Every year I take a glance at the tires, check the fluid levels, charge the battery and I am off and riding. No parts shimmy and shake off, no puddles of icky black fluids appear under the machine, just smooth rides with quick throttle response and a trouble free ride.Often times when I take off on a road trip with my 26 year old Honda I will pass unfortunate Harley riders who are stopped beside the road peering vainly into the bowels of their V-twin engine.
Don't get me wrong, I think Harley Davidson makes wonderful machines, they just haven't got it down to a science yet like the Asians. Harleys make a wonderful bike with a wonderfull throaty sound, until they poke the guts out of their mufflers with a crow bar, the chrome, leather and finish look good until they start adding oodles of tassels and studs, the riders dress in everything branded with the HD logo including their underwear, but for the love of mechanics could they please get that thing to stop trying to shake itself to bits.
Apparently the V-twin configuration of their engines that makes that distinctive and lovely sound is what sets up the un-godly vibrations that rattle teeth, bone and sends parts scurrying off to the road below.
Another thing that chaffs me in a literal way is that when I buy a bike I am not trying to buy a lifestyle. Being perceived as a non-conforming bad-ass biker while dressing like I belong to an exclusive club of boomers is silly. I already have a conformist lifestyle and like to travel with reliable transportation under my butt.
All bikes have some faults or shortcomings but while Harley riders are waiting at the dealerships for their repairs, us Jap crappers will be putting on the miles and doing some trouble free riding.
Feel free to pile on or defend your ride in the comments below, but please no profanity.
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