Found myself being woken this morning by a text from a guest of mine from a local watering hole that I manage. Yo my boy has an 06 dyna and it's leaking Gas and it won't start and front forks are leaking and it back fires from the intake and it's really hot.
I immediately thought this will be a quick fix.

I gather myself, load all my tools and some that I haven't touched in a half decade (torx and etc) into my saddlebags. I head to Staten Island to find a bike that has been sitting in a shed for what looked like since the bike rolled out the factory. Automatically I thought battery.

Free flow air cleaner with open flow back plate original cover. Vance and Hines long shots. He doesn't know if it ever received a super tuner or race tuner. **** bike can be running hot just because it's not remaped.

I also noticed brakes had air in the lines, tires were dry rotted, fork lowers looked like they were sitting in the bottom of a lake, rims were so pitted, the grips were original and the rubber was all over the tank.

Looked at fuel petcock or quick disconnect or whatever and it was leaking Gas from there. Long story short had to go to harley to get a fuel line from pump to petcock then from petcock to injectors. Ended up costing 98 bucks (you know what h-d stands for hundred dollars).

Point I'm making is what would have cost a trip to pep boys and spending 20 bucks for a evolution, costs being a slave to the stealership. Less creativity more part swapping.

My bike is almost as old as I am (the terminator 2 bike) (Google it) but runs pretty darn well. Yea my bike leaks primary oil from the stupid plumber thread on my outer primary and I have to add oil every 2 days or so, I'll fix it with the money I made. So what my bike rattles from the ignition switch, clutch lever, shifter, speedometer, and sometimes I don't like closing my mout; my teeth might break because of the bolts that directly connect the engine to the frame. But it's what harley Davidson has always been about. It's the reason I ride, nostalgia from an error when people made bikes their own and not a age where customization comes from the motor company. It should come from the streets.

Most people my age that want a bike end up in the Japanese route. Fast, efficient yet comfortable rides. Most take that 5 to 7 g's and put it on a down payment for a bike that costs 11 to 14 k brand new. And that's cool. But being able to tear down a bike with little to no tools and be on an American icon is cooler.

On that note gotta fine tune that carb I've been messing with...

 

I like the old EVO. If I were made of money I'd probably sell out and get a twinkie but, there's no indication of that in my future. The first time I had to take it to the stealer for an otherwise simple repair I'd get pissed. I have buddies that don't even change their own oil. They take their bikes to the dealer for everything -- everything. One guy was bragging because he got an oil change and "inspection" for $160.00 bucks. That's like bragging that the playground bully only blacked one eye.

The downside of having an old EVO is that when I make a road trip I always have that thought in the back of my mind: "Is this thing going to get me back home?" It is 27 years old after all. Although, the engine is only 10 years old so..

 

I picked up a 94 Ultra Classic about 8 yrs ago now to sit with my 76 shovel in the garage. Have had the shovel since 78 and a few panheads in between, but always kept the shovel. It was so modern you just loved it. Alternator over gennie, disc brakes front and rear. Shocks on the back and tubes up front. Just awesome to me.

Them there's the 94. Cadillac accessories on a scoot. Cruise, radio (don't use it), fairing and tourpac. (Oddly I can pack more on the shovel) and a hitch to pull one of my two trailers for camping/cargo. A six speed gear set in it so you can cruise along at 75 all day turning 2800 revs. I built the motor in it while I work on the one I pulled for new chrome and lifters. I have a 113" S&S and a 96" S&S to keep it running for a while.

What could the MoCo actually offer me that would make me wanna swap? I wouldn't trade them my 94 for the best one on the lot as I would still have to spend money on it to make it run better and it still wouldn't out run either of the setups I can put in mine as it is.

And you still don't know if it'll get you home as the wheel bearing/compensator/stator or whatever the issue of the week is for the twinkies, could come into play.

I can work on and screw mine up for free. I don't need some idiot who couldn't spell Harley Davidson ten years ago working on my stuff.

