[harleyhoonigan]

Anyone here like Harley lowrider bikes?

My dream is to own a road king or soft tail and turn it into a lowrider!


Lowrider Harley's:

 

[fkystreet]

I like how you can barely find a photo of a harley online without a mostly naked girl on it,.

 

[stude]

I like how you can barely find a photo of a harley online without a mostly naked girl on it,.

What are you talking about. I saw two pictures of hot chicks, and only one of a motorcycle.

 

[fkystreet]

do these count? do we really care?

 

[Yusef]

I'm not sure those shoes are the best for riding, lol.

I have always wondered if low rider bikes (or cars) have problems with the road scratching the bottom of the bike. If you go over a speed bump or pot hole or something like that, wouldn't it scratch up the bottom?

 

[harleyhoonigan]

do these count? do we really care?

I only see women, of course they count! What kind of question is that

 

[shark nose]

Anyone here like Harley lowrider bikes?

My dream is to own a road king or soft tail and turn it into a lowrider!


Lowrider Harley's:

I like them. But then I'd ride anything with jugs! I really love the one with the tats.

 

[fkystreet]

this thread in the morning keeps the sadness away

 

[harleyhoonigan]

this thread in the morning keeps the sadness away

haha that and starting up your HD! Nothing like that to wake up you, better than morning coffee.

 

[Desert Tortoise]

I'm not sure those shoes are the best for riding, lol.

I have always wondered if low rider bikes (or cars) have problems with the road scratching the bottom of the bike. If you go over a speed bump or pot hole or something like that, wouldn't it scratch up the bottom?

Depends how much you lower the car or bike. I have a slightly lowered Audi (part of a coil over perfermance suspension package from 2Bennett Audimotive) and you very much have to be careful with steep driveways and speed bumps. Deep snow is a no go in that car, you will be plowing the snow built up between tire tracks on unplowed roads or driveways. The benefit of bringing the roll center closer to the Mike Axis (the name of the line through the car or bikes center of mass) is reduced roll in corners without having to use anti-roll bars and much less (zero in my car) brake dive on hard stops. The trade off are the problems mentioned above.

Lowering bikes you can ruin the basic steering geometry and introduce instabilities that are not present on the stock bike. I vividly recall a guy on a slammed bagger on an LA freeway trying to keep up with me in traffic on my old K100RS. Every time we opened it up between packs of cars and passed 80 mph his bike began to weave and hewould have to back out of it and slow down. Funny to watch, but probably not so funny from where he was sitting.

 

[harleyhoonigan]

Depends how much you lower the car or bike. I have a slightly lowered Audi (part of a coil over perfermance suspension package from 2Bennett Audimotive) and you very much have to be careful with steep driveways and speed bumps. Deep snow is a no go in that car, you will be plowing the snow built up between tire tracks on unplowed roads or driveways. The benefit of bringing the roll center closer to the Mike Axis (the name of the line through the car or bikes center of mass) is reduced roll in corners without having to use anti-roll bars and much less (zero in my car) brake dive on hard stops. The trade off are the problems mentioned above.

Lowering bikes you can ruin the basic steering geometry and introduce instabilities that are not present on the stock bike. I vividly recall a guy on a slammed bagger on an LA freeway trying to keep up with me in traffic on my old K100RS. Every time we opened it up between packs of cars and passed 80 mph his bike began to weave and hewould have to back out of it and slow down. Funny to watch, but probably not so funny from where he was sitting.

Reason why people who have the coin for it go for air ride, it's a worth while investment

 

[Desert Tortoise]

Reason why people who have the coin for it go for air ride, it's a worth while investment

How does air ride cure a problem created by lowering a bike to the point that the basic steering geometry is ruined?

 

[shark nose]

Yep, low-riders are attitude rides. Not as practicable more for the way they look. But I like them NEVERTHELESS! Ridding/driving them is some what of a art-forum. I own both a bike and a car that has been lowered two inches.

 

[fkystreet]

id say lowering a bike effects the handling more than a car

but both of them have negative impacts. more so to the bike.

 

[Desert Tortoise]

id say lowering a bike effects the handling more than a car

but both of them have negative impacts. more so to the bike.

With a car it depends on how you lower it. Cars lean in corners because the line through the car's center of mass, called the Mike Axis, is almost always higher than the line through the car's roll center. In addition, the Mike Axis is usually higher at the front of the car than at the rear.

