Jap bikes
The competition form the japanese has never been any thing but a good thing for the Harley owner. Competition forces Harley to keep their standards up. The Japanese bikes that looks like Harley but are water cooled, "keeping it hid and the lines clean" have the new Catalytic Converters on them and run good right out of the box and run cool.
This will force Harley to do the same because with the 2010 models all the all the Harley's from now on will have the catalytic converter in the head pipe. If you can hide the water cooling in such a fashon it don't stick out like a sore thumb, even the hard cored air cooled will buy if they have no other choice, and you wont! The last round of EPA Standards are killing Harley so this time around Harley will be playing catch up with the Metrics.
Japan copy's some Harleys as for as the look, Harley will copy the Japanese as far as the technology sometimes. The English and European bikes keep Japan honest, they have competition also in other countries.
I will only buy a Harley, built by American workers. At the point in my life where I can do that. I owned some crappy metrics, but I owned a few Harley could not touch. Competition is good for the Harley buyer!
the local victory dealer and triumph dealer are also rolling quite few bikes,so you can see any number of different makes on a given day.
leftcoast carl.
The Best of Harley-Davidson for Lifelong Riders
When I ride in Maryland I see Harleys 10 to 1 verses metrics. I believe it is due to a great dealer we have Chesapeake Harley out in Darlington, MD.
When I ride in Pennsylvania and Delaware I see a higher number of metric bikes, but still there are quite a few Harleys.
There are 5-6 other guys I ride with and they all ride metrics. I am the first one to switch to a Harley, but don't plan any changes my riding buddies.
Friends are far more important to me than brands.



jus wondern'