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Reepicheep
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 02, 2008 - 09:12 am: | 
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LOL. I remember meeting Dave in the Hotel, along with the other guy from Cincinnati.
The week before, I had been at my local Harley dealer buying parts. Several of the really knowledgeable hard core Harley guys at the shop and I chatted about old bikes and keeping them running. All the guys in the shop had a limp.
Then I go to meet Jim and Jerry, and Dave and that other guy are getting around fine, but clearly have a limp.
I'm thinking to myself "geesh... all these old serious riders are walking around with some sort of limp... what kind of sport am I getting myself into here?". It was about an hour later, *after* I see them unloading a motorcycle from a trailer in 8" of snow, that it occurs to me that both of them are missing one or more legs. 
There is a lesson here... if you are going to ride a motorcycle...
... then don't do it in Angola during a war on a road full of anti-tank mines...
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Jlnance
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 02, 2008 - 09:51 am: |
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quote:did, she, um, mention anything about this
Actually, I think she did.
I almost got a counter picture with me an blue_eyed_buell_girl. I don't quite have the guts you do though. |
Madduck
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 - 03:29 pm: |
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Dealer just called, mine should be here shortly after Christmas. High pipes from Storz in black should be available about the same time. Almost as excited as I was when FB took my ULY lto Ca. I sure hate work, I have a life to live and work is really interfering.
Hopefully I can pay off the major stuff and be out in four years, only part time for me the. |
Towjam
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 - 03:33 pm: |
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Dealer just called, mine should be here shortly after Christmas. High pipes from Storz in black should be available about the same time. Almost as excited as I was when FB took my ULY lto Ca. I sure hate work, I have a life to live and work is really interfering.
Maybe this will help you get your mind off of it. Or not. 
http://tinyurl.com/6kv83j |
Oddball
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 - 11:03 pm: |
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"It feels very close to a Buell XB12Ss but with a little more "refinement" - less vibes at idle, less mechanical noise and a little smoother shifting (although I think it shares the same tranny with the XB).
I think this bike will appeal to those who appreciate the performance and handling of a Buell but are looking for a little more mainstream bike." - TowJam HDForums_com
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Towjam
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 - 11:19 pm: |
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Oddball,
That's not meant as a swipe at Buells (keep in mind that I'm a 4x Buell owner). Fact is, the XR is far closer to an 12Ss than it is a Sportster and I think the comparison is valid. All things being equal, the XR is not going to out handle or outrun an XB. On the other hand, the XR has significantly less vibration, relatively little mechanical noise (as compared to the XB) and a more traditional "feel" - that I attribute to the longer wheelbase. I'm not a marketing expert but I see the XR having more appeal to John Q. Public.
Just sayin'.... |
Oddball
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 - 11:27 pm: |
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Those pics do look nice. It's the top sportster as far as I'm concerned. The moco should have another league where they and xb's mix it up. Let the cousins play together for fun.
(fixed dumb typo)
(Message edited by Oddball on December 03, 2008) |
Towjam
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 - 11:41 pm: |
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I don't think it would be much of a match up between cousins. The XR is not only down by about 10hp, it's also at least 150 lbs heavier. (Not to mention that the XB will tear it a new a-hole in the twisties.)
But yeah, I'd love to watch a track full of these air cooled v-twins bitch slapping each other. |
Madduck
| | Posted on Thursday, December 04, 2008 - 01:37 pm: |
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I'm really looking forward to the lack of fan noise. If Buell could change anything on their XB series it should be the fan.
Really hard to explain to a cop after he has told you to turn off the motorcycle. Sort of becomes a joke and I am pretty sure the warning I received had somehting to do with my feeling regarding the fan. |
Froggy
| | Posted on Thursday, December 04, 2008 - 04:09 pm: |
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Only once did the cop ask about the fan after I pulled over, but that was because there was 4 of us lane spitting on a hot summer day. We used the fan to our advantage, he knocked down the ticket to a cheaper fine because he understood we were moving just to keep the heat from pumping on us.
I love the fan, its the best part of the bike. |
Jerry_haughton
| | Posted on Thursday, December 04, 2008 - 09:49 pm: |
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Almost as excited as I was when FB took my ULY into Ca
glad you were excited.
me, i was vacillating between "anxious" and "downright skeered" most of the time...
:-) |
Madduck
| | Posted on Friday, December 05, 2008 - 01:19 pm: |
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FB,
You, it would appear, are an ideal candidate for Bonneville salt flat racing.
