Originally Posted by humbertorosero

I have my Iron since 2009 (7.000 miles) here in NYC and I love it but is been in the dealer garage since August 1 the back tier with out any reason is not center with the fender this happen after install new back tier and new back shocks Progressive 440. The Dealer and the Factory don't know what is the problem and I am so mad because is been 31 days that I can't ride. Anybody know anything about this problem, please advise

Originally Posted by Robotech

I imagine many of you will think I'm mad for saying this, but I don't want a perfect Harley.

I have a thing for History and things from eras gone by. I like the smell of a musty old trunk. The feel of an old wool army overcoat. The look of curved metal. The feel of oil between my fingertips.

However, I am also a computer programmer and technical gizmo nut. I like the latest in computer technology. I get excited about things that push the technilogical envelope and expand our capabilities and productivity.

For me, a Harley is a balance between these two worlds and the issues they have, to me, are part of the experiance. Yes, my buddy's Shadow is pretty mechanically sound. He comes out, turns on the key, and rides. It's reliable and dependable. It's plastic parts will never rust. The water cooling system ensures it will probably never overheat. It's electrical components are top notch.

And for me, this makes it souless. It's my microwave or my television. I think nothing about them and I have no PASSION for them. To me, riding a bike like a Honda would be like a world class chef who is passionate about food doing all his cooking with a microwave. Maybe we're passionate about what we are doing but the tool we're using isn't fitting properly into that passion.

I'm not saying that this means if you ride something other than a Harley you're not passionate about riding. For some, passionate about riding means cutting through corners with scaple like precision. For others, it's the relaxing unwinding to a troubling day or week. For still others, it may be long, care free cross-country rides without a worry. For these folks, working out the bugs or fixing a problem to keep from being stranded somewhere is a problem, a nucense. For me, it's a welcome part of the experiance. And, for the record, since I do like working on my bikes more in a garage than on the side of the road I'm **** about taking care of them to try and eleminate the broke on the side of the road scenario. So far, I've succeeded.

Yes, technology has moved on and part of the "old days" of automobiles and motorcycles included having to be your own mechanic. It was more than just hopping on a bike and knowing everything was going to work...it was knowing that something COULD go wrong but that the rider would be able to fix it and get back on the road. The metal and brutish design of Harleys, to me, recall those days gone by. However, they also have incorporated more modern systems such as disc brakes, fuel injection, and the like to keep these bikes in the modern age.

So I don't want a perfect Harley. I welcome using my own hands and ingenuity to fix those pecular quirks that make my bike, my bike. It's just one part that makes me FEEL something for my bike. I don't FEEL anything for my truck but I do when it comes to my bike (and my car...that's another story). Just as the little imperfections in my girlfriend make me love her all that much more, so too do the little imperfections in my Harley make me love it all that much more. It's like when I look at it I recall every time we've spent together on the road AND in the garage and I get a feeling of pride knowing that it's there because of me and, in a way, I'm there because of it.

Yea, other bikes may be "better" engineered, have more "modern" features, be faster, handle better, or be a more modern interpretation of what Harleys came from...but the fact that Harley's are "stuck in the past" is what makes them special for me. I like the fact that a Harley gives me a sense that I've got my own time machine that puts me back in a day and age where the world was smaller, slower, and a little more simple. In the end it's all an illusion and I'm still stuck right here in 2011, but the undertones are there, that feeling is there, and no other bike I tried gave me that.

Call me a fool, call me an idiot, call me idealistic...but it's my choice. So to the original poster, if a pristine and perfect bike is what you're after, then maybe a Harley isn't for you. No worries and no disrespect meant by that I'm just saying that the world is full of options and it's not a one size fits all kind of place.