Nick, 1st I had to laugh, then I cried. You see, (gulp), in 1980 I sold my '78 GS750E after spending months drooling over the 1980 HD Lowrider 1340 in a brochure. I spent almost $6000 of the bank's money and got nothing for my tradein, but was I proud as I settled into that saddle for the ride home. It was pretty fun until I got to the freeway entrance ramp and no matter how hard I twisted the grip nothing much happened, but I did make a big noise. I started to get worried about my decision as I attempted to look in my rearview mirrors and saw nothing but a blur in both, my hands started feeling numb, and my butt tingled (and it wasn't a good tingling).
It wasn't long before my brand new pipes were blue and black, my battery shattered from vibrations as I drove down the highway one day, my rear STEEL fender split crossways directly above the back tire and had to be welded, and I lost one of my rear turn signals along with miscellaneous nuts and bolts on other drives. Not to mention the starter was barely able to turn over the engine most of the time. But my God it looked nice ('cept for the pipes). I sold it one year later and the whole experience + a new wife kept me off bikes for 23 years.
Before I ever bought the thing I KNEW from reading cycle mags and reviews (and word of mouth) that Harleys weren't a wise decision; they had looks and nothing else. But I did it anyway because that bike was so pretty. I've kicked myself for being so dumb all these years and have missed that damn 750 like crazy. What a great bike that 750 was and I didn't even realize it until I was financially incapable of having another one.
Man, I gotta get another one some day!
It wasn't long before my brand new pipes were blue and black, my battery shattered from vibrations as I drove down the highway one day, my rear STEEL fender split crossways directly above the back tire and had to be welded, and I lost one of my rear turn signals along with miscellaneous nuts and bolts on other drives. Not to mention the starter was barely able to turn over the engine most of the time. But my God it looked nice ('cept for the pipes). I sold it one year later and the whole experience + a new wife kept me off bikes for 23 years.
Before I ever bought the thing I KNEW from reading cycle mags and reviews (and word of mouth) that Harleys weren't a wise decision; they had looks and nothing else. But I did it anyway because that bike was so pretty. I've kicked myself for being so dumb all these years and have missed that damn 750 like crazy. What a great bike that 750 was and I didn't even realize it until I was financially incapable of having another one.
Man, I gotta get another one some day!
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