There is no prize money, there is a very real risk. the venue is damn dangerous on its own and the meets are populated by self taught engineers and crazies.
Everything worthwhile I've done has real risk, little chance of reward and interactions with social misfits.
God I love racin and Buells. Harley folk tend not to be as nuts as Buell folk. ie I have never met Courts equivalent at a Harley gathering. |
Court
| | Posted on Friday, December 05, 2008 - 01:43 pm: |
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>>>>I have never met Courts equivalent at a Harley gathering.
Be mindful that I FOUND Buell as a result of my Harley-Davidson fanaticism.
I, overcome with the racing bug you describe, was sponsoring a C. L. Canfield Grand National racing effort and Mike Patterson, Scott Parker and I were standing in Sacramento, CA, for "The Mile" when I first laid eyes on a Buell RR-1000. Totally changed my life.
It was Harley-Davidson that had me speaking at the NFL Players Banquet with Dionne Sanders and Christian Okoye. Part of the fun is that you never, on any given day, know where this stuff is going to take you.
I buy a Buell and 6 months later we're throwing a party in Topeka with Erik Buell and the entire family, Rich Teerlink with his wife and daughter Victoria and both Willie G. and Nancy Davidson.
It was when the 883 Twin Sports racing started that I bought 3 Sportsters one day, one to ride, one for dirt track and one for road racing and told Dr. David Chall I wanted to road race bike ready by next Tuesday to use at Heartland Park Topeka.
He told me that to do the cylinder boring and so forth that the bike needed to be broken in. It was Thursday about 10:00AM. I went to the truck got my jacket and helmet, got on the bike, rode to St. Louis, attended a speech that Rich Teerlink, then President of HD, gave, he and I had dinner and I got up at 5AM the next morning to ride back. I opted to take back roads and lo and behold wandered up on the filming of a movie at Washington Airport, South of St. Louis, so I had to stop and shoot photos (remember film?) of the Sportster in front of some biplanes. I wandered across Highway 19, through scenic Hermann and it's vineyards, stopped for the photo op in front of the state capital in Columbia and pulled into the Harley-Davidson shop and told Dr. Chall . . "anymore lame excuses? If not, I'll pick the bike up Tuesday morning".
I did.
We are weird and you, my friend, are as bad as I am. Erik Buell is worse than both of us . . . . |
Madduck
| | Posted on Friday, December 05, 2008 - 02:19 pm: |
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Court,
Fond memories include, meetng you at a gas station in N.Central Il 1995, well after dark. I was riding and you were hauling. It was nice to meet someone as crazy as me. In life it's important to be able to show friends and family that there are others in the "tribe". The family feel better knowing we are not alone and have banded with others of our ilk. |
Jerry_haughton
| | Posted on Friday, December 05, 2008 - 05:12 pm: |
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hey, i *think* someone may have beaten us to the punch, but i'm seeing a very cool t-shirt design:
GOT
ILK? |
Madduck
| | Posted on Friday, December 05, 2008 - 07:31 pm: |
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The idea is yours if you want it. I think I am one of very few people who have encountered Court Canfield whilst he was "trailering" and not riding. He trailers pretty well too. |
Court
| | Posted on Saturday, December 06, 2008 - 09:59 am: |
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Gads. . I had forgotten that. If I recall it was the wee hours of the night. The reason I was trailering is that I was headed to an Iron Butt party in Chicago and my bike had been crated to be air freighted to CA and I intercepted it, loaded it on the trailer and drove through the night to get there.
If I recall, you'd been to some gathering and were taking the long way home.
I meet the most interesting folks on the road.
I pulled into a convenience store once and see a Honda XR650 our front and walk in an find an oriental guy struggling with English paying for gas. He sees my S-1 in the back of the truck and smiles. He spoke about as much English as I did Japanese.
How to overcome the barrier as we stood there next to the truck?
Wait . . . I've got it.
I fired ol' Barney up and blipped the throttle a couple times . . . as the custom automotive exhaust that Supertrapp had made for the project barked a smile came over his face.
He handed me, in typical Japanese style, his business card with two hands and I properly received it. He was on a journey exploring America. I didn't know exactly who he was but I recognized his name . . HONDA.
What relation? I've no idea but he was some kind of executive.
Buells seem to emote the most amazing encounters. |
Towjam
| | Posted on Saturday, December 06, 2008 - 03:55 pm: |
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He handed me, in typical Japanese style, his business card with two hands and I properly received it. He was on a journey exploring America. I didn't know exactly who he was but I recognized his name . . HONDA.
What relation? I've no idea but he was some kind of executive.
