I just felt I had to write this. And I will not respond to any flack I get for doing so. See, I've been driving semi's longer than I have been riding motorcycles, so I have this strange perspective to share with you.

Let me start off with a brief history of my biking career.
Started just 2 years ago. Passed a motorcycle safety course and got my endorsement. Then I went to the Yamaha dealer and bought this V-Star 250 trainer. Must study went into the selection of this bike., I read through several magazines and reviews and even rode one during the course.

The V-Star 250 was a good training bike. It got over 80 mpg!
But it's seat was too thin and small and my rear paid the price.
I took a trip from Grand Lake area in Oklahoma to visit my cousin in Wichita, KS which is about 250 miles. The trip up I did with just 4 breaks for a smoke. The trip back some 2 days later I ended up having to take over a dozen breaks to rest my rear. It was too painful to ride on any trip over 30 miles.

So,,,, I took it back to the dealer who promised me full price towards a new, larger motorcycle. He made that promise to me with a grin when he sold it to me some 3 months earlier.

I traded the 250 in on a Vstar 1300 tourer. This bike had a much more comfortable seat and a very tall clear fairing.
After a few trips on this bike, the complaints were now coming from the rear seat passenger as this seat was too small. So, I bought mustang seats for it.

While the bike still achieved 50+mpg, it only had a 405 lbs payload capacity. This meant that with 2 people on the bike we didn't have capacity for any gear for long trips.

And so, one day I drove to my Yamaha dealer with the idea that I would try and find a bigger bike. None were to be found
with any higher load capacities.

The Honda dealership sells the Gold Wing but, this bike only has a 412 lbs payload capacity and would have done me little good.

I was on the virge of trading the 1300 in on a car and calling it quits. If I were to only get 35 mpg or less on Gold Wing, I might as well get a compact hatchback and drive that, I felt....

While running across a web page or two on a Saturday, I was doing research on GVWR ratings for various tourers. And I caught the FLHT's capacity which was over 500 lbs. They even had one model which had a load capacity of 575 lbs! I thought great but, what of the fuel mileage? Researching the mpg of Harleys, I discovered 35 city and 54 highway from their website. I thought to myself that was within my range!

So, I ran over to my local Harley Davidson dealer to buy the HOG of my dreams!

The 2011 models were out in force! I cut a deal on a fully chromed and decked out 2010 FLHTCU in basic black. I had enought of color schemes from Yamaha to last a lifetime. Basic black was actually my desire. It has some pen stripes on it anyway. Chrome forks. Special exhaust. Special aircleaner. Chome gear on the handlebars. Special fuel lid.
LED lights like a limited on the back. Jacked up stereo system with some kind of amplifier. The price tag was way up there at nearly $30,000!!!! Yet I made a deal I liked and bought this bike. It's got everything on it but ABS. A 96 cuber.

Well, let me go over the differences,. I have a 6 gallon tank now instead of 5. I have a 96 cube engine instead of an 80.
My range is over 200 miles now for a tank of fuel. I hated having to stop at 170 with the Vstar. Both bikes have saddlebags but, the Harley has soft inserts and a trunk with a soft insert too. I have a luggage rack now! I have a stereo radio with amplifier and CB set now! CD player and intercom too! 3 sets of forward lights now instead of one. An alarm system now instead of just a locking fork. Better locks on my storage! Two glove boxes now instead of none! Greatly improved and easier to read instrumentation instead of a fuel warning light and mere speedometer!

But there are some differences in riding the two bikes.
The 1300 tourer rode like a typical sports car for a Vtwin.
It was water cooled with a radiator so it did well in city traffic.
It was the kind of engine which performed best at 4000+ RPM.
It was a horsepower rather than torque engine!

The Harley is more of a torque engine and it has a 6 speed gearbox instead of just 5. You don't have to wrap out your engine to get things done on a Harley. The torque on the HD in 6th gear is extremely impressive!

