Originally Posted by Luddite
That reads like some sort of disease Alistair... smile

In true TM fashion :-

Cool your jets TBM..That Honda is is no Goldie as any old m/cyclist knows the real Goldie is a BSA Gold Star Single... laugh2

Again I guess it is a generation kinda thing..? As one who grew up polishing the inside of Norton crankcases that took a better shine than the pot metal and varnish finish of early Jap bikes engines with handling that was upset at the sight of a white line, I stuck to my Brit bikes for a few years. My pal`s family owned a Honda m/cycle dealership, and I rode the first Gold wing to be delivered to my corner of the country.... The first bike I ever managed a power slide on, when accelerating out of a corner.... also the first bike I had skipping it`s front tyre under braking... Impressed or what, smooth as silk and just not my kind of machine for the roads I am so very fond of.

For me the Harley history closer matches that of Morgan. Unlike Honda ever pushing the boundaries, Harley and Morgan stuck with the same old same old as much and for as long as they could..?


Interestingly, its worth remembering that Harley was clinging onto life and close to bankruptcy, when Japan introduced their motorcycles (some models were still quite crude) into the USA. It was only the introduction of a new US tariff on all imported bikes over 750cc, specifically to protect the Harley internal market, that Harley still exists today.

Whilst Harley has kept true to its roots with the V twin, I would akin them more to USA car brands with their V8's than a European car brand. Its strange that many small engined international brand cars from MG's to Datsuns have had more success in the USA than the US brands have had in the rest of the world..........yet we still have the emotive names like Corvette, Mustang etc resonating in motoring folklore, maybe its more a case of the effectiveness of US advertising than the reality of the product. I'm a big fan of Harley's, love them to bits, but am well grounded when it comes to the reality of their product when divorced from the marketing hype.

Last edited by JohnHarris; 07/01/23 03:56 PM.
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