The Trials & Tribulations of Harley Ownership

[53driver]

Do you ever say goodnight to your motorcycle(s) at the end of the day; just before you close the door on them? Especially after a long ride; and thank them for bringing you home safely?



I do.

ALWAYS!!!

[BIGLRY]

Do you ever say goodnight to your motorcycle(s) at the end of the day; just before you close the door on them? Especially after a long ride; and thank them for bringing you home safely?



I do.

No, but I do say 'hello & wake up' when I turn on the shop lights to get ready for a ride and I have been know to set on my steel steeds in the shop and make zoom zoom sounds and during a build the first time the handelbars go on I'll set on the frame or saddel and go VROOM VROOM with a smile on my face, thinking; How is this iron beast is going to ride?

[2wheelsforme]

Steel, plastic, rubber and wires. When this one fails or wears out another will take its place. No cute names or soul imagining. Gets stolen, great, I get a new bike. Now if failing or breaking down means it has soul then my boat must be very soulful. And lonely as I don't care for the breakdowns.

[crossbowme]

If flying big ass helicopters for 20+ years taught me anything, it was that "given enough moving parts, that entity has some sort of spirit."
ALL my CH-53s had souls and they had no qualms whatsoever in expressing themselves in one way or another.
The trick was to be tuned in to their frequency and decipher their language.

My Isleen and my Saorla both have souls....no question about that.
They both talk to me, mostly happily, sometimes irreverently.

They sit too long - they get cabin fever.
They both beg for my attention when I go out to the barn.
They both want to be the one chosen to go somewhere.
If not stroked and petted properly & regularly they misbehave.
They both have "that time of the month" and get associatively cranky - though Saorla is in menopause I think. She's always too hot and somewhat bitchy.
Sometimes walking to the barn, I open the door and almost immediately decide to take the truck instead either Saorla or Isleen.

Feel free to think about this as you may.
Maybe I'm looney - maybe I'm just in sync with mechanical things - but either way it's not my concern how you think.
But I have listened to more than a few 53s tell me "not today" and I'm alive today to tell the rest of the stories.

For those of you who treat your ride as a "motorized mistress" - IMH(AWI)O - good on you.
For those of you that do not - no worries, but you're really missing out.
In all cases, ride well.
Steve

X3

[unsub]

So, in addition to the recently acquired F6B, the stable has three other bikes. Well, two other bikes now that I finally sold the 2011 Harley Wide Glide.

One of the two other bikes is a 2013 Harley CVO Road King.


It's the second one we've owned, as the identical bike that came before it was totaled by an inattentive motorist in Florida back in Oct 2015. We logged 19,500 trouble-free miles on "Blue I" from Aug 13 to Oct 15. The replacement bike, "Blue II" came to us with less than 2K miles and now has 12,000 as we've been spending a bit more time cycling and doing a few other things vs. riding bikes. However, the bike -- which I thought had incorporated an improved Compensator that solved previous failure issues -- started to sound like this on start-up a short while back:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmBQOX-LvSY

Sure enough, bad compensator and the rest of the associated parts in the primary case. Thank goodness for having an Extended Service Plan, which my trusted service advisor strongly encouraged. Hate that I had to use it, but glad that I have it as it's probably 1/2 paid for with just this one repair.

I've not heard anyone strongly encouraging anyone to get an extended service plan on the Honda GL's... or am I just missing it?

Two part answer.
I certainly have faith in a design that's been around and refined for over 42 years, so long term repairs are not a concern to me. Should something come up the odds are the cost of repair will be equal to or close to any extended plan I might purchase.

Secondly, again speaking for me only, I've never been an advocate of any extended warranty because warranty language of any kind is carefully crafted to protect the vendor or manufacturer, not the purchaser.

They do provide peace of mind in many cases but insurance companies don't build wealth by paying out claims.

On the topic of peace of mind, the F6B GL1800 platform has definitely provided that to me on countless rides.

Welcome to the B hive!