The fairing on the Harley is shorter than the 1300. I liked the taller fairing but, find the Harley more pleasant to drive at high speeds because of the HD fairings angle of attack is shallower. The 1300 fairing almost stood vertically and caused noticable buffeting above 60 mpg. Winds affected the 1300 much more than the HD.

What of the radiator on the 1300? Do I miss that? Well, the 1300 would generate heat from that radiator and that heat would blow on you during the summer and bake your legs.
While this was a pleasant effect in the winter, it was murder in the summer. The HD acually feels cooler to me. The HD also has these adjustable things around the fairing to allow more or less air past the riders legs. Even sitting around in city traffic and in idle, the heat from the HD is really no worse, I think less, than the 1300 was. See, the 1300 has this electric fan which would come on at a stop and blast you anyway. The net effect of this is I don't have a radiator to maintain anymore. That's about it! And HD wins that battle.

The fuel mileage between the two bikes is comparable and I've already mentioned the range improvement with the HD, so, the HD wins that battle also.

The HD is simply a better, more secure bagger and it wins that contest hands down..

The HD has larger tires and an air suspension with larger shocks and thus, it wins that contest against the 1300 also.

I would constantly drag my floorboards in the twisties with the 1300., I haven't yet done it on the HD and have a better feeling in corners with this bike. So the HD wins here also!

To be fair, Vstar is mainly a short range, fun to drive sports car.
With it's simple red light instrument panel, it reminds me of my trans am days. It was ment to go very fast, with 2 people, on trips of less than 150 miles. It costs thousands of dollars less than the HD. And it was as much metal as the HD too.
The strange thing was, it was only 120 lbs lighter than the HD!

At a stop light, I can feel the HD sway. It's obviously heavier.
But, as fast as the 1300 was, it wasn't any faster than the HD.
It just seemed that way as you were lower to the ground.
The high rpm engine added to this excitement. The 1300 has a distinct exhaust note when you went under bridges to hear yourself. With the HD, it's custom exhaust is easily heard and it's extremely cool! Much more exhaust note on the HD. I feel in the exhaust note and take off power department, the HD leaves the 1300 behind, so, HD wins here also!

There are more lights on the HD. The HD has hazard lights which the 1300 could not do. The HD has better turning signal controls. Safety is with the HD here!

The paint job on the HD is many coats more than the 1300.
There's more chrome show in the HD also.

The HD has cruise!

The HD has a speedometer which is actually fairly accurate!
The 1300 speedometer was 7 mph off!

Now for the strange, truckers perspective on these two rides!
The fairing on the 1300 was farther away, by about 1 foot than the HD. I feel as if I am sitting closer to the front wheel on the HD than I was the 1300. Let me give a comparison to trucks here for a minute.

The Peterbilt 379 is a long nose Pete with a dashboard you just can't reach with the seat belt on,. Throw something on that dash and you will be pulling over to get it back again. This is the feeling I get from the 1300. Vstar actually set this bike up like you would a chopper. I was far away from that clear fairing.

Then a company called Freightliner came out with Columbia!
The Columbia rig reminded me of driving my brothers dodge mini van! I was right over the front wheel. I could reach the dash board with the seatbelts on. The transmission was totally different as well. With the Pete you has this baseball bat sized shifter on the floor which you had to move about 8 inches to a foot back and forth to shift gears. The Columbia had this new tight sports car like transmission which didn't clunk! And again, the Columbia gave me that mini van feeling. All that glass and precision stuff very close in to you! I could actually see things I was about to run over in the Columbia. In the Pete, if you didn't have good far eyesight, you might miss what you would run over in the next 30 seconds at highway speeds.
I'm sure you thing I'm lying here but, those are the facts guys!

Now, as I said, the 1300 made me feel like I was in a Pete.
The FLHTCU made me feel like I was in the Columbia.
On the HD, I have better visibility up front of me and I see the ground just in front of the bike better.