Cannot see where they have anything I am interested in at all, which is another reason I don't go to the dealers.

Griz

 

I love my evo! I bought the manual have tools and basic mechanical skills and there you go. My fltcu is 25 this year and would not hesitate to throw my leg over it and go anywhere. The ability to work on your own bike has a feeling all its own besides when you do the work you know that its done right. Just my 2cents

 

I never even viewed a TC up close till a few weeks ago. Had not been paying attention to HD motorcycle since around 2000. but started fixing up an old evo softail I had so went to the local indy to get some gaskets a few times. I can say this, the TC crowd on average is a different kind of HD owner. This on observation after a few trips to this rather busy shop. Also interesting that this shop that must have well over a million $$ in inventory and they have to go searching for basic evo gaskets like exhaust and lifter o-rings. Pretty clear most customers these days do not do any mechanical wrenching.
Also the bike owners, while I am sure they are nice people, most of them are exactly opposite the sometimes gritty and often a little nonconformist bike scene I remember before the days of TC and OCC TV shows. Mind you, back then the guys I knew at the bike shops (I spent some time at a few and they were sort of like mini social clubs, you knew the owners and most of the other customers or at least who they were) came from all walks of life, but they almost all loved wrenching on their bikes and in truth, most were a little nonconformist in some capacity. There were the occasional people who had to only put Harley branded oil in and wore brand new Harley clothes fresh from the dealership. Now it seems like mostly these types who are there, and always on TC. The type who drive new Toyota Camarys and new TC bikes. Wonderful folks, but not the kind of characters that were a fun part of the HD culture and will really hurt the cultural icon that HD had become through the 60's, 70's, 80's and even thru the late 90's. Guess it is natural.
There are more TC bikes made by far than evos. My year 1991 HD produced I think 70k units and 300,000 in the mid 2000's. Also imploded the used market on HD bikes. A decent used EVO was at leask 8k and Shovel bikes were $6,500 for a running ratty one before TC came on the scene. Now I can buy a used big twin for under 4k without much trouble.
As for the bikes, I know nothing about TC's, but from what I have been reading they do not lend themselves to easy owner wrenching. I am pretty handy, but no mechanic. Give me a Shovel or Evo and I can tear that engine apart without a manual. Just that simple. No complex electronics or real specialty parts. I have a ZX6r superbike. I like it, but it does not lend its self to being tinkered with. There is something nice about riding a bike that you "understand". Knowing what every part is doing and how they are interacting to make you go is kind of a zen thing if you can get there.
I don't know where I am going with this rant, but I do know so many things I love about HD bikes seems to come to a dead stop with the TC. The bikes and many of their riders are just uninteresting for the most part. I am sure they are good motorcycles. But with HD I like the sort of primitive and simplistic DNA they had. If I want power, engineering wonders and reliability above "soul"...then I see no reason to go HD. My Kawasaki is awesome in that regard. 300lbs, 120HP and handling beyond my abilities.
I am 100% sure my HD world will never move past the older bikes. The fun cultural part of it is almost dead, and the bikes seem to have lost their uniqueness too. You can't blame one or the other as they are so intertwined. The bikes and owners have moved to the mainstream...kind of a victim of their own success I guess.

 

Hey back paragraphs are your friend!!!
I don't know about anybody else but these old eyes find it kinda hard to read a big block of words.


I do agree with you on the zen thing though.

 

+1.

No idea what he said.

 

I'd stick with an Evo but rebuild it completely and it'd be good for another 100,000. I don't want to go down the line of all those electrics.

Is there anyone that make really good stock like frames for them? May be a little lighter but stronger? Not custom.

 

The Harley Davidson Corporation is not offering anything that is of interest to me. I tried to like the twinkies, but I just don't. Harley Davidson stopped making "Harleys" in 1999. Now they make Harley Davidson Motor vehicles that look like imitations of the metrics that were imitating Harleys in the 80's and 90's.

 

AT LEAST IT WASN'T ALL IN CAP'S....!!