Hello from Germany
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2nd Gear
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
From: Dusseldorf, Germany
Hello from Germany
Hello HD Riders!
Although being German, I joined your forum, because I guess it's always good to communicate with the folks in the HD-motherland.
Therefore please excuse my frequent use of wrong words and funny sentences.
I just this year joined the Harley way of drive.
Being a BMW rider for all of my 25 year motorcycle career, I own a heavily modified BMW GS and I never ever wanted to ride one of this heavy, slow and unreliable Milwaukee Tractors.
This mainly was caused because my first look at Harley was during the AMC period, were the design was so much not what I liked.
The first Halrey I ever found nice was the Fat Boy, but still no urge to own one.
All this prejudice came without even ever having tried to ride a Harley.
But this year, a friend of mine, who had an accident that prevents him from riding motorcycles in the future, asked me if I could pick up his old Heritage Softail from the farm where he stored it, clean it and sell it for him.
I went there, and found a really crappy FLSTC. Rusty all over, covered with pigeon dirt. When I fired it up, it "vomited" a pint of Oil out of the air filter onto my new sneakers! But it ran. After refueling and putting some air into the tires, I started my 100km trip to my house. My wife following in a car. The sun was shining and I could see my smiling face mirrored in the lamp. The engine was vibrating nicely and the sound of the pipes was just awesome. (Compared to normal German legal pipes.) That was the first time, I enjoyed riding a motorcycle on a straight road! While on a BMW, the straight streets are just annoying connections between two curves. Cornering is the fun here. On the old Harley, I got a total mind reset. No need to corner hard, no need to pass somebody, no issue riding behind a slow car for miles. It was totally relaxing.
However, relaxation ended after 50km, when the engine went dead. Apparently the generator was broken and the battery ran empty by then. This is when the panned two hour pick up trip turned into a whole day journey with going back home, organizing a trailer and a car with a hook, picking up the bike, drive it home and returning the borrowed car and trailer.
But... I was infected. Not that much that I would buy a Harley, but I started to understand the concept.
In the following month, I tried to clean the pigeon dirt from the bike and found nothing but ruined chrome, paint and leather. Selling this thing will need a lot of luck and a very uncritical customer. I put it on the internet and waited...
It turned April and in the newspaper was a presentation of the new Sportster Forty-Eight. I fell in love immediately. As a good husband, the first thing you need to do if you are planning to spend 11,000 Euros (12,000 USD) on a additional motorcycle, is to get the line of arguments right.
I told my wife, that I finally figured out, why she has some many issues to ride her BMW without dropping it during maneuvering on slow speeds. It is the seat heigth. "You need a lower bike." Next was a trip to the Nurburgring racetrack, where "by coincidence" HD was presenting the 2010 models. "Look darling! What a nice low Harley. Why don't you try the seat?" After a number of remarks about the perfect seat height, the coolness of the Sportster and her perfect look in general, I had convinced her to buy it for her. Since it was impossible to get a test ride, we ordered it blind and just after 3 months it was delivered.
Our first Harley! Luckily, my wife liked riding it a lot and while she was riding her BMW maybe 500km in the past three years, she did 600kms in the first week.
I must admit that the sportster engine seemed a little strange at first. Having known only the Big Twin Evo, I called the dealer after the first day, because I assumed the engine had a serious damage. When accelerating from low revs, it sounded like you kick a bucket of old screws down a stair. The dealers response: "Welcome to Sportster engines!"
Meantime, the old FLSTC was still waiting in my garage for a buyer. The owner expected to get at least $ 12,000 for this piece of crap!
I was certain that it would be impossible in this condition. I proposed to invest a little in renovating the bike,so it would attract more customers. Because the chrome was all damaged and because the dark custom series HD had launched in the past where so successful, I thought of having all chrome parts powdercoated in glossy black.
I totally underestimated the amount of work this would cause. It turned out that the whole bike basically consisted of chrome parts or parts that are attached to chrome parts. Removing all chrome parts left me with the frame and the engine. Furthermore, reassembly was a nightmare. Firstly, because a lot of the parts do not fit after the powdercoating is applied. I worked 3 hours on the lamp ring until I understood, that the powdercoating on the ring and the lamp make it impossible to get the ring over the little humps on the lamp. Secondly, because I needed to put additional ground wires to all the lamps, because powdercoating doesn’t conduct electricity. The whole exercise took me well over 100 hours in the end.
This was as well the point, when I decided to buy the bike for myself. Nobody would pay me this work anyway and after reassembling it from scratch, I knew it so well, that I could not think of giving it to someone else.
So now, my wife has a Harley, I do have a Harley and we both love it!
Below are some pictures of the 48, the FLSTC in its old condition and how it looks today, as well as of my still beloved BMW.
Regards
Frank
Although being German, I joined your forum, because I guess it's always good to communicate with the folks in the HD-motherland.
Therefore please excuse my frequent use of wrong words and funny sentences.
I just this year joined the Harley way of drive.
Being a BMW rider for all of my 25 year motorcycle career, I own a heavily modified BMW GS and I never ever wanted to ride one of this heavy, slow and unreliable Milwaukee Tractors.
This mainly was caused because my first look at Harley was during the AMC period, were the design was so much not what I liked.
The first Halrey I ever found nice was the Fat Boy, but still no urge to own one.
