'93 Sporty 1200

[randyc]

What I mean by button shift is to get your foot on the shifter like your going to change gears but instead of using the clutch hit the kill button and change gears then let go of the kill button. Don't change the throttle. You keep the rpm's in the power band range and go like hell .Won a lot of money from the boys that thought they had a hot ride.
*G*

Dang - never heard of that before, I usually just shift without the clutch if I want to shift quickly. That's a cool idea and I will try it real soon !

 

[randyc]

You know me, Randy.

View attachment 100596

2008 Yamaha FZ1 with lots of mods.

Well, I DID say 90% of us ride Harleys - someone has to be in that 10% group, LOL Very pretty Yamaha, BTW. I've owned two, a Big Bear Scrambler desert bike and a little Twin Jet 100 that I rode to work every day. LOVED that little motorcycle; 100 mpg but still agile enough to be safe in traffic ! (I later converted it to a dirt bike and that was a big mistake - should have left it alone.)

 

[Franko]

I've been in the 10% all my life, Randy. And I don't mean the ones with money.

I started out on Triumph Bonneville all tricked out with a TT frame, Ceriani forks and suspension. It was in the late 60s and I really enjoyed watching my friends on Harleys get small in my mirror. That lasted about 10 years. 30 years later I picked up a Honda VTX 1300. It was a nice bike and a good looking fat bob, but it hurt my butt. I didn't care for my feet being so far forward as it put all the pressure on my tailbone and I couldn't lift my butt off the seat without stopping.

I traded the VTX for a Yamaha FJR 1300 EX. It had paddle shift and was fast as lightening and smooth as silk. I really liked the electric windscreen. But, it was too heavy and I kept dropping it in the driveway trying to turn it around, plus I'm not really into long road trips. So, I sold it and got the FZ1 and spent a lot of money modding it just like I wanted it. Another reason I didn't like the FJR was there wasn't anything you could do to it but put cup holders and electronics and brackets on it.

I think I like building and working on bikes more than riding them.

I also rode a Honda XR650L and a XR230 that I converted to street legal. I'm down to the Yamaha FZ1, a Honda Rancher ATV and a Honda Ruckus now. I don't ride much anymore. Dallas is a scary place to be on two wheels, but I love the FZ1 and can't stand the idea of getting rid of it.

 

[randyc]

I liked British bikes too. I owned a '53 Matchless G-50 (traded an electric bass for that motorcycle, which was in boxes at the time). I loved that old thumper but hated the manual spark advance and the hassle of starting the thing. Got rid of it and bought another thumper, a BSA "Victor". Pretty good dual sport, although the term was unknown at the time. The electrical system sucked like no other motorcycle that I've ever known !

Then I went to the dark side and owned two-strokes for years, my favorite being a Suzuki Titan. It was just a 500 but would blow off any 4-stroke around at the time (early seventies). That bike would take a Kawasaki 750 triple for about half a block, LOL. (The Kawi was the fastest stock street bike in the world at that time.) I made a cross-country trip on the Titan, which was equipped with a Cobra seat, and got rid of it the week that I returned to California. I don't think my butt has ever recovered from that experience.

I built two almost road racers (not cafe racers) based on the X-6 "Hustler". They weren't street legal at all but cops never even gave either of them a second glance. I put in a LOT of time on those bikes and had a lot of fun building them. Seems like modern rice burners aren't particularly susceptible to modifications and I especially don't care for the fact that most don't accommodate a passenger.

Rode various Japanese dirt bikes after that, most of them 4-strokes, but never owned a Honda, dunno why. I owned every other brand but never a Honda. Stopped riding until I retired and moved to a place with little traffic, then bought the Harley. The back roads here in northern California are practically deserted - I can often ride for thirty minutes without seeing a vehicle.

I appreciate the technology of modern Japanese motorcycles but there is something about a Harley. It's hard to explain but a Harley is the simplest form of motorcycle - no plastic, no fairings, no fancy electronics - just wheels, frame and motor. Riding a H-D brings back the same feeling that I had when I rode my first motorcycle

 

[Franko]

I like motorcycles and that includes Harleys. I don't understand why anyone has to like one or the other. I remember wanting a Sportster, but I ended up with the Bonnie. It makes sense, because Harley Davidson produced the Sportster to compete with the British bikes. I think I had the only Bonnie that didn't leak oil. England doesn't make a TV for export because they haven't figured out how to make it leak oil.

My preference is for modern bikes. I really like fuel injection, and I love how smooth straight 4s run.

 

[randyc]

I like motorcycles and that includes Harleys. I don't understand why anyone has to like one or the other. I remember wanting a Sportster, but I ended up with the Bonnie. It makes sense, because Harley Davidson produced the Sportster to compete with the British bikes. I think I had the only Bonnie that didn't leak oil. England doesn't make a TV for export because they haven't figured out how to make it leak oil.

My preference is for modern bikes. I really like fuel injection, and I love how smooth straight 4s run.

British bikes were the epitome of cool back when we were dumb enough to think that the engine and transmission cases HAD to have a vertical split to join the two halves. What a monstrous PITA putting one of those things together, trying to get all of the shafts to align with the bearings. I've literally spent hours mating up the cases on my BSA Victor.

When I took a close look at the Japanese motorcycles that were just starting to trickle into the country, the first thing that I noticed was that the cases split horizontally. What a stupid-simple improvement that had never occurred to other motorcycle manufacturers apparently !!! Even ignoring the ease of assembly, the manufacturing process had to be much faster and more accurate with the horizontal split !