You must have made quite an impression on him Court. He apparently ran back to the factory and told his boss, "THIS is what Americans want to ride!!!!"
(This is a reported spy shot of the Honda Fury - which will be in US dealers March '09") |
Trojan
| | Posted on Monday, December 08, 2008 - 10:01 am: |
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Just spent an extremel;y cold and very wet morning at Teesside Autodrome track with MCN, as they wanted to try our XR1200 for size Hopefully the video will be online at MCN very soon and there will be a full write up before Christmas. The track is seldom used, and was just too wet and slippery to do anything much, but it sounded glorious!
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Jammin_joules
| | Posted on Monday, December 08, 2008 - 01:44 pm: |
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Come and see it before it's gone.
Our first pre-sold just arrived.
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Jammin_joules
| | Posted on Monday, December 08, 2008 - 05:54 pm: |
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Trojan
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 - 04:11 am: |
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Joules,
Any chance you could take a close up photograph of the pipes where they join just next to the cam case cover? It looks very much like you have different pipes to us, without the catalytic convertor?
Thanks
Matt |
Jammin_joules
| | Posted on Thursday, December 11, 2008 - 07:32 pm: |
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The two pipes are joined into what I refer to as an expansion chamber. Unlike the Buell XB's and their Helmholtz muffler, this is all you get. A V-twin always seems to breath better, develop more power, when you connect the two exhaust streams at the proper length from the exhaust port. Harley's usually have some sort of cross-over, albeit they often hide & disguise it as best they can for buyers wanting that 'true dual' look.
Also unlike an XB, what you are seeing is a header cover plate, not the actual exhaust pipe. It maintains color and protects against skin burns.
photos to phollow phurther in liphe
~jammer |
Jammin_joules
| | Posted on Thursday, December 11, 2008 - 07:34 pm: |
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PS, delivery of XR1200 no.2 was celebrated by taking deposit for XR1200 no.5 today.
We are on track to sell more XR1200's in December than any other model!
~jammer |
Trojan
| | Posted on Friday, December 12, 2008 - 07:13 am: |
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Thanks Joules, as I suspected, you don't have the power sapping and heavy Catalyst on your models
Under the cheap looking 'matt chrome' heat shields the pipes are actually decent stainless steel and polish up quite nicely (we used the stock header pipes on our project bike and only gave them a light polish).
We are on track to sell more XR1200's in December than any other model!
Same as in every other market the bike has been released in. Outselling all H-D models and Buells over here with no signs of a slow down yet. |
Court
| | Posted on Friday, December 12, 2008 - 09:23 am: |
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>>>Same as in every other market the bike has been released in. Outselling all H-D models and Buells over here with no signs of a slow down yet.
Which is why I'd indicated the "Limited to 750" will quickly go by the wayside . . . with HD stock in the tank they will build all of these they can. |
Jammin_joules
| | Posted on Saturday, December 13, 2008 - 06:09 pm: |
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Today's XR1200 delivery went to a buyer who owns a Ducati 749s and a BMW GS1100, not your typical Electra Glide Classic owner who walks through our doors. He said that all his friends, Duc, Aprilia, KTM owners "<shagrin> ..and one guy who owns a Honda</shagrin>" are chomping at the bit to ride this thing. If they like it, they'll soon be down here to get one too.
~jammer |
Court
| | Posted on Sunday, December 14, 2008 - 04:29 am: |
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If they like it, they'll soon be down here to get one too.
Which is why I'd indicated the "Limited to 750" will quickly go by the wayside . . . with HD stock in the tank they will build all of these they can. |
Madduck
| | Posted on Sunday, December 14, 2008 - 01:37 pm: |
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Pretty excited, my bike should be here before Christmas. As is everything in life, with great joy comes great sadness. 50mph winds and 8 inches of snow today. Life is still so good. Got the F150 out to haul a sick neighbor from the farm into town. Doing good is so rewarding. Hard to believe that 5 adults and 2 teenagers fit fairly comfortably in a ford crew cab.
Medical problem turns out well and family bedded down next door. My new motorcycle arrival seems somehow less important today. |
Jammin_joules
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - 04:31 pm: |
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First delivered XR1200 rider feedback. Remember, this guy just bought a Ducati 749s this past spring and owns a BMW GS1100. He hangs with all the sport bike rider types who usually poke fun at leather clad Harley riders.
I had taken a few photos of him at delivery and sent them to him asking for feedback. He was dressed in modern sport riding gear; boots, pants, full helmet, et al.
