Extra crapola is something I didn't want or need on my new ride so, I bought the KING OF THE ROAD......

I will admit though, I love the brakes (ABS)........and the cruise control.........I use cruise ALL the time.....it eliminates the "throttle goosing" when you hit bumps......

AND, I know nothing (well, a little bit now) about all of the electronics on my KING but, I've had the wiring under the tank, seat, headlight and other wiring exposed, and I'm fairly confident I could trouble shoot is as I did my Evos.......

VIVA LOS EVOS! BH's ;')

 

Do you think it will still be functional in 10 years? Or is it like smart phones - they last thru the end of the contract and then they're done. This is on a motorcycle - out in the weather and elements. Unless it sits in the garage and never gets ridden.

It's like anything else to do with computers. It comes out and it's oooohhh and aaahhhhh - cool. Five years later it's obsolete and when it comes to support for it whoever made it doesn't even want to acknowledge that it exists.

 

Harley owners are going to be faced with the same problem my buddy is having with his Honda. He has a beautiful 1986 Gold Wing that needs an un-obtanium ECM. Seems his was part of a 6 month run. Now he owns a piece of garage art....

 

I guess the radio guys are doing what they think they have to do to sell radios these days. Even the basic, single-DIN aftermarket stuff is festooned with all sorts of nonsensical animated whiz-bang graphics and more features than you could use in a lifetime.

I've been looking around for something to replace the stocker (long since perished) on my EG. Seeing that video settles it: No radio for me!

 

That's just it, right there.

All the digital stuff is sure to die.

I just bought a new lens for my studio. Didn't come cheap (couple of grand). Still, it has the little "10" with a circle/arrow around it, meaning that Nikon expects it to be dead after ten years. Conversely, I've got lenses for my old medium format film rig that are knocking on the door of 40 years old. Mud-hut simple: Mechanical aperture, mechanical shutter, no electronics, no focusing system at all (focusing is handled by the camera body). There are still guys to whom I can send it who will tear it down to the last part, clean, lube and adjust it, and it's as good as new.

There is something inherently durable about mechanical systems, even if digital stuff enables lots of nifty features, such as pressing "Accept" to acknowledge that the lawyers have warned you that you are about to die.

 

Here you go --
I can see why they did it, some moron is going to be lost in his menus fiddling with it, drive off the road or hit a car full of kids, so the rest of us have to face a nag screen every time we boot up our bike.

The title for a magazine article; "Harley-Davidson; from kick start to boot up".

Do you have to wait until it boots up, or can you ride off straight away? Is there an option to disable it, or do you have to have it on all the time?

The other guy is right, in a few years, this will be as obsolete as an 8 Track.

When will the bluetooth headsup display app for my google glasses be?

All the tracking info from these devices is going to be worth a fortune for some marketing/profiling department, "every where every H-D owner goes". There's a saying in IT, "if it's free, you're the product". Apple got caught with something like this on their iPhones.

Do you have to sign off on some data protection agreement when you buy one of these?

 

I'm reminded of the twit who, while driving his campervan on cruise control, went to the back to make himself a drink - then wondered why it crashed!

Unfortunately Harley owners manuals have been stuffed with portents of doom death and destruction for as long as I recall. Ya don't have to read the instruments to become depressed, you can do that in the comfort and warmth of the sofa!

 

Crank went out both times. Third time I went with an S&S crank and Timken bearing.

 

Oh yeah. The '86 Aspencade SEi with fuel injection. Same model we had. It quit on us in Yuma, Arizona in 1992 and there was no parts for it then. Couldn't get one from Honda and none in junk yards. We were stranded a couple thousand miles from home and we took a bath on it trading it on the spot on a 1992 GL1500 Interstate.

Actually, the same thing with our 2002 ST1100's that we had. We bought a 2001 GL1800 when the rear end went in the GL1500 and the frame broke completely off at the swingarm mount in Canada. Just about crashed it when the frame broke because it had some serious rear steer when it went. The bike was two months old, bought brand new. Honda refused to do anything about it. We ended flying home and having the bike shipped by truck to get it back to the dealer. It sat in the dealer shop all winter and finally under threat of lawsuit the dealer agreed to take it back on trade on two 2002 Honda ST1100's. We put over 100,000 miles on those ST's in four years and the fuel pump went in mine in Vancouver, BC with 104,000 miles on it in 2006. No parts from Honda for it, couldn't get one because it had been discontinued at only 4 years old. I went to NAPA in Vancouver and found a fuel pump for a car that looked the same and cobbled it in there to get the bike the 2,500 miles home.

We traded those on two Honda FSC600 Silver Wings, made a trip to Denali, Alaska on the Silver Wings and didn't like 'em. A lot of nice features, and quite comfortable but way too light and too many things to go wrong for a touring bike.

Those were the last Hondas we owned and we'll never buy another one. They run while they run. But when they break you are screwed. We went to Evo Harley's - a design that was built to keep running indefinitely - and have never looked back.

Our dealer keeps calling us and telling us we need to "trade up" and get a newer EG. But we like what we got because we trust it. My wife bought a 2015 Sportster Custom, and now THAT is a NICE cruiser for general blasting around. I'm looking for a early to mid 80's FXR - preferably a Shovel - so I got a cruiser too. Haven't found exactly what I want yet.

 

There's more tied into that than just the radio. On the 2016 Ultra Limited that we test rode it is tied into the engine ECU and security system somehow too because it shows engine parameters and some other stuff on it. Had to enter a PIN into that touch screen outfit before it would start, and that had something to do with enabling it if the key FOB is lost.

On the 2016 at least, it was evident to me that it's more than just a "radio" with a touch screen. It is integral with the rest of the systems in the bike. We only spent about a half hour on the 2016 riding it and I didn't explore all the functions in the thing because I wasn't all that impressed with it. But maybe somebody who has a '16 can fill in better on all that thing does.

I was scared shitless of it when I found out you have to have a key with an electric chip in it and there's a PIN you have to enter in there to get into your bike's computer system to ride it away. And I never felt so satisfied with my '86 with just a simple switch with a key lock as I did that day when we rode home from the dealer open house.