Snippets

[Crusty]

They say Hello back and wish you had been able to come down.

[BKB]

I've got 2 of those Kermit chairs, John. If you can't scrape up the $$ by next summer, you can borrow one of mine. Leg extensions & cup holder included. I highly recommend them. Very comfortable, & sturdy. Had them for about 10 years & use them for everything. & if you work at it, the legs will fit in the bag with the chair, so you only have one piece to pack on.

[Crusty]

At 4:40 AM


I woke up at 3:00 and I was wide awake, so I’ve just spent the past hour and a half playing on Google Maps plotting my route to Tuktoyaktuk. I’m barely computer literate and I don’t know how to do a screen grab of the map with my route on it; but I can describe it.

Starting from my house in Cheviot, Ohio, I’m going to head for Cedaredge, Colorado to visit a friend. From there, I’m heading for Missoula, Montana and Rt. 93 north. That will bring me into Canada. I’ll ride that through Banff and Jasper National Parks, then I’ll pick up rt. 40. I take that to Dawson Creek, BC, then get on Rt. 97 and take that to Watson Lake in Yukon and then take Rt. 4 to rt. 2 to the Dempster Highway (Rt.5) to Inuvik then up to Tuktoyaktuk and the Beaufort Sea (Arctic Ocean).

From there, I head back down the Dempster and ride into Dawson City, then I’ll take the top of the World Highway over into Chicken Alaska. I won’t be in Alaska for a long while; I’ll take Rt.5 to Rt. 2 to Alcan Border then get on Rt.1.

I’ll be on Rt. 1 for a while, but then I’ll get on Rt. 37 just before Upper Liard and take that south until I hit Rt. 16. That will bring me to Prince George and Rt. 97 which will bring me back into the US in Washington.

Once back into the US, I’ll make my way down to Cornville, Arizona, where I’ll visit with another friend, then head for home.

I’ll be doing a little backtracking, but not very much. it’s basically one big loop.

Google says it’s 10,700 miles, but it will be more; just as they say it’ll take 184 hours. That only applies if you travel at the speed limit and never get a red light. I figure it’ll take me about a month. It’s going to be one hell of a ride - the Ride of a Lifetime.

Now, I think I’ll try to get a little more sleep.

[sprink]

Picked up "Ghost Rider" by Neil Peart to read while I sit around. Just read about the northern parts of your route yesterday. Screwloose Dan did some form of it quite a few years ago on a sportster. Sounds like quite a ride. Looking forward to more planning and then the stories!

[Crusty]

Winds of Change



I learned to ride motorcycles in the late 60s. I had friends like John Annal and Joe Hardy who had bought basket case Indian Chiefs and were riding them around. John had a ’48 and Joe had a ’47. At that time, you could get a basket case for $50.00 or an assembled running Chief for $200.00. Being broke teenagers, we settled for cheap.

I went with John down to Lucky Thiebault’s (pronounced T-Bolt) place, one day. John was buying an old mouse trap so that he could convert his bike to a foot shift/hand clutch setup.

Lucky was an interesting character. Two things stand out in my memory. First, he hated dogs that chased motorcycles. He had a scabbard on the front forks of his bike that held a baseball bat he also had copies of the Massachusetts law saying it was legal to kill any animal who attacked you on a bike. Second, he felt that motorcycle evolution stopped with Flat head engines. He didn’t like overhead valves.

I’ve noticed that Harley riders, in general have leanings in that direction. They don’t like changes. When the MoFoCo introduced the new Sportster Frame on the XLCR, then extended that to all the Sportsters in 1979, Harley riders didn’t like the change. I heard comments like, “It makes the bike look Japanese.”

In 1983, the XR 1000 debuted, and I heard more negative comments. I remember one biker I was talking to at a Stealership telling me that his Sportster was making 90 Horsepower (it was built); why should he consider getting an XR?

Then came the Evolution Engines. First, the Big Twins, then the 883 followed a couple of months later by the 1100. More negative comments, but fewer in number, as Harleys were becoming popular and the new bikes didn’t break like the older bikes did.

Then Erik Buell came along and showed how to get almost double the Horsepower and torque reliably out of a Sportster engine while making it handle and stop an order of magnitude better.

The traditionalist H-D folks hated Buells. The idea that a Harley could actually go, handle and stop was sacrilege. besides, they looked funny. A bike made with an S&S engine, a Drag Specialties frame and having not one component made by HDI was perfectly acceptable as a Harley, but a Buell Thunderbolt, made by a company owned by the MoFoCo using parts manufactured by the MoFoCo was to be sneered at. Buells were generally looked down on by many of the H-D faithful and the majority of Stealerships.

Now, Harley has come out with new models. Everybody mocked the Pan America until all the BMW riders started getting rid of their Bavarian Blimps and buying every Pan Am the MoFoCo built. Nobody likes the Sportster S (Including me) and people are quick to dump on the new Nightster. “It ain’t a real Harley!”, “It looks like a Jap bike!”

On Badweb, there are many Harley haters. They can’t forget that Jackass Wandell killed Buell. (I find it interesting that they see nothing wrong with the way Polaris killed Victory; which to me was a very similar action) The haters will find nothing good about the new Harleys. Personally, I’m hoping that the MoFoCo does bring the Bronx out. It looks like a bike that I might want.

On the XL Forum, as well, there are many who are quick to denigrate the new bikes. They aren’t pushrod engines and they’re water cooled. Harleys ain’t supposed to be water cooled! “The new Nightster looks like a bad Japanese copy of a Harley!”

It feels like I’m back in 1969 in Brockton, Massachusetts at Lucky Thiebault’s shop listening to him expound on why Flatheads were the pinnacle of motorcycle engineering.

So far, none of the new bikes meets my needs, though the Pan America comes closer than the other two. The Bronx, however looks like something that might just fit my needs. I plan to take a demo ride on all of them before I pass final judgement. Maybe the Spurtster S will capture my heart. I’d give long odds against that, but until I ride one, I just don’t know. Maybe the Pan American will speak to me. I’m impressed enough with what I’ve read and seen in person, that it has a real possibility. And I even like the new Nightster, in spite of some flaws in its design (for my wants).

I won’t badmouth them until I ride them. It was a Demo ride that made me fall in love with Buells. And it was a Demo Ride that hooked me on a new Roadster. And it was a Demo ride that made me realize that a Triumph was the wrong bike for me, back in 1996.

I do get tired of all the blind hate, though.

[sportsterpaul]

Amen John, I’m with you. I keep an open mind although a narrow one, ha!

[Tomcatt]

Originally Posted by sportsterpaul

I keep an open mind although a narrow one, ha!

I agree, but what I don't want is the added complexity of the Revolution motors. The air cooled Sportsters are simple to work on, except for Canbus anyway. That I had to accept to get the tuning ability the 2nd gen EFI gives with Powervision and Target Tune. For me, the added complexity (and no 4.5 gal tanks) are deal breakers. Plus, I really like how my 1200C has turned out and I have a BMW R9T to go with it when I want sportier with more power.