Cop:"OK Melas, slow er' down next time."
Posted on 11/23/2005 12:31:34 PM PST by Red Badger
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Harley-Davidson Inc. issued a voluntary safety recall on 2006 model Dyna series motorcycles built between June 9 and Oct. 19 due to a transmission defect.
The company said late Tuesday the recall affects some 13,400 motorcycles and is expected to cost less than $5 million, which it will make reservations for in the fourth quarter.
Harley-Davidson also said it expects to meet its previously announced wholesale shipment target of 329,000 motorcycles for 2005.
The Milwaukee-based company said it will provide owners with free pickup and delivery and will make recall kits, which include three redesigned transmission components, available at dealerships starting the week of Dec. 12.
The defect may allow the motorcycles to go into a false neutral position even though the neutral indicator light is illuminated, it said.
"If that happens, the transmission could engage into first or second gear unexpectedly," Harley-Davidson spokesman Bob Klein said Wednesday.
Two accidents related to the problem were reported, but none resulted in injury, Klein said.
The defect resulted from a design flaw in the six-speed transmission, which replaced the five-speed on the Dyna to make for a smoother ride at highway speeds and increase fuel efficiency, Klein said.
The redesign also resulted in a change to the front forks, chassis and a wider rear tire.
Shipments of the 2006 Dyna had been delayed but resumed after a change to production, he said.
Harley-Davidson shares rose $1.20, or 2.2 percent, to $55.67 in Wednesday afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, amid a general gain in market prices on optimism over consumer spending this holiday season.
You'd be suprised at how nice and nimble those Boss Hoss's really are. I am a service center for them and ride them often. I recently rode with with a donovan racing motor in it, 740hp with a 200shot of nitro. It was also probably the best handling Boss I have ridden.
I remember the punch line being: you can only fit one dirtbag on a hoover!
"You'd be suprised at how nice and nimble those Boss Hoss's really are."
I followed a group of about 20 Boss Hoss's through the Black Hills from Deadwood to Keystone once. I was surprised how well they handled. I was cruising right along on my FXR with a tricked out motor (although it was leaned out quite a bit for the altitude). The Boss Hoss's were much better than I expected in the corners and I had to hit the throttle hard on the straights to keep up.
That's what confuses the moto-geeks about Harley's. They were designed and built in the Great Mid-West, the land of the tractor. Since the first Harley's were built in a shed, the peripheral components available to HD, such as ignition, oiling and lights were essentially from vendors that supplied tractor companies such as Deer and Massy Ferguson. Many engineers at HD had tractor company experience before working for HD. A Harley is not British "Bike" or Japanese "Rice Rocket", it's an American "implement".
Cop:"OK Melas, slow er' down next time."
The first thing I do with a harley when I get it in my shop for reselling purposes is tear down the motor and have is balanced, ported polished etc. Harleys are really choked down a lot and the gains per dollar are amazing with just a little bit of work.
Like I said earlier I have nothing against the rice bikes and even spoke highly of many of them. They just have their place, just like Harleys do. When it comes down to it the straight aways and open roads are still ruled by Harleys, cornering etc are ruled by the rice/racer type bikes. I think trying to put one into the others realm is just a practice in futility. yes you can make the rice bikes quick but for the money and time to really make them compete seems like a waste of time to me. I have taken many a rice racer bike and strutted them out lowered them the whole bit it seems like they should have bought a different bike to begin with.
This joke apparently has a number of punch lines.
"the dirt bag is on the outside"
is the one I'm familar with.
No No
The question is, what do they have in common.
OH yea, they will flat out move. There is nothing else like them with all that available power they are putting out. Until someone rides one they have no idea what torque and horsepower are. I can sit on one of the 350's and eat anything up in a straight line either from a stop or rolling. Yes you are right they handle much better than most folks realize. We had a Boss Hoss demo down at my shop this last summer and you wouldn't believe how many of those big ol' boys were just plain scared to ride something that big. I am 5'9" and hover at about 200lbs so I am average height and weight and even after getting on one and smoking the back tire and horsing around on one these guys still were intimidated.
The Italian company Moto Guzzi actually did start out making farm machinery. Their trademark 90-degree v-twin with a longitudinal crank was originally designed to power some sort 3-wheeled vehicle, I think.
I still don't think the Boss Hoss would make a good drag racer, though. Too much mass to get moving and too little tire to put the power down through.
Maybe roll ons.