Another thing, and this is very funny to me! The 1300 had this
"CLUNK" sound when I shoved her into first gear on it's 5 speed box. Sometimes, at a traffic light, if you "CLUNKED" too hard, you'd knock her into neutral and have to try again.
I complained to the dealer about this and there was never a fix for it. They designed the transmission to emulate a "Harley Davidson" tranmission the man said.... Well, the funny part about this is my FLHTCU has no clunk. And it stays in 1st gear without bouncing out like the 1300 was doing. Go figure.
The HD transmission has less SLOP in it than the 1300 did.
It's tighter and more together. My 1300 had slop in it on day one from the dealer. I know what I'm talking about.

Before I found this HD and bought it, I remembered what I learned at the various car dealerships. A smoking kit is over $100 dollars and it's an option. Not with the HD! My cigarette lighter is there and it works well! Again, the HD scores big points over the 1300 for endurance due to this simple fact.

Now, people argue the point that the HD is more expensive.
It's more expensive because it offers much more than the competion does. I would have actually saved thousands of dollars had I just bought an HD in the first place instead of
my cautious approach from my uncertain of everything newbie status. I actually endangered my life by doing what I did, I believe now.

Is an HD more expensive than a Vstar. Well, is a corvette more expensive than a firebird? And why? Which one is more likely to appreciate in value over time? Which one is more desirable.

I'm sorry if I offended anyone with my rig comparisons to the HD. As a driver, climbing aboard my new HD FLHTCU for the first ride out of the dealership, this is exactly what I felt.
That, first gear then the next with that torque! It did feel more like a semi than a car at first. That is until we hit the highway and got into 6th and then it felt like a high powered sports car. And that new frame HD uses corners as if you were in a corvette. Once you get past 3rd gear, the freightliner turns into a long nose pete with really good curve eating manners. It's like being in a fighter plane. And the exhaust note sound is exhilerating to the rider. And that air suspension! It's just total luxury and power!

I miss it so much out here on the road.
I like to ride year around, except in snow and ice.

I plan on taking one month off every summer for the rest of my life enjoying this fine machine as I roll out west through the mountains.

If you every buy one, you will never regret it.

 

I'm guessing your in the sleeper, getting ready for bed somewhere on the road? Cool story and comparison.

 

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It doesn't matter what you pay, as long as you feel that you got a good deal.

 

Freightliners suck. A "real" conventional has a set forward (Pete 379 & KW WL 900) axle versus something like a Columbia which basically has the front axle in the same place as a cabover. I get what you are saying though. I used to truck before I decided to come back to work for Uncle Sam. I was an O/O for Landstar Ranger for a few years up until 2005. In my opinion the HD would be more like the Pete in the style department with the metric being more like an International. The International is just a cheap copy of the real deal...or at least it used to be when I was truckin'.

 

Congratulations on your new ride. You mention gas mileage many times in your post as if it's a deal breaker. Sure, I like it when I can get 40 mpg, but I don't really care. I don't ride motorcycles for that reason.

Shakey

 

Great story. I enjoyed it! I used to drive OTR and hauled frieght in the 70s and 80s..so I can relate to the comparison. Glad you found a HD you can live with and seems like you're enjoying it a lot, which is as it should be. Doesn't really matter what you pay or what you put into it, as long as YOU are happy and comfortable with it...That's what HD is about to me...

 

Sounds like you found your Utopia.
I will tell you though, sometimes it takes two tanks of gas to clear ones mind.

 

Charlie, welcome aboard and congrats on the finest machine out there. Enjoyed reading your story and agree completely, but I gotta ask one question, are you Charlie or Red Sovine?

 

Good write up, thanks.

 

Yamaha has several larger bikes, Roadstar 1700, Roadliner 113 ci, and venture. I had a Roadstar 1700, which was similar to a Roadking. I was nice but I like my UltraClassic better. You got a good bike. Enjoyed your story.