Good day, folks!
I had my first "serious" bike about 15 years ago. It was the famed Honda Nighthawk 750. I loved that bike because it looked and felt and rode like a bike and not like a spacecraft.
I wanted to get back into bikes about 5 years ago. My buddies at the time all rode Harleys, and they convinced me that Harleys were now reliable and high-quality. So I went with them to the local Harley dealer and bought a 2000 XL Custom. The 3 month wait added much to my anticipation of this bike. It *looked* like the bike I wanted. Harley riders all seemed happy and well-adjusted. I was sure I'd made the right decision.
3 months later, my bike arrived. Shaking with anticipation, I went to the dealer and there she was, a very pretty bike indeed, and as one neighboor would say, "very shiny". Harley's have a fairly restrictive break-in procedure. So as I pulled out of the parking lot, I kept it very easy. Yet I still immediately felt that this bike was completely without cajones. 50 miles later, I was allowed to rev it a little more, and still I could not believe how much this machine felt like a moped. I continued through the break-in period and one day gave her all she had, and it wasn't very much.
I got the stage I. That didn't do anything. I got the Thunder this and the Screaming that, still nothing. Finally I slapped down $6000 and had the entire top end re-built, new carb, cams, ignition, the works. Everything but the bottom end had been replaced. Again a tedious break-in period, after which I could feel a bit more bike, but not much.
3000 miles later, the bike blew up on the freeway and now sits as a pile of junk in my garage: http://www.slaughters.com/albums/thumbnails.php?album=18.
I figured the heap was worth around $3000. I also figured a new "real" engine would run around $7000. So I told myself if I could find something I liked for near $10K, I'd make the conversion.
Monday night I signed the paperwork on a 2002 Warrior that had been reduced to $9,999.
I was only allowed to ride it up and down a 2 block stretch, but I could immediately tell there was something special between the wheels. I've now taken out through the canyons (careful not to take it much above 3,000 RPM), and I finish my rides giggling and drooling rather than trying to figure out how to get more power.
To you folks who never bothered with the Harley, you are extremely lucky. This Warrior is what a current Harley would be if they'd kept their shi* together and not ridden on the name for the last 30 years. This bike has handling, power, AND soul. The bike growels. This bike sounds much more menacing than the countless Harley's out there with their bologna cut drag pipes. It's not the volume, it's the sound of power hiding in that fat exhaust can. You can feel it. I can't imagine what this bike sounds like with a set of Hooker headers /emoticons/emotion-1.gif
There were no moped fantasies following this purchase. This is a bike. It is beautiful and tight and hyper engineered. This is the first Jap cruieser I've seen that really truly enters into the Harley domain. IMHO, this bike is the first of the Harley killers.
I know there are ****'s Angels and pot-bellied ZZ Top look-alikes laughing at me right now. But I'll be the one laughing at the next stop light.
I had my first "serious" bike about 15 years ago. It was the famed Honda Nighthawk 750. I loved that bike because it looked and felt and rode like a bike and not like a spacecraft.
I wanted to get back into bikes about 5 years ago. My buddies at the time all rode Harleys, and they convinced me that Harleys were now reliable and high-quality. So I went with them to the local Harley dealer and bought a 2000 XL Custom. The 3 month wait added much to my anticipation of this bike. It *looked* like the bike I wanted. Harley riders all seemed happy and well-adjusted. I was sure I'd made the right decision.
3 months later, my bike arrived. Shaking with anticipation, I went to the dealer and there she was, a very pretty bike indeed, and as one neighboor would say, "very shiny". Harley's have a fairly restrictive break-in procedure. So as I pulled out of the parking lot, I kept it very easy. Yet I still immediately felt that this bike was completely without cajones. 50 miles later, I was allowed to rev it a little more, and still I could not believe how much this machine felt like a moped. I continued through the break-in period and one day gave her all she had, and it wasn't very much.
I got the stage I. That didn't do anything. I got the Thunder this and the Screaming that, still nothing. Finally I slapped down $6000 and had the entire top end re-built, new carb, cams, ignition, the works. Everything but the bottom end had been replaced. Again a tedious break-in period, after which I could feel a bit more bike, but not much.
3000 miles later, the bike blew up on the freeway and now sits as a pile of junk in my garage: http://www.slaughters.com/albums/thumbnails.php?album=18.
I figured the heap was worth around $3000. I also figured a new "real" engine would run around $7000. So I told myself if I could find something I liked for near $10K, I'd make the conversion.
Monday night I signed the paperwork on a 2002 Warrior that had been reduced to $9,999.
I was only allowed to ride it up and down a 2 block stretch, but I could immediately tell there was something special between the wheels. I've now taken out through the canyons (careful not to take it much above 3,000 RPM), and I finish my rides giggling and drooling rather than trying to figure out how to get more power.
To you folks who never bothered with the Harley, you are extremely lucky. This Warrior is what a current Harley would be if they'd kept their shi* together and not ridden on the name for the last 30 years. This bike has handling, power, AND soul. The bike growels. This bike sounds much more menacing than the countless Harley's out there with their bologna cut drag pipes. It's not the volume, it's the sound of power hiding in that fat exhaust can. You can feel it. I can't imagine what this bike sounds like with a set of Hooker headers /emoticons/emotion-1.gif
There were no moped fantasies following this purchase. This is a bike. It is beautiful and tight and hyper engineered. This is the first Jap cruieser I've seen that really truly enters into the Harley domain. IMHO, this bike is the first of the Harley killers.
I know there are ****'s Angels and pot-bellied ZZ Top look-alikes laughing at me right now. But I'll be the one laughing at the next stop light.
