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Unfortunately you will hear of no GS or even a UJM in this story, but it was fun none the less!
I am currently sitting in the Vancouver airport with 8 hours to go till my flight so I figured I had some time to type. I am on my way home from a big family (28 people) vacation where we took a cruise from Anchorage, AK to Vancouver, BC with port of calls at Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. It rained on us everyday till Ketchikan which suited me perfectly because that was the day my dad and I were slated to ride motorcycles , and we did!
The bikes that the excursion company rented out to us was 2008 Harley sportster 883 sport models.
We rode a total of about 54 miles in 3 hours with a lot of stops with time to take pictures of the wildlife and enjoy the Alaskan outdoors. It was the guide, my dad, myself and one other guy with his wife riding pileon. We left Ketchikan heading south to see the King Salmon heading upstream to spawn and a couple bald eagles above the salmon stream. Those fish were a good 2.5-3' long weighing in at 20lbs or better!
Then we rode north around town to the trail head of a huge network of ATV, Snowmobile, hiking and biking trails that go up into the mountains which still have enough snow to snowmobile in. Since where we were was part of the only rainforest north of the equator everything was very lush and gorgeous! They get between 160-190" of rain a year. We then turned and headed north again to the "end" of the road going north out of Ketchikan. They only have something like 70 miles of paved road there, to get to anywhere you need to take the Alaskan Ferry.
We ended the ride by heading back to Ketchikan, stopping at a Native Alaskan totem pole center where they still carve them.
This was the first time I have riden with my dad and it was a wonderful experience I must say! I think this ride has encouraged him to get a bike again. I am kinda hoping he wants to buy my 850 from me so I can go ahead and pickup an 1100G or GSX1100G, but that is a little tangent I don't want to get my hopes up about yet.
Now to the review of the Harley
Hype Hype Hype.
I know I only had 50 miles on it, but honestly I don't want anymore. First the ride was not bad, had more travel then my 850 in the rear but the front was a little stiff for my preference. The handlebars were some stubby thing that felt like they wanted to be race bars, but at the last minute someone pulled them back just a hair. They leaned me a few degrees forward of vertical which was uncomfortable with the height of the foot pegs. Now the peg placement and such made it seem like a standard bike which I liked a lot and if it had a little longer handlebars I am sure I would have like the riding position better and my back less sore.
The motor was lackluster at best. I wasn't able to do anything at the top end, but since I was the most experienced rider in the group I was placed at the back of the pack and took advantage of it by waiting for them to be a ways up so when I took off I could roll on the throttle. The throttle was exceptionally smooth once you got into it (Fuel injection is great for that) but was extremely jerky and touchy from when you first touched the throttle or when you let out of it. The transmission shifts were clunky and had a long throw to them, but by the end of the ride I was shifting without the clutch effortlessly. The noise of the motor (not exhaust, had stock quiet pipes) was very loud and annoying when cruising. It reminded me of those little 5hp go karts you see in the tracks at the bull pen or low scale amusement parks. The vibration was horrible, I thought my 450 buzzed, but this thing put my butt and arms to sleep. No thanks
Over all, my 850 outperformed it in acceleration, throttle response, cornering (I scraped twice that I know I would have been no where near on my zuk), posture and seat comfort. All in all I am very glad to have the bikes I have and was not brought up to think HD was all gold and glitter.
I will link the video once youtube cooperates....
Me and Dad
I am currently sitting in the Vancouver airport with 8 hours to go till my flight so I figured I had some time to type. I am on my way home from a big family (28 people) vacation where we took a cruise from Anchorage, AK to Vancouver, BC with port of calls at Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. It rained on us everyday till Ketchikan which suited me perfectly because that was the day my dad and I were slated to ride motorcycles , and we did!
The bikes that the excursion company rented out to us was 2008 Harley sportster 883 sport models.
We rode a total of about 54 miles in 3 hours with a lot of stops with time to take pictures of the wildlife and enjoy the Alaskan outdoors. It was the guide, my dad, myself and one other guy with his wife riding pileon. We left Ketchikan heading south to see the King Salmon heading upstream to spawn and a couple bald eagles above the salmon stream. Those fish were a good 2.5-3' long weighing in at 20lbs or better!
Then we rode north around town to the trail head of a huge network of ATV, Snowmobile, hiking and biking trails that go up into the mountains which still have enough snow to snowmobile in. Since where we were was part of the only rainforest north of the equator everything was very lush and gorgeous! They get between 160-190" of rain a year. We then turned and headed north again to the "end" of the road going north out of Ketchikan. They only have something like 70 miles of paved road there, to get to anywhere you need to take the Alaskan Ferry.
We ended the ride by heading back to Ketchikan, stopping at a Native Alaskan totem pole center where they still carve them.
This was the first time I have riden with my dad and it was a wonderful experience I must say! I think this ride has encouraged him to get a bike again. I am kinda hoping he wants to buy my 850 from me so I can go ahead and pickup an 1100G or GSX1100G, but that is a little tangent I don't want to get my hopes up about yet.
Now to the review of the Harley
Hype Hype Hype.
I know I only had 50 miles on it, but honestly I don't want anymore. First the ride was not bad, had more travel then my 850 in the rear but the front was a little stiff for my preference. The handlebars were some stubby thing that felt like they wanted to be race bars, but at the last minute someone pulled them back just a hair. They leaned me a few degrees forward of vertical which was uncomfortable with the height of the foot pegs. Now the peg placement and such made it seem like a standard bike which I liked a lot and if it had a little longer handlebars I am sure I would have like the riding position better and my back less sore.
The motor was lackluster at best. I wasn't able to do anything at the top end, but since I was the most experienced rider in the group I was placed at the back of the pack and took advantage of it by waiting for them to be a ways up so when I took off I could roll on the throttle. The throttle was exceptionally smooth once you got into it (Fuel injection is great for that) but was extremely jerky and touchy from when you first touched the throttle or when you let out of it. The transmission shifts were clunky and had a long throw to them, but by the end of the ride I was shifting without the clutch effortlessly. The noise of the motor (not exhaust, had stock quiet pipes) was very loud and annoying when cruising. It reminded me of those little 5hp go karts you see in the tracks at the bull pen or low scale amusement parks. The vibration was horrible, I thought my 450 buzzed, but this thing put my butt and arms to sleep. No thanks
Over all, my 850 outperformed it in acceleration, throttle response, cornering (I scraped twice that I know I would have been no where near on my zuk), posture and seat comfort. All in all I am very glad to have the bikes I have and was not brought up to think HD was all gold and glitter.
I will link the video once youtube cooperates....
Me and Dad
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