In general, it is the distance between the Mike Axis and the roll axis that creates body roll in corners and brake dive under hard braking. Having the center of mass above the roll center creats a moment arm that causes the body to roll in corners. Reducing the distance between the Mike and roll axes, especially lowering the Mike Axis at the front of the car can give you huge handling benefits in terms of less or even no body roll during cornering and reduced or no brake dive. Auto manufacturers cannot alway set up a car for ideal cornering this way as they also have to meet government requirements for headlight and bumper heights and pedestrian impact standards. They compromise by using big thick anti roll bars to control body roll, but doing so compromises suspension compliance in corners as the wheels on either side are no longer completely independent of each other. The roll bar is a spring, and now what happens to the left wheel affects the right, and vice versa.

There are software tools that will let you draw the front and rear suspension geometry of your car. With that tool and a lot of careful measuring you can use a computer to determine what happens to the Mike and roll axes as you change suspension height at each end. The shop that set up my blue Audi 90 also race Audis and builds a lot of track cars for customers. They set my car up using height adjustable suspension components they make (they actually wind their own springs) to minimize the distance between the Mike and roll axes, resulting in very flat cornering and zero brake dive. I am not concerned with meeting any bumper or headlight height requirements (I put Euro-market bumpers and headlights on it) and don't plan to hit any pedestrians, but I do play on twisty roads, so this works for me.

 

[harleyhoonigan]

Yep, low-riders are attitude rides. Not as practicable more for the way they look. But I like them NEVERTHELESS! Ridding/driving them is some what of a art-forum. I own both a bike and a car that has been lowered two inches.

Yup, worth it for the look to just cruise around in. if i have one i would still need a seperate do-anything HD

 

[Desert Tortoise]

Yup, worth it for the look to just cruise around in. if i have one i would still need a seperate do-anything HD

Harley is about the last brand I would shop for a do anything motorcycle! The Street is a hopeful sign, but they still don't really get it. Look at the Project Rushmore kludge. Lipstick on a pig. How about some modern touring/sport touring bikes instead of these old dinosaurs?

 

[harleyhoonigan]

Harley is about the last brand I would shop for a do anything motorcycle! The Street is a hopeful sign, but they still don't really get it. Look at the Project Rushmore kludge. Lipstick on a pig. How about some modern touring/sport touring bikes instead of these old dinosaurs?

You have a point, i was just trying to say a capable bike I think i just took it too far, maybe was a bit too hopefully with my statement LOL

You're right HD has improving to do, at least they seem to be off to a good path with the Street

 

[stude]

Harley is about the last brand I would shop for a do anything motorcycle! The Street is a hopeful sign, but they still don't really get it. Look at the Project Rushmore kludge. Lipstick on a pig. How about some modern touring/sport touring bikes instead of these old dinosaurs?

I think there are thousands upon thousands of riders that would disagree.
Just look at the market share of US HD sales compared to rest of manufacturers... currently 54.9%. 'Nuff said.

I get the fact that you absolutely abhor all Harleys except the VRod, and maybe the Street, because they are old technology. But for some, that is the very reason they like them. Simplistic and traditional... oh, and the air-cooled Harley sound.
Maybe some day HD will build a "modern" touring bike, but I wouldn't hold my breath, it was 12 years between the intro of the "modern" VRod to the new Street models, so evolution seems awful slow. But at least you have your BMW to ride until then, so it's all good, right?

 

[Desert Tortoise]

I think there are thousands upon thousands of riders that would disagree.
Just look at the market share of US HD sales compared to rest of manufacturers... currently 54.9%. 'Nuff said.

I get the fact that you absolutely abhor all Harleys except the VRod, and maybe the Street, because they are old technology. But for some, that is the very reason they like them. Simplistic and traditional... oh, and the air-cooled Harley sound.
Maybe some day HD will build a "modern" touring bike, but I wouldn't hold my breath, it was 12 years between the intro of the "modern" VRod to the new Street models, so evolution seems awful slow. But at least you have your BMW to ride until then, so it's all good, right?

Yeah, popular in the same country that has "world championships" for sports like NASCAR and football when the only competitors are American. The US is so backward in so many ways it makes my head hurt.

The sad thing is that by 1982 Harley had a fully modern sport touring machine ready to produce and pulled the plug. I am talking about the V-4 Nova. I had money saved to buy one. In the mid 1970's Harley was dyno testing prototypes of a new overhead cam V-twin called the 1100 OHC with a basic architecture almost identical to the new Street except that it was air cooled. As far as I am concerned Harley has done nothing but spin it's grossly overweight wheels for the last 30 years.

Don't let the faux cooling fins fool you. Nova was liquid cooled. The intakes in the fairing fed the fuel injection and the radiator, which was oriented horizontally below the seat somewhere with the hot air exiting out the bottom of the bike.