I take a bit of offense to all this Japanese Motocycle bike- slamming,
after all I own one of the high-tech marvels, not a crotch rocket but a
cruiser. Harley's are hobby bikes, you buy one, you now have a new hobby:
keeping it running. Japanese and German motorcycles are daily drivers,
reliable and confident. I'll take either one of those imports over any Harley
any day. I don't like rewarding poor engineering and low-tech designs. My
mufflers aren't punched and the bike purrs like a kitten. Shaft drive, DOHC
motor, hydraulic self sdjusting lifters, electronic ignition, water cooled,
hydro/pneumatic suspension, full instrument cluster (speedo, tach, oil, temp,
gear, turn, light, lamp), and positive neutral finder. Find any of that on a
Harley and you have one that cost 3-4 times what I paid for my "Jap" bike, if
you can even find one with any of it.
I wish my Dakota had some features of the motorcycle. I could definitely
go with the DOHC and Hydraulic Lifters, those are so smooth on the bike. The
only thing it's missing is the fuel injection of the BMW's and I wouldn't have
to do anything to the bike except change the oil and put gas in it. Oh, and
when I drove it off the lot, It lost a grand total of $300 in value. That's
less than my Dakota (percentage wise) did. A Harley loses just as much. They
are yuppie mobiles down here in Southern California, used by the weekend
office warriors to stimulate their bored wives, then they hop into their
luxury SUV's and go out for a latte'. No thank you.
I'll stick with my Dakota though, it's getting too dangerous to drive a
motorcycle in Southern California. The driving skills of the populous have
gone WAAAYYY down here and every day they are scraping bikers up from the
pavement because drivers are off in la-la land. If anyone wants a Kawasaki
Vulcan 750cc with a full cruising/touring package, send me a note. The bike
is a blast, but it's not worth dying for.
Shaun H.
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