All this prejudice came without even ever having tried to ride a Harley.
But this year, a friend of mine, who had an accident that prevents him from riding motorcycles in the future, asked me if I could pick up his old Heritage Softail from the farm where he stored it, clean it and sell it for him.
I went there, and found a really crappy FLSTC. Rusty all over, covered with pigeon dirt. When I fired it up, it "vomited" a pint of Oil out of the air filter onto my new sneakers! But it ran. After refueling and putting some air into the tires, I started my 100km trip to my house. My wife following in a car. The sun was shining and I could see my smiling face mirrored in the lamp. The engine was vibrating nicely and the sound of the pipes was just awesome. (Compared to normal German legal pipes.) That was the first time, I enjoyed riding a motorcycle on a straight road! While on a BMW, the straight streets are just annoying connections between two curves. Cornering is the fun here. On the old Harley, I got a total mind reset. No need to corner hard, no need to pass somebody, no issue riding behind a slow car for miles. It was totally relaxing.
However, relaxation ended after 50km, when the engine went dead. Apparently the generator was broken and the battery ran empty by then. This is when the panned two hour pick up trip turned into a whole day journey with going back home, organizing a trailer and a car with a hook, picking up the bike, drive it home and returning the borrowed car and trailer.
But... I was infected. Not that much that I would buy a Harley, but I started to understand the concept.
In the following month, I tried to clean the pigeon dirt from the bike and found nothing but ruined chrome, paint and leather. Selling this thing will need a lot of luck and a very uncritical customer. I put it on the internet and waited...
It turned April and in the newspaper was a presentation of the new Sportster Forty-Eight. I fell in love immediately. As a good husband, the first thing you need to do if you are planning to spend 11,000 Euros (12,000 USD) on a additional motorcycle, is to get the line of arguments right.
I told my wife, that I finally figured out, why she has some many issues to ride her BMW without dropping it during maneuvering on slow speeds. It is the seat heigth. "You need a lower bike." Next was a trip to the Nurburgring racetrack, where "by coincidence" HD was presenting the 2010 models. "Look darling! What a nice low Harley. Why don't you try the seat?" After a number of remarks about the perfect seat height, the coolness of the Sportster and her perfect look in general, I had convinced her to buy it for her. Since it was impossible to get a test ride, we ordered it blind and just after 3 months it was delivered.
Our first Harley! Luckily, my wife liked riding it a lot and while she was riding her BMW maybe 500km in the past three years, she did 600kms in the first week.
I must admit that the sportster engine seemed a little strange at first. Having known only the Big Twin Evo, I called the dealer after the first day, because I assumed the engine had a serious damage. When accelerating from low revs, it sounded like you kick a bucket of old screws down a stair. The dealers response: "Welcome to Sportster engines!"
Meantime, the old FLSTC was still waiting in my garage for a buyer. The owner expected to get at least $ 12,000 for this piece of crap!
I was certain that it would be impossible in this condition. I proposed to invest a little in renovating the bike,so it would attract more customers. Because the chrome was all damaged and because the dark custom series HD had launched in the past where so successful, I thought of having all chrome parts powdercoated in glossy black.
I totally underestimated the amount of work this would cause. It turned out that the whole bike basically consisted of chrome parts or parts that are attached to chrome parts. Removing all chrome parts left me with the frame and the engine. Furthermore, reassembly was a nightmare. Firstly, because a lot of the parts do not fit after the powdercoating is applied. I worked 3 hours on the lamp ring until I understood, that the powdercoating on the ring and the lamp make it impossible to get the ring over the little humps on the lamp. Secondly, because I needed to put additional ground wires to all the lamps, because powdercoating doesn’t conduct electricity. The whole exercise took me well over 100 hours in the end.
This was as well the point, when I decided to buy the bike for myself. Nobody would pay me this work anyway and after reassembling it from scratch, I knew it so well, that I could not think of giving it to someone else.
So now, my wife has a Harley, I do have a Harley and we both love it!
Below are some pictures of the 48, the FLSTC in its old condition and how it looks today, as well as of my still beloved BMW.
Regards
Frank
Last edited by fwgde; Aug 9, 2010 at 07:56 AM.
Road Warrior
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 1,285
Likes: 0
From: Mississippi
I think your mastery of the English language is very good...
I really enjoyed your post and am looking forward to hearing of your further journeys into the Harley Family...
Best wishes to your lovely wife as well.
I really enjoyed your post and am looking forward to hearing of your further journeys into the Harley Family...
Best wishes to your lovely wife as well.
Club Member
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 9,692
Likes: 7,256
From: Syracuse,NY
Wilkommen von NY. Nice job on the Heritage and an especially nice job helping the wife see the light regarding how the Sportster fit her needs. I'm trying to figure out how to get my wife on one. Probably not going to happen. Also, your english is great. I had 2 semesters of German and can't remember much.
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2009
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Likes: 62
From: South Jersey
Welcome to the HDF & hello from the states..
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Welcome and Hello from Eastern Kentucky.
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 66
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From: Camden, New York
Welcome from northern New York. I liked your story - it reminded me of several German friends I have from my work at Daimler in New York; commercial busses. I have a BMW too, an R-27, 1967, the last year they were imported to the US. It was my Dad's bike and I'm restoring it now.