I had a 1985 or 6 (can't remember given it was almost 20 yrs ago) lemans sport 1000. It was a seriously fast moving bike. Not very nimble but it made up for it with it's ability to launch from the apex of a corner and be at full speed by the time you were standing straight up. I also loved the motor design of them.
Really they launch very well. Yes they do spin the tire more than pretty much any other vehicle in the Universe(yes I being facetious). The older clutch driven models had more of a problem with traction than the newer automatic models(which also happen to have a reverse which is a godsend). The automatic models with the torque with the two speed auto are really very quick. Their topend is limited to about 150though so at the very top the rice bikes will end up beating them, it will just take them a while to catch up to do it. The newer models are coming with Avon 230 venoms on them which is a good grippy tire as opposed to the old Goodyear eagle tire which if not on a car pretty much sucks.
So we're all friends again, now? :)
I take it back, I think you may actually know more about non-H-D bikes than I do about H-Ds. I mean that as a compliment, because my knowledge of H-Ds is quite broad, but not terribly deep since I've never owned one so I never had to learn all the intricacies of maintaining them or working on them.
I can, and have done, all the work on my own bikes, although sometimes I choose to pay someone else to do it. Ever done a valve adjustment on a modern shim under bucket 4 valve per cylinder v-twin, like in my Suzuki? What a PITA - gotta remove the tank, the air box and a bunch of other stuff, and then pull the camshafts to actually change the shims, although this is not as bad on this bike as same, as teh cam shafts are actually gear-driven off a chain-driver idler gear. And then repeat for the other head. Fortunately it doesn't have to be done very often - 16,000 mile intervals, and typically, unless used very hard the clearances don't change after the first adjustment.
My ZRX1100 had the neatest system for valve adjustments - shims on buckets with rocker arms that slid to the side on their shafts to allow access to the shims.
I'd love to ride one, or a Rocket III, but I can't see myself ever owning one. I just don't have room for more than one bike, and I need it to be a real all-arounder. My DL1000/V-Strom is reasonably comfy for cruising the slab, or around town, will carve corners something like a sport bike, and has the weather protection and luggage of a touring bike. Plus it has better than average dirt road abilities.
Up at the Friday the 13th rally in Port Dover (Ontario) last year I saw a Sportster set up as a dual-purpose bike, with high fenders and knobby tires. Interesting...
Your terminology, as is so often the case with Americans, is faulty and ill-informed. British machinery does not "leak" oil.
The evidence of petroleum-based products you perhaps espy on exterior casings and perhaps in the immediate environs of the machinery, is the key to a dynamic anti-corrosive system designed to prevent harmful oxidation of the exquisite British castings in salty environments, such as the US in Winter, or at ocean resort communities elsewhere in the Empire.
The anti-corrosive agents, which also may, or may not, also have some slight lubricating or cooling effect on internal rotating components, are contained in "sumps," * which have scientifically calibrated orifices designed to release them in a timely, efficacious, and carefully metered manner exactly where needed.
What is doubtless confusing to you is that these metering devices may, or may not resemble what you American roughnecks ignorantly call "seals," or "gaskets."
*PLEASE VERIFY THAT THESE "SUMPS" ARE FILLED WITH THE PROPER PROPRIETARY LIQUIDS EVERY 10 MILES, OR HALF-HOUR, WHICHEVER COMES FIRST. CORROSION PREVENTION IS EVERYONE'S JOB. Consult your owner's manual. Heading: Timely Maintenance. Failure to do so will most certainly void the extensive warranties that cover British machinery, some lasting several weeks.
I never was anyones enemy. I am way too nice of a guy. ;)
I don't know what you or anyone else knows except what I can derive from this here message board. I do appreciate the compliment. To be honest I don't know what the whole "under bucket" tem is. I have done valve jobs on the modern overhead cammed 4valve inline 4bangers though. I also have more knowledge of the 99 and earlier. Since I am an independent shop I don't compete with the dealers for the most part and get them in from time to time just because of loyalty from people whom I have done work for in the past. This is the reason god made technical manuals, we can't know every spec on every bike.
Here's a question for ya though. Why can't you rice bike riders be nicer to your second gear??? I would say almost half of all rice racer type bikes I have gotten in all have 2nd gear problems. you guys are so rough on that gear. ;)
Oh man, if you get the opportunity get one one. Even if it's only for a few miles it's nice.
Thats the most important thing about a bike is does it do what you need it to do. My only suggestion I would say across the board for bikes is if you can get it in your size, buy a Metzler tire. The best wet/dry weather tire I have ever been on.
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