And don't even get me started on separate engine and transmission units !

Fuel injection is cool, my last two dirt bikes had FI and they were problem free. However I appreciate carburetion on my '93 simply because it's an old motorcycle and I'd like to be able to work on it if it breaks. No FI = no on-board computer .... minimum amount of electronics + air cooling is my preference now, fewer things to break as the motorcycle ages.

I have the utmost respect for Japanese technology as I said before and one could easily take the position that they just don't break (and that's probably true for low-mileage bikes). But if they do break, whatcha' gonna do, call ghost busters, LOL ? Hell, I wouldn't even know where to start, there are so many plastic shields, hoses, brackets and harnesses to remove before one can even SEE the engine, ha-ha.

No disrespect intended, BTW, there are likely plenty of folks out there that can and do work on these modern miracles of engineering but I'm not one of them

 

[Franko]

Neither am I, Randy. But, I was never any good at working with motors of any kind.

The carbed thumpers I've owned took several minutes to warm up before I could ride or even move the atvs. My current Rancher ATV is FI and it is just like a car. If I want to move it, just start it and drive it to its new spot. The twin carbs on my Bonnie were a nightmare, as were all those carburetors on my '72 240Z. I ended up removing them and installing a new intake and 4-barrel Holly. On the Bonnie, I switched to a couple of flat carbs that were much easier to tune.

And, don't get me started about Lucas wiring. When I tore down the Bonnie, I bet it had 150 feet of wire in the harness. When I re-wired it, it had about 12 feet. That was possible because I moved the ignition switch under the seat instead of on the handlebars, plus I didn't see any purpose in running a wire clear from the back to front, and doubling it back to the back.

 

[randyc]

Neither am I, Randy. But, I was never any good at working with motors of any kind.

The carbed thumpers I've owned took several minutes to warm up before I could ride or even move the atvs. My current Rancher ATV is FI and it is just like a car. If I want to move it, just start it and drive it to its new spot. The twin carbs on my Bonnie were a nightmare, as were all those carburetors on my '72 240Z. I ended up removing them and installing a new intake and 4-barrel Holly. On the Bonnie, I switched to a couple of flat carbs that were much easier to tune.

And, don't get me started about Lucas wiring. When I tore down the Bonnie, I bet it had 150 feet of wire in the harness. When I re-wired it, it had about 12 feet. That was possible because I moved the ignition switch under the seat instead of on the handlebars, plus I didn't see any purpose in running a wire clear from the back to front, and doubling it back to the back.

Oh yes, there is a warm-up issue with the Sporty. I don't let it bother me unduly though, just fire it up and then start putting on leather jacket, scarf, gloves, helmet and so forth. Weather here is very mild (year-round daytime temperature rarely drops under 60 degrees because of the Japanese Current just offshore) so warm-up time is just a couple of minutes.

In colder climates, warm-up can definitely be an issue. I recall a post on one of the H-D forums where the OP lived in an urban area and rode to work at around 5:00 AM in a cold climate. Allowing his Sportster to warm up for five minutes in the driveway did NOT endear him with his neighbors at that hour of the day !

I never cared for synchronizing dual carburetors either (all of my two-strokes had dual carbs) because I thought the method described in the owner's manual was really hokey and I didn't own a flow-meter which is probably the only good way of adjusting the flow equally.

Stock Harleys, of course, have only a single carburetor so I don't have a synchronizing problem but the price has to be paid in performance ! A dual carb H-D could never pass EPA sound level testing. In fact the only way they pass now is to restrict the intake.

The first thing that happens when a new H-D is purchased is that the dealer "fixes" the intake system to what is called "stage 1". Performance is improved at the expense of loudness.

You may recall what we used to call Lucas electrical products: "Lucas, the Prince of Darkness". My Matchless and BSA both had magneto ignitions and anyone who has ever experienced night-time riding with magnetos knows about that particular thrill: headlight only functions when engine RPM is at least 3,000 ! (Of course the British autos had similar problems since they were also cursed with Lucas electrical systems.)

The fact that British sports cars and motorcycles were so wildly popular in the sixties still eludes me, given their constant reliability issues, LOL.

However my Uncle owned a Bonneville and I did enjoy riding pillion behind him (I was too young to solo on it). Sometimes he'd pick me up after school and that did impress the other kids

 

[Franko]

I bought a new '85 GMC Safari van that had Lucas electronics and wiring. It was a constant headache. In fact, that van was the worst vehicle I ever owned or heard of. I put up with it for 7 years and when I traded it in it was barely worth scrap value, with only 85K miles. It went straight to the crusher. Every major system on it was broken or needed replacing.

The upholstery came unwoven, the headliner fell down, it leaked oil no one could find the source of, it wouldn't heat in the winter, the suspension was shot after the first year, the tranny was funky, brakes needed constant attention and the paint fell off after 3 years. It pretty much soured me on General Motors forever. Every shop I took it to for repair told me to never bring it back because they wouldn't work on it again. I changed starter on it, which I had done on almost every car I ever owned, and it took me two days. When you opened the hood, you couldn't get your hand inside more than to the first knuckle because it was so crammed tight. In seven years, I never found the thermostat, which I guessed was the heating problem. I'd stick a sheet of cardboard in front of the radiator in the winter just so the heater would blow slightly warm air.

 

[randyc]

That tops my story about the 1978 Fiat that I bought (new). It had to be towed from my driveway four years later when I donated it to a charitable institution