Topic: Behind The Curve??

[754]

2tired,

I never suggested they were ahead of the curve, I simply stated that  if they were behind the curve, that it would be surprising that they still sold well.

There was  a few  airplanes built using HD motors in the twenties as well as Hendersons.

The high mile Evo was a stock decker that he guy rode the piss out of, Harley bought it back off him, actually gave him a brand new one.. then rore his down and inspected it..

I see a lot of Ducati riders that are afraid to put major mieage or stray far from home on them..pretty common.

[andy750]

The high mile Evo was a stock decker that he guy rode the piss out of, Harley bought it back off him, actually gave him a brand new one.. then rore his down and inspected it..

Documented reference or anecdote ? 

[754]

It was in the Entusiast I think.. it had 470,00 or so on it was an 85 FLH I think.

[754]

Andy I took a quick search, but did not find it yet (Think I have the mag in that mess called a shop)

But I did find this in my search, but could not get to the page it was mentioned on...

Highest Mileage Harley in MT 343K

 will try to search more later might be in the H.O.G.  site.

[andy750]

Thanks Id appreciate it. I looked as well but found nothing. Reason I am so curious is to claim 400K on an unmodified engine with no engine repairs is practically unheard of. I can imagine an engine doing that much but with some engine work along the way. However Im open to being corrected.

BTW the guy with the highest mileage recorded on a series of bikes is by a BMW rider with 1.4 million miles:

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/entertainment_living/travel.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-01-06-0052.html

cheers
Andy

[Terry in Australia]

I wish you hadn't told us about the Duc probs Terry. Mine makes me nervous, but damn I like the
power and feel. I'm in the process of getting my nerve up for valve adjusting. (Mines a 4v 916 engine).

"Ducati, making mechanics of riders since 1946" is my favorite slogan.


Back to Harleys,

Nah, don't be frightened RM, the later engines are beautifully engineered and the quality control now rivals the Japanese. They are tricky to service though, so I'd recommend you spend the dollars and take it to a Ducati shop, it'll be expensive, but unlike Honda 750's and Harley's, Ducati's are like swiss watches, they need to be in perfect tune to be enjoyable. Let me know if you see any cheap 1200 sporties mate, I've got a hankering for another one now! Cheers, Terry.

[Rocking-M]

I'll keep and eye out for you, there all over the place here.

Would you be interested in a 65 sportster?
Nice collectors bike. The fellow has done a bit of work, new wheels,
ready to paint. Probably ought to check the engine out cause
I don't think he's touched it.

[Terry in Australia]

I'll keep and eye out for you, there all over the place here.

Would you be interested in a 65 sportster?
Nice collectors bike. The fellow has done a bit of work, new wheels,
ready to paint. Probably ought to check the engine out cause
I don't think he's touched it.

G'Day RM, thanks for that mate, I'm certainly interested, if you can get some pics when you next see him/it, that'd be great! Cheers, Terry.

[Rocking-M]

Ah, ha, your in luck. I was suppose to call him about some logs but been so busy I've put it off.
I'll holler at him this week and see what his plans are.

[754]

Well I went to my pals @ nedthetoothpick.com

Within 6 views of my post they came up with this, one I had not heard of before.. I know  a few there are in HOG and they will probably find it..

Miles Squire of Las Vegas NV, has a 94 Ultraglide.. with 700, 000 miles on it.. said the first motor went 429, 835 miles!!    I just found this so I have not checked it thoroughly, but it did say Willie G calls him MR MILES, so I am thinking  Willie probably checked it out..

 Have not found out the info on the other yet but I think it still was running when HD bought it back.

 I read about another this afternoon that had 190,000 and was still runing great..

[Terry in Australia]

Ah, ha, your in luck. I was suppose to call him about some logs but been so busy I've put it off.
I'll holler at him this week and see what his plans are.

Thanks mate! In the meantime I'll keep browsing the 258 Sporties currently on EBay!

[Rocking-M]

He ordered a hard tail frame and now wants me to paint the bike for him.
So he's not ready to get rid of it just yet.

Anyway, I'll keep the other eye out for you now. 

[Terry in Australia]

He ordered a hard tail frame and now wants me to paint the bike for him.
So he's not ready to get rid of it just yet.

