Harley question ?

[A10 JWO]

I have been invited to look at a Harley this weekend ( The price is right ) It has been chopperised with a small tank and high bars. Does this mean that the standard frame would have been modified to adjust the fork rake in most cases. This is not the sort of bike I want, but a quick turn round may produce good profit in a short space of time.

Regards Colin

[Ethelred]

If the forks have been extended and the bike still looks level then the rake's been adjusted. It can be done without cutting the frame by the use of special triple trees (yokes).

[A10 JWO]

Nice one, that makes sense. Never looked at these beasts before, but they do sound nice.

Regards Colin

[Briz]

You should never use raked yokes to put longer forks on a standard frame. Ever!
You lose too much trail and handling is badly affected. Possibly lethally so if the trail goes negative.
If its done properly, the frame will have been raked.
What HD is it?

[muskrat]

I totally agree with Briz. Not that they really handled well as std anyway. They look good and sound great.
Search the net and see what other HD's of that sort are fetching.
Don't want to hijack your post but this is one reason I'll never have one.
Yesterday checking for a charging problem on a 2006 FXDBi found this. Rotor mounted to boss by 8 screws, 5 rattled out and 3 snapped.
Cheers

[Ethelred]

You should never use raked yokes to put longer forks on a standard frame. Ever!

Perfectly true, but they're out there and people do, so Colin needs to be aware of it.

They're lovely characterful bikes that require nearly as much fettling as our BSAs
Sportsters are the unit engines, rubber mounted from 2004, in a twin shock frame
The big twins are nowadays semi-unit, like an early A7
There's 3 frame types for the big twins:
A twin shock, the softail (looks like a rigid), and the big glide tourers

Be interested to hear how you get on.

[Butch (cb)]

Well I bought my XLH on something of a whim. It belonged to a pals father who had owned it since it was two years old, had low mileage and sounded like a good deal. It's an early Evo and to be honest, as it turns out, not a good year at all. There are an number of engineering crimes against nature on this one - not least is having the alternator mounted in the back of the clutch drum.

I ended up having any amount of trouble with it in the first year or so before I got it settled down. And although its a rigid mount with only a four speed box, being geared up a little she'll still cruise 80-85 when required. I've toured Denmark and the Low countries and done many other trips. Even got me out of Le Touquet last February through some 6" of snow. This is one of my favourites now - most excellent fun.

Thinking about maybe installing a weld on hardtail this coming Winter.

[A10 JWO]

Turned out to have a non standard frame and not for me, an old 1972 iron head £3,000 ?
Regards Colin

[Briz]

It'd have to be top-notch 100% for an ironhead to be worth 3 grand. With proof of a quality rebuild from somebody respected.
Most ironheads spent their lives being bodged to death by cheapskates. To say nothing of factory build quality thru the AMF years.

[Butch (cb)]

I don’t agree. I think that as with most things older now, these things have a certain cachet. Whilst the coming of the Evo motor heralded an exponential increase in reliability and longevity (even for my ’89) over the older iron engines the worm has now turned. Those iron motors are now becoming coveted as the rawer ‘real deal’ despite their well catalogued shortcomings. These days you’ll do well to find any Sportster for under £3k, even a chopped about version with the earlier iron motor.

[Topdad]

Wonder if any of our Harley minded members can answer this question that was posed by my son ,to me ,a few  years ago .He had noticed the stupid grin I always have when out on my bike ,had looked at other bikers on most marques and seen the same however he asked " if harleys were such awesome beasts how come there riders look so miserable " now I hadn't noticed this phenomenon until then but he's right over the years I 've never seen a smile nor in most instances do you get any sort of wave as I'm used to from riders harley mounted , be interested to hear, of course the guys here have been "BSA'd " so will probably be an exception to this regards BobH 

[Flatboy 1950]

My impression is that the modern Harley riders seem to think they have to mimic the Hells Angels & look grim & aggressive.
My buddies & I on old HD's (1942 Models) are very different .....
I have idiots phone me up who want their "Ancient" Sportster from 1998 repaired .....

Cheers , Flatboy.

[Briz]

I dunno Topdad. I dont think I've ever seen anyone riding around with a big stupid grin on their face for any significant amount of time. Unless they're enjoying recreational pharmaceuticals!
Most folks - regardless of what they're riding - seem to me to have a neutral expression typical of someone concentrating on what they're doing.
A bit of a prejudicial question really.

[Greybeard]

How do you tell if a biker is happy?
They have flies wedged in their teeth!

[Butch (cb)]

I picked up that grin when I first rode off my drive in '77 on my Bloop. Never lost it since.

Folks do seem a little surprised if when I'm out on Hardley I give them a wave.

I think the fault lines within the 'sport' sit across: HGD BMW, Plastic Pocket Rocket, Mopeds, Old Timers, everybody else. Any others?

Cyclists are just the same; all sneering between road riders (on racers) and mountain bikers.

To be fair I think the whole thng is a lot more prevalent in this country (UK), it's maybe some reversion to the old class system?