Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms That's Not Nice

And vice versa I reckon my old Goldie is closer to a Trad Mog than your Harley, and far less to polish

#threaddriftisus

That reads like some sort of disease Alistair...

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...

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..?

You are absolutely right with this statement

... and now we return to the original topic. Thanks Alistair

I happily replaced my Heritage Softail classic with a much older Gold Wing (1200 Aspencade). Knees are too b*99ered now for a heavy bike, sadly.
I still regret selling my T140V Bonnie

Very nice Road King, I had the very first version of the Road King released in '94, a great bike, better balanced than the top heavy Electra glides. Being a 1340 carb, nice to look at, but in standard form it was pretty gutless and wooden handling, so I had to (from new) junk the exhausts, tyres, ignition module, change the carb jetting etc to cope better riding 2 up. Great for knocking around town, day long ride outs, occasional weekends away but for long distance touring I'd prefer a BMW or Honda.

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.

I'm looking at getting something from the Royal Enfield range in a few months - I reckon they're the Morgan equivalent in the bike world and will be an ideal stablemate for my 4/4.

Don't you just love TM for it's tradition of "Thread Dift" What on earth will this thread be like by page 2?

We will all be moaning about Plus Six brakes, the weather, the price of a pint and gentlemen wearing odd coloured trousers thinking they are fashionable. It is the natural path of things.