+ year old UJMs the way it does for HD.

[dogmush]

I think was a thread a little while ago about someone wanting a imported bike from 1970's and parts were almost impossible to get. Got a 1940's HD?, they got parts.

They ought to, they're the same parts the current bikes use.


 

[brimic]

There are vastly more bikes out there than what gets imported into US. Yamaha had the XJR in 400 and 1200/1300 flavors since 1998, but never sold them in either North or South America.

I had no idea that they were still making the XJ line, I'd want one of those....

[brimic]

It's not as bad as it used to be but the aftermarket support simply doesn't exist for 25-30+ year old UJMs the way it does for HD.

For the worst case parts scenario, H-D still has a few people in their factories that reproduce any part that has ever gone on a H-D bike, but I don't think that service is very cheap.

[White Horseradish]

Have fun trying to buy a complete engine for your UJM now, let alone 20 or 30 years after production stops!   

While my FJ isn't quite a UJM, I can buy an engine for it without a problem. I can even buy one that's been souped up and is 1300+ cc. The XJR 1200 engine is mostly interchangeable with the FJ (except the fin shape) and Legends and Bandolero racing are based entirely around the FJ engine.

I'm kinda puzzled why you'd need to buy a whole engine for a bike, unless you are racing it. I've taken a ride on a Yamaha with 100K on the clock, and it ran just fine.

[charby]

I'm kinda puzzled why you'd need to buy a whole engine for a bike, unless you are racing it. I've taken a ride on a Yamaha with 100K on the clock, and it ran just fine.

Want more Cubic Inches!

[Balog]

http://www.bloomberg.com/data-visualization/federal-reserve-emergency-lending/#/Toyota_Motor_Corp/?total=true&mcp=true&mc=true&taf=false&cpff=false&pdcf=false&tslf=false&stomo=false&amlf=false&dw=false/

Jeebus, can't there be a thread about H-D motorcycles without the typical douchebaggery?

If you look up the thread, my "douchebaggery" (classy, thanks) was in response to your snippy little bitchiness about people who are too stupid to like Harleys. You asked a question, I answered it. If you're going to whine about the answer, don't ask the question.

And that's disappointing about Toyota.

[Gewehr98]

And, thanks to the personal turn this one took, that's all she wrote (rode?), folks!