Seems like it's the week of proudly showing off how badly your motorcycle runs around here. Half of the bikes on the road are running around with dead cylinders, and backfiring and spluttering on the remaining ones that still run.
Doesn't keep the riders from flogging them, with pitiful results. Lots of frantic screaming engines, splutters and bangs, along with the howling "bwaaa" of a dead cylinder or two. And Harleys do not make good thumpers.
That's because they add life-saving loud pipes without making any changes to the carb, which would require a little bit of thought and skill.
I'm pretty sure Harleys are supposed to sound like that. It's an important part of the image.
And image is an important part of Harley sales.
Seeing somebody wring one of those things out, hearing the bellow and watching almost zero forward progress just hurts my heart. Those things can be made to move, but nobody seems to care about anything but the potatopotatopotato.
And the Good Doc chimes in in 3, 2, 1...
Beware of the Harley that looks like it was overhauled in the living room. They are usually powerful and ridden by fearless men.
I understand the HD "image" and all, but damn can't they make a bike that doesn't rack your balls every time it fires. The last one I rode was loosing bolts faster than they could be tightened.
I have always wondered if the appeal of the Harley will die out when those that associate a loping idle with a high performance engine are too old to ride.
Marketing Idea!!!!: Harley needs to create a motorcycle that mimics the sound of a fart can exhaust for their future target demographic...
I took a history of technology class and the teacher did a lecture on the Harley dynamic, and the fact that they don't work perfectly is what created such a niche for them and grew the HD 'brotherhood' so to speak. If you saw a Harley rider broken down on the side of the road, you stopped to help, and bam, friendship and camaraderie with the Harley at the center.
People wanted something to connect to others with, especially those who were alienated coming back from Vietnam, and Harleys were the perfect outlet. It's definitely a cool and interesting story of a company who can produce a less than perfect product and still thrive like they have.
alex wrote: And the Good Doc chimes in in 3, 2, 1...
He may be in Sturges this week, doing some research on this very subject, no doubt. I'd venture a guess that his bike runs better than most of the others there.
Hea, I'm not talking about goobers who just yanked the baffles out of their pipes. I'm talking about just plain bad running bikes. And more than one Harley has gone by the house running on just one cylinder (hence the thumper description).
Take your remaining 5 horsepower from the one cylinder still firing, drop it down to third gear, and wail on the bike to get 40 mph. BwwwAAAAAAAAHHHH.....BAng, Splutter, waaHHHH.
Oh man, it's bad. Really bad.
Funniest one took some real work. Wasn't sure I was seeing what I seemed to be seeing and hearing, but then I passed it, and yes, I was. Some guy actually cut the front cylinder off his Sportster to make a thumper. He'd removed the front jug and put big flat plate on it to cover the hole.
foxtrapper wrote: Some guy actually cut the front cylinder off his Sportster to make a thumper. He'd removed the front jug and put big flat plate on it to cover the hole.
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