Anyway, I'll keep the other eye out for you now. 

Thanks Mate!

[Terry in Australia]

Geez I've been trawling thru Ebay USA looking at Sporties, and I can't believe how cheap they are? 883's (being the "entry-level" Harley) aren't fetching much more than $4K, and a good 2005-6 1200 for around $6K is fantastic compared to $14-15K here in Oz.

Even with air freight, various government "fees" and  the inevitable "GST", (sales tax) that's still a few thousand bucks less than what I can buy one here for, so once I clear some space in my garage, I think I might have to find a seller who'll ship to Oz.......... 

[Rocking-M]

Just thought of another one offered my back in the fall.
Owned by a lady. You want, I'll get some pictures.

[Terry in Australia]

Woohoo! Thanks mate!

[edbikerii]

Finally, Chrysler is doing something about their horrible union problems:

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080219/chrysler_buyouts.html?.v=2

I hope it isn't too little, too late.

[Bob Wessner]

I hope all those folks considering the buy-out have sought good financial advice and have a game plan because that is not a lot of money when you consider what they are giving up.

[edbikerii]

I hope all those folks considering the buy-out have sought good financial advice and have a game plan because that is not a lot of money when you consider what they are giving up.

Of course, they should do what is in their best interests, just like everyone else.  On the other hand, none of their jobs will exist anymore if Chrysler continues going belly-up.

[edbikerii]

I almost forgot:  Who will pay the pensions and retirement benefits if Chrysler goes belly-up?

[ekim98]

I almost forgot:  Who will pay the pensions and retirement benefits if Chrysler goes belly-up?

Thoughts of Enron come to mind!!!

[Bob Wessner]

I believe Chrysler's pension plan is fully, or nearly fully funded. The health care liability side is another issue, but that's a can of worms for almost all of us... well, in the U.S. anyway.

[edbikerii]

I believe Chrysler's pension plan is fully, or nearly fully funded. The health care liability side is another issue, but that's a can of worms for almost all of us... well, in the U.S. anyway.

I guess Chrysler Corp. funded their employees' retirement funds properly, then.  Of course, if healthcare was provided for in their contracts, then that should be funded as well (but probably isn't, as healthcare would be provided under the existing employee plans).

If not, and the UAW continues to drive Chrysler out of business, then most of those retirees will end up with Medicare (and Medicaid) as their primary insurance, driving our taxes even higher.

What will the UAW do for those former auto workers then?  What will the UAW do for America then?

[BobbyR]

As of Monday, hourly workers at 11 of Chrysler's U.S. facilities had been scheduled to decide on the offers, which include a $70,000 incentive payment to retirement-eligible workers or $100,000 to workers who agree to leave without future pension or health benefits.

What this usually means is that the pension eligible will get the 70K and their pensions. The remaining are probably not pension eligible so they are getting a one time payout.

As I said before, you cannot fault Labor for the lack of foresight by management. You cannot fault Labor for bad product design. The US automakers had ample warning of what Japan was doing, and ample time to react. If you can;t figure it out in 30 years - WTF. What will these autoworkers do, they will go to one of the overseas automakers who are now building more cars in the US than the US automakers. Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, BMW are becoming the new US automakers. I wish it was not so, but that is what is happening.

[Terry in Australia]

Well here's an opportunity for Chrysler, Mitsubishi is closing it's manufacturing plant in Oz due to 20 years of poor sales of it's main passenger car, the "Magna". (biggest heap of shiite that anyone ever shoveled an engine into)

The Mitsubishi plant in fact, is the old Chrysler plant. Mitsubishi took over when Chrysler Australia, (who had an alliance with Mitsubishi to build it's smaller cars, the "Lancer" and the "Galant") went under (due mainly to a poor design and terrible quality control) so considering how popular the Chrysler 300C, Crossfire, and Jeep are in Oz, Chrysler could relocate some of those workers to Adelaide in South Australia and move a lot of it's product, against it's two main US rivals, Ford and GM(H).

I drive a company car, and can choose between a Ford or GM(H) or Toyota, (no thanks) so the opportunity to pick up a locally assembled Chrysler would be a real nice option! Cheers, Terry.