Posted by Armand on May 28, 2000 at 10:45:16:
In Reply to: Forum History Questions posted by Witch Doctor on May 26, 2000 at 04:13:04:
I donīt think peoplesī priorities have shifted. Itīs getting summer and most of us are out riding again. Some of us have to deal with other problems so they even donīt have the time to go for a ride or post messages here. I check the forum a couple of times a day, but rarely do post, I just donīt feel like doing so at the moment. Time will change and Iīll have to say more around here again. There is a small german forum on Honda XBR issues, which is completely different: Rare postings, all motorcycle related, all technical questions. But they do seem to be a completely different breed. They seem to have meetings very often and - what surprised me - they seem to be mostly young people (Yes, sometimes we have to admit we`re not young anymore, just a bunch of old farts). This was surprising because the XBR is a 500cc street single which doesnīt have the looks to attract young people and isnīt too widely known anymore since itīs been out of production for nearly 10 years. Compared to that I like the community around here better. But Svage riders are loners, so there wonīt be a real big coming together, just a few people meeting occasionally. There are quite a few Savage riders around here in this area, but I hardly know one or two of them. Even in the small city I live (15 to 20 K inhabitants) there are at least two other Savages around; never spoke a single word to their owners...
I do love to read about trips people made on their Savage. These trips are hardly possible in Europe. European culture is quite different even in biking. Most long trips here are made on big dual-sports bikes (starting from a Honda Transalp) or Beamers, fewer on bikes like the Suzuki Freewind; and yes, there are quite a couple of Goldies over here. I recall having seen some Dutch Golwing bikers with small trailers behind their bikes on the highway somewhere in the Netherlands.
Bikes like ours are not considered to fit for long trips, mostly because they are too slow to keep up with German Autobahn speeds. When I told the guy at my local Suzuki shop I was going to take her for a trip to Belgium (about 300 kms), he was laughing at me asking, how many weeks I was planning to go.
Also, as Bob pointed out somewhere, in Germany too most of the Harley riders are RUBīs. Similar with other big expensive cruisers. Theyīre taken to a biker meeting to show up and have a cup of coffee, than carefully taken back home. no one of them would do a real trip on his bike. As Europe is quite small compared to the US, they donīt put their biggies on trailers to attend a meeting.
So compared to other bikers we do seem to be a strange breed.
BTW, my bike doesnīt eat fuses, I havenīt done any carb mods yet, changed the stock pipe for a BSM pipe which was awfull, so I went back to stock, my saddle bags are from Held windshield comes from - hmm, donīt remember, forward controls are from F&S Chopperzubehör.
Of course I had the typical oil leak (twice). I use Castrol GPS, never changed to another brand/weight, so I donīt know which oil leaks more.
I donīt ride a Harley because I donīt want to get mixed up with those RUB-idiots around here. Also I didnīt feel comfortable when I sat on one. Frankly, sitting on a Sportster was one of my biggest disappointments. I do like the looks of the 1200 Sportster custom however and would like to change my rear wheel for one of those someday.
Just a few thoughts on a sunday morning about raining.
btw: If anybodyīs interested where the net ends, just have a click on the link below...