I don't look [dressed] much like a Harley rider in that photo, do I? Don't worry, I'll get that fixed by spring.
I was only able to put about 100 miles on the bike on Saturday. I took it up into the hills; there was some ice and snow on the roads, so I wasn't able to push it very much up there. And I had to stop riding much earlier than I wanted, so that I could wash off the snow spray and road deicer, put some fuel stabilizer in the tank, and clear a place in the shed next to my other bikes.
So, based on that short amount of time: The bike is great! It is really a blast to ride. Obviously, when it breaks in, everything is going to improve: the brakes will be bedded in, the tires will have more grip, the engine will be smoother. Even so, the bike already works very well. The engine makes OK power (respecting the break-in rev limits), the brakes are already pretty good, and the suspension is fine. I will say that it handles and goes like no other Harley I have ever ridden.
It also has strong Harley genes: at idle, the engine vibrations will rearrange your digestive tract, and from idle to about 2000 rpm, the engine sounds like, and vibrates like, the world's sickest lawnmower. Above 3000 revs, though, it really smooths out and makes good power. Also, the thing pumps out torque like a locomotive. I think you could just dump the clutch at idle and it would chug away. It is probably stall-proof.
The way it churns out torque reminds me very much of my long line of beloved Ducatis. One of the great things about a big V-twin is the way you can roll on the throttle out of a turn and get hurled down the road. The Harley feels just like that. It really is a terrific thing.
The shifting is great, too. I was expecting a chunky gearbox, but it shifts easily and very positively. The clutch is progressive and smooth, and even though the lever is non-adjustable, the reach and fit is excellent. (Same for the front brake lever, obviously.)
Coming from a sportbike background, there are some things about the Harley that seem crude to me. That big steering head bolt, for example; it looks like they picked it up at a hardware store until they could find something better. Except that's the way they all look. I am sure some enterprising XR1200 owner is going to develop a cover that will give it a more finished look.
Or the hose clamps that hold the exhaust pipe covers. You wouldn't see anything like that on a Ducati, or even a BMW (which are cruder than you might think, especially for the money) -- much less a Japanese bike.
But you know what? I don't care. I bought the bike because I wanted something different. I have ridden the Ducati Hypermotard -- the "S" model, no less, with the lighter forged wheels and upgraded suspension -- and the Ducati Monsters, and the new Triumph Bonneville and two generations of the Triumph Speed Triple. I know how refined they are -- especially the Ducatis, which have incredible engines, brakes and handling, along with a high level of finish. But I have a Ducati, and I have a big long-distance rig in the BMW GS. I wanted a bike that was raw and elemental, with character, that would be the bike I can ride almost anywhere.
The XR1200 is also a heavy beast. But it is really, really cool. As I think I mentioned, all of my riding buddies are intrigued by this bike. None of them own Harleys yet. But once they ride this bike, I think they will become customers.
I couldn't be happier -- except for the weather, of course. I want to ride my bike!
Anyway, if you ever have a sportbike guy in the shop who is on the fence and wants to talk to brethren about the XR1200, I'll be happy to set 'em straight. Just tell them to give me a call.
While I've got you on the e-mail line, I want to say what a great staff you have. The Harley dealer experience is amazing. I have worked in the bicycle business for many years, and I can tell you that if you ever got treated like that in a bike store, you'd have a heart attack.
All the small touches -- the pigtail for the Battery Tender already installed, the free buddy rental, the poker run to meet the staff -- they all add up to an amazing couple of hours.
I think you have a new customer for life. |
Madduck
| | Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008 - 03:30 pm: |
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The bike is hugely more impressive in person, odd feeling standing next to a bike I've wanted for so many years and its mine. Winter storm watch will put off enjoyment till spring, but mine is here!!
This is the first XR I've sat on that wasn't set up for someone 5'6" and 150lbs.
It is sort of like they made it for my size. Feels real good and sounds nice. Bub pipes won't be available till spring but they are definetly in the works. Missing the nightster already, tho.
How many toys should one person have?? |
Jerry_haughton
| | Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008 - 05:57 pm: |
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How many toys should one person have??
Ferris' motto:
Some is good.
More is better.
Too many is just enough.
congrats MadDuck!
FB |
Jsg4dfan
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 10, 2009 - 10:37 pm: |
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Sigh... I really want to like this bike. I love the look. I love the thought that performance was actually considered in this model's development. I just can't get past the fact that my very large (comparatively speaking) check would get me a mount that would get it's @ss handed to it by a well-preserved 1979 GS1000 Suzuki, never mind my '03 XB9S... |
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