As usual when someone starts one of these threads (and there have been many) we get a lot of propaganda from the Kool-Aid drinkers, and a lot of cheap shots at the Japanese bikes. Nothing new in this one, same old chit.
Make all the snide comments you want, but if Harley had some of those Honda or Yamaha engineers on their staff perhaps they wouldn't have so many ridiculous quality problems. Harley engineers can't even take mature automotive systems and put them on their bikes without having multiple years of failures. Look at the ETC issues for instance that have been common since 2008 and continue to this day. That's a relatively simple system, and they haven't got it right in five years so far. Then look at the mechanical stuff that Harley let's go on for years rather than fix it in initial testing stages or at least after the first big batch of customer failures. Yup, someone's engineering and quality is a joke, but I don't think it's Honda or Yamaha.
Jerry
Jerry - I agree with you on some things, and disagree on others.
I have had several metrics, and the quality has varied a lot. My old '72 Honda CB350, on which I started out, was a little gem. The '73 Kawi Z1 was not bad, but the paint sucked. The '85 Kawi ZL900 Eliminator was an awesome bike - fast as lightning and I never did anything but change the oil and have the valve shims adjusted once. It was a reliable rocket.
My '95 carbed Evo FLHTP was very reliable, and only stranded me once when the regulator had let go on a ride and the battery died. No voltmeter to let me know. $100 for a new reg and that was fixed.
But, the NAH V-Twin cruisers were different animals. They never felt right to either my wife (we bought them for her to ride), they were quite difficult to work on, and just appeared to be generally cheaply-made.
My wife's current Ninja 650 is another little gem. Very solid, light and highly maneuverable, and appears well-engineered. She loves it. I changed the oil several weeks ago... Took 20 minutes and 2 quarts. Gotta love that.
From my experience, the Asian manufacturers seem to have the crotch rocket bikes down, and the Gold Wing is admittedly in a class of its own. But, their V-Twin cruisers are not anywhere even close to the engineering and quality standards of their sport and sport touring bikes. They have spent lots of time and effort getting these bikes near-perfect, and frankly I don't think they spend nearly the time and effort with getting their V-Twin cruiser bikes to that level of quality nor performance.
To me, the metric V-Twin cruisers seem to have been developed fairly inexpensively, in order to simply have a V-Twin style cruiser in the stable. I don't know how well they sell - but I can say that we got absolute CHIT for the ones we have sold. Nobody seems to want them at ANY price, and they were pretty pristine and tricked-out bikes.
Not trying to brag... but I will say that on several rides with my wife's "Hells Grannies" group, people come up and look at the Honey Badger at every stop - but no one ever comes to look at the motley collection of NAHs and other assorted metrics, Triumphs, BMWs, etc in the group. Harleys simply draw people's attention because they are just so friggin'
beautiful to look at! They really stand out in a crowd of metrics. No other bikes seem to have the visceral appeal to even non-riders that a Harley does.
Yeah, we all know about the Harley engineering issues, and we all would like it to be better - but the metric V-Twin cruisers have their share of engineering issues, too. And, in my experience they are just as expensive - or even more so - than Harleys are to have serviced. The V-Star 1100 had to have the exhaust removed to even get TO the oil filter - which is inside of the engine case. Why would they have engineered it like that? It was a two or more hour job to change the oil in that POS. I fixed that with a Baron's external oil filter mount to use a Road Star oil filter mounted in front like a Harley for $250... but that kind of engineering chit really put me off of that bike. The owners manual didn't even say how to change the oil... it simply said take it to an authorized dealer to have it done.... for $250!
Ken
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Topic: YamaKawaHondZuki Harley Lookalikes (Read 4821 times)