What brought me over is they finally made one I wanted.

 

Honda CB350 to BMW r75/5, then drove a BMW R100RT throughout the 80's-'90s, a really fine motorcycle. I switched to HD for the comfortable ride and relativly low tech engineering.....never liked the cheap components on the Jap cruisers.
The old airhead beemers were nice, but my old geezer body now prefers the comfort of my Electra Glide. I wouldn't consider myself a convert, just a motorcyclist who loves to ride.

 

see sig pic

 

Guess I'll go ahead and tell my story. I started out riding 3 wheelers and 4 wheelers when I was a kid. Wound up on a Yamaha YZ 80 dirt bike when I was wbout 12, whichsecured my love for 2 wheelers. When I was 17, I bought a Kawasaki 600 Ninja and decided that I was going to kill myself if I didn't get rid of it, so I sold it and waited a little while before I bought another bike. I did a move to Vacaville, CA in 1992. and fell in love with a 1980 Yamaha XS1100 Midnight Special. Rode it for a couple of years and got orders to Korea, so I sold it. After I got back from Korea, I bought a 1994 Honda 750 Magna, which I loved, except being 6'2", 215 lbs, it was framed a little small for me. I rented a Road King for a few days while I was stationed in NM, because my wife-to-be came up from SATX for a visit, and the Magna just wasn't going to cut the cake for 2-up. Loved the ride of the Road King. I kept my Magna and rode it until 2002, when I sold it to my bro-in-law and bought a Honda VTX1800. Rode the hell out of it too. Last year, I deployed to Iraq and saw the HD sales dude and started talking to him. I had always loved the look of the Road Kings and Road Glides (Shark Nose Fairings RULE!!) ever since I was a teenager, when I used to go over to Appleton's HD in Clarksville, TN and druel over the bikes there. Well, after talking to the HD Sales dude in Iraq a couplemore times over the ourse of about a month, he informed me of the 07 "96" engine upgrade and we negotiated a pretty good deal on a 2007 Road Glide. Figuring I had always wanted one, had my money right and my VTX paid off, I went ahead and purchased it. Had it delivered last Naember and haven't regret my purchase one bit. Yeah, I would like to have some more power out of it, but the ride and ammenities on the RG are awesome. I figure if I really want to go REAL fast, I'll just buy a Hyabusa or a R1 and keep my HD for real riding. BTW, my old lady still owns and rides here 2001 Yamaha Road Star Silverado, which to me, is a pretty sweet bike too.

"Hello, my name is Ed, and I'm a Harley-Davidson convert."

 

I've always named my bikes, so when I bought my Harley, someone asked me what I was going to name it...simple..."NEVER SAY NEVER". I never thought I would own a Harley, but now I don't regret it.

 

I Have gone back and forth in the early 70s had a pan and new sportster. kaw 900, Suzuki 1100 Glodwings, more Suzuki more wings 03 got a lowrider now 07 lowrider I dont think it will be my last. I am going to yellowstone in a week, A bagger sure would be nice!

 

I had been riding over 35 years on mainly Japanese bikes and I realised that living on a diet of a Hayabusa, a YZF-R1, and GSX-R1000s (4) among many others,was going to get me hurt (if I was lucky). That's not neccessarily a lack of abilility on my part, but the average cager has no idea about how fast a modern supersports motorcycle can accelerate, so it was only a matter of time before one pulled out into my path (again). The next time I might not be so lucky....
What I needed was a motorcycle with presence, style and real class. One that said 'I am here, get out of my way.'
I wandered round the dealers for all of the major motorcycle manufacturers and found nothing. I honestly thought about giving up riding all together, I was getting despondant. My last port of call was the local HD dealership and as I walked through the door I sawexactly what I was looking for, aFatboy. That motorcycle has rekindled my love of riding. It is perfect. It does everything I want, is absolutely reliable and is so comfortable to ride compared with what I was used to it's unbelievable. My only regret is that I didn't switch to HD years ago.

 

Started out with German bikes, NSUs and BMWs. Next came a Triumph 650 chopper followed by a few Japanese bikes. Back to BMWs, various types, boxers and flat fours. BMWs lately are more like Japanese bikes in the way they are built. Not a whole lot of soul. Rode and owned some new Triumphs, Sprint, Speedmaster and Bonneville T100. I checked out all the bigmetric cruisers and they just miss the point when it comes to what a machine should be (BMWs also). Currently I ride a 2007 Street Bob which feels the way the old bikes used to feel. If you've ever kicked started a Royal Enfield 850 Interceptorand rode it down the highway you know what a motorcycle should feel like (kind of like a 1983 Sportster). It's all about soul and feel.

Frank

 

When I was riding jap the stuff harley had in that class was from their factory in italy,the baja 100,those 350's.Crap.

 

Always wanted a harley, but just wanted a bike worse, so I started with what I could afford at the time...

honda shadow
yamaha roadstar
harley softail