[starvingstudent]

NOBODY CARES ABOUT THESE COMPANIES!!! American heavyweight V-twin fans ride harleys. Everyone else rides imports. These other companies have no place. Their bikes are poorly made and unoriginal.

 

[111]

Worthy of a review..?

Perhaps not...sadly the cruiser genre tends to rouse the more pendantic and vociferous of the squid culture, and the inevitable flames will be only mildly entertaining. Our sport, or dare I say "lifestyle", is rich in its applied diversity, but bespotted with pockets of brand bigotry and a droll tendency toward egocentric intolerance based upon perceived/imagined skill levels. Thus, why bother with any of the "clones" which often mimic to painstaking detail the best selling product version from Milwaukee?

If you are so inclined as to test an American V-Twin product... why not make it interesting? Test several together - do a V-Twin based comparison "shoot-out" - and do it from the "squid" perspective - test 'em any way you want. Throw a genuine HD in the mix as a control benchmark, or how about American Honda donating a new VTX1800? I can see Harley, Big Dog, Ultra, Polaris Victory, Indian (CMC), Confederate, and maybe there's an Excelsior Henderson, Quantum, or new Titan still around... (I have heard they may be the next to feel the tug of the bankruptcy anomoly). I'm certain HD, Polaris, Confederate, and probably Indian would be willing to play...

Of course, there is a downside; you might attract a host of cruiser riders as regular readers/users, and sometimes the less secure squids can be quite proprietary of that which they might perceive as their "turf"... they can be such sensitive lads.

 

[marc]

Re: Worthy of a review..?

my thoughts exactly. a real apples to apples comparo. i don't care what one rides, just don't think you're the only grip twisting fool on the road & you know it all. the owner survey of the clone-bikes would be a real good thing. there is lot of allegations of shoddy build quality & poor reliability. a couple guys i know have clone bikes & actually like them. they have that old "built it in my living room last winter" personalised parts scrounger type touch. let's put 'em under the microscope & see wazzupp wit' dat!!!

 

[ducatirdr]

Re: Harley vs Clones

As a Harley rider (Road King with a Fatboy and Sporty in the past) I would like to say thank you to the clone competition. Before they showed up the stock bikes had the EVO 80" engine that was pitiful and the brakes were equal to the performance of the engine. They sucked!

I’m sure HD boss’ were not happy with the clone industry beating them in some areas and took it as a threat to start making their bikes better. Now we have the Twincam with 88" or 95" from the factory and how about 4 piston caliper brakes. This performance certainly isn’t show stopping. It’s what it should be from the start for a cruiser.

Now if they could only put progressive springs on all their bikes suspensions and keep them from bottoming under normal riding conditions.

Now you wouldn’t know that there is any problem with a Harley if you never rode anything but. That’s why most riders never ride anything else.

BTW – I spent $15k on making my V-twin motorcycle faster and handle better. It’s called a 996 ;-)

 

[ZRXRy]

Re: And you think Harley is

Hmmm, your sportster 1200 is better than anything else you've had. Better how? Just asking, 'cause it certainly can't touch most Japanese bikes for handling, ride quality, braking, or power output. Fit and finish might be better, although all the Harley's I've ever looked at close up left me underwhelmed - cheap looking stampings, nuts and bolts that look like they were sourced at Home Depot, etc.

Ah, maybe you mean you that you like it better than any of the others you've owned. OK, can't argue with you there, if you like it, you like it, and I can respect that even if I don't agree.

 

[nebo]

If you really want to be exclusive and prove that money is no object you go and buy a bike that won't be around next year(very exclusive), has no dealerships in your end of the country, no parts available at the dealership, no resale value and NONE OF IT MATTERS. Jaguar did it for years...

 

[roxford]

Re: And you think Harley is

Actually have your information correct before you bash anything. Yes the Metric Cruisers are very good at fit and finish. But the Sportster was ranked #2 overall out of 10 bikes tested in Cruiser magazine, they even apologized to Metric owners because they didnt think it could be that good either. It was ranked #1 for handling. So it certainly CAN touch Japanese bikes for the things you mentioned. So lets chalk it up to personal taste and go riding!!!