I don't like Harley-Davidson motorcycles at all, regarding them as inferior to more modern designs. Nevertheless, I was astonished to see the control and expertise displayed by Officer Donnie Williams during the Grand Prairie Police Motorcycle Rodeo on April 30th this year. How he did it on so heavy and unwieldy a machine, I don't know, but my hat's off to him!
Even during my best days on a motorcycle, I could never have equaled that!
Peter
5 comments:
I happen to be a big Harley fan.
Just like the Curtiss Wright 3350, 18 cylinder, super charged radial engine the Harley 1200 cc twin-V makes the sweetest sound known to man (or woman).
Ain't no rice burner ever made that can compare.
Do yourself a favor buy the movie "Electra-glide in Blue" from Amazon.
It's a bit dated, but has some great scenes with Robert Blake, cruising on his Harley with his .357 magnum Python strapped on.
Yep, outstanding riding, and he needed to replace a couple of foot plates after that one!
Technically archaic ... in some areas. Less reliable than a BMW police bike ... I think so.
Big and unwieldy, well, it's really a full size touring bike. It handles better than some other brands of touring bikes that size. One has to compare apples to apples.
I've seen police Sportsters. Though less common, they are a totally different animal. They are much easier to work in traffic.
The BMW police bike is also a lot smaller. I know that department brass love them, but I believe that the majority of officers on the street find a Harley easier to spent 8 hours on.
After riding a BMW motorcycle for 16 years, I bought a Harley.
I still love BMWs, but I'll be riding a Harley from now on. I love the engine, the ergonomics, and the community. Mine has been utterly reliable (as was my BMW).
There's a certain "soul", and the handling in the real world is, surprisingly, excellent, though the lean angle is limited.
It is possible to make Harley's go on a twisty road course where the physics are quite different from the low-speed work shown here. (remember that the natural harmonics of a bike determine the regime in which a bike can corner only with lean, with the forks straight ahead, with speeds below that requiring normal steering in which the forks are turned right to go right, and above that requiring the forks to turn the opposite direction to make the curve)but it isn't much fun.
If you want to get the bike to change directions faster than the normal lean rate, you can do it, but it requires large force inputs on the forks.
When I tried to make a big hog go fast on a twisty road with lots of back and forth turns coming close together, I had to twist the forks back and forth with a lot of force, literally throwing the bike down into the turn and picking it back up in time to get it ready for the next curve the opposite direction. It can be done until your arms give out. Not much fun though. And fast only in the Harley sense. Any decent crotch rocket would have left me in the dust if the rider knew how to ride. Which is still a pretty small chance.
I am reminded of a bumper sticker I saw: Its loud, its slow, and it handles funny. What's not to love.
I used to be able to do almost that exact cone course back when I had two feet. It was a standard requirement of the agency I worked at and I was pretty good until I met up with a woman driver who had her head her head up and locked. Hard to beleive that it's been five years already. I miss that bike, I miss the riding, and I miss the foot that I used to have.
But I'll ride again. 'twas just a flesh wound, after all.
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