So You Want a Harley Davidson... (Watch First)

what's going on everybody it's your favorite or least favorite Cruiser love and sport bike ride and yeah me noob kidnapping warm-up act spite wonder what I'm gonna graduate to the next level I mean is it now I am writing my own scripts after all but anyway since it's been established that I have a soft spot for Harley's and yam didn't want to touch this one with a ten-foot pole it's time for me to talk about a few things you need to keep in mind when you want to take the plunge into that Harley life usually the way a video like this works is yam will talk about the bikes throw some facts at ya then go over some pros and cons but I wanted to take this in a slightly different direction everybody knows what a Harley is and knows generally about their history so there's no point going over all of that again instead I wanted to take a look at some of the main arguments people who've never ridden a Harley before will tell you when you ask them if they think you should get one now before you flame me as some sort of HD apologist I'm going to bring up some legitimate negative points to balance out what I'm saying because in truth Harley's are enjoyable and simple machines but they're also flawed let's take a look shall we first up is performance this conversation is gonna go something like this hey man I'm thinking about getting a Harley no way man they're so slow they can't even leave the gas station without scraping their pegs now there's some legitimate grievances to be leveled at Harley when it comes to performance let's take for example the iron 883 compared to something like the Kawasaki Vulcan s there I'm talking about it are you happy now these are fairly comparable beginner cruisers let's set aside for the moment that the Vulcan comes in almost $1,500 cheaper and just look at specs the iron makes 54 foot-pounds of torque to the Vulcans 46 now to the uninitiated you might think well the Harley's making more power so it's the better ride but the performance minded rider is looking at the HD is underpowered compared to the 600 class of sport bikes which is regularly putting down north of 120 horsepower and 50 ish foot-pounds of torque from an engine two-thirds the size now this is where you my budding cruiser boy need to realize what your sport bike brethren don't getting a Harley is not about getting a race machine Harley makes it clear outright I mean when the last true race bike that Harley built not erik buell Harley when you buy into a Harley it's really about leaving your ego at the door and just enjoying a bike that wants to lope down the highway at 3000 rpm before I move on though I did want to make the point that you can absolutely transform your Harley into a fast boy bike things like the hammer performance jugs for the 883 and better cams can have that bike making something like a hundred and thirty horsepower and a face-melting 96 foot-pounds of torque in a nice linear package but if you're chasing performance you really should just get a naked bike or a sport tour you'll be so much happier and it'll be way less effort hey that reminds me if you're in the market for a bike and you don't want the hassle of doing all of the research why not sign up to win one of our giveaway bikes we've got the Triumph Street Triple R the KTM Duke 390 and the Yamaha X SR which i think is the perfect gateway drug to that Cruiser life they're all going to three lucky people over on ya me noob Coe head over there and get yourself entered to win you'll get access to our discord server which is a great place to just hang out and talk bikes regardless of whether you're a leather daddy Harley boy are just starting out beyond all that good stuff signing up is the best way to support all the things we do here seriously we could not make all these silly videos or giveaway bikes without all of our awesome members if you want to sign up just click that link down below - yeah me newb go and get started now let's talk about the literal elephant in the room wait this conversation is gonna go something like this hey man I'm thinking about getting a Harley dude the Sportster weighs like a thousand pounds just get a metric Cruiser there's so much lighter now this is both accurate and complete BS at the same time let's look at three models of Harley and put them up against something comparable from a metric manufacturer for our average bikes let's look at the Sportster roadster versus something like the Yamaha bolt r-spec the top end of the bolt line the Harley clocks in at 551 pounds wet while the bolt tips the scales at 540 - now I weren't much for book learnin but 551 - 540 - is 9 now that's just a fluke right let's take a look at some real for this one let's look at the fat Bob versus the m109 are I covered both of these bikes in my muscle cruiser videos so I'll save you the preamble and just tell you that the m109 are weighs 765 pounds and the Harley comes in at drumroll please six hundred and seventy six pounds in running order now I had to send this one off to NASA to have it confirmed but as it turns out I was right 676 is a smaller number than 765 now am I just cherry picking the right Harley's let's take a look at some dressers now and see the Road Glide special is what I would argue is the most attainable HD Tour it has a big old fixed fairing radio infotainment all the bells and whistles and weighs in at 853 pounds wet now what's the most comparable metric Cruiser Oh No oh dear god no he's not gonna bring up the Honda Goldwing of course the most famous touring bike in the world the most desirable dad bike ever surely the HD can't compare well the Goldwing weighs in at 847 pounds only six pounds lighter guys what you need to understand is cruisers use the weight to add stability its speed and the center of gravity is down low it's not exactly correct to say that weight doesn't matter in the cruiser market but if you're looking at cruisers and scared by the weight I urge you to just go ride one they're shockingly manageable but if you're dead set on the cruiser lifestyle an adamant that you need a light bike for some reason you're gonna struggle to get a Harley under 500 pounds something like the rebel 500 or the smaller Suzuki boulevards might be more your speed it really is a shame that HD doesn't have a light weight cruiser next up let's take a look at price now this one has to be an easy win for the metric boys right and this is even a conversation that I've had before I want something like this hey man I'm thinking about getting a Harley bro for that kind of money you could get two Yamahas and they'll be way more advanced admittedly this is a tough sell let's take the super iconic Harley motorcycle the Sportster 48 I think it really encompasses the Arlie feel with a tune to to exhaust big old Cruiser tire up front and forward pegs it's definitely the manliest looking sporty the 48 comes with an air-cooled 1200 cc Evo pushrod motor five-speed transmission and an analogue speedo with an 80 biggie digital odometer now what do you have to pay for this dinosaur eleven thousand two hundred and ninety nine dollars and that's if you're happy and flat black if you want it an orange or red the right 48 colors you're paying $12,000 oh but wait there's more you want some ABS with that you know that super critical life-saving feature that's included is standard on pretty much every single other motorcycle in the entire world but that'll be another 795 bucks okay now let's see what $13,000 can buy you from Yamaha they'll happily sell you in r6 for 12,000 $199 and that comes with all of the bleeding edge race tech homologated for the street you can get to our 3s for five thousand five hundred and ninety nine dollars each with more modern components liquid cooling and ABS but what if you want one of their cruisers well the XS are 700 like the one we're giving away eight thousand four hundred ninety nine dollars the bolt seven thousand nine hundred ninety nine bucks what about that bolt our I mentioned before only eight thousand three hundred and ninety nine sure the bolts might not have liquid cooling and that sixth gear everybody keeps talking about but at least they have the decency to not charge more than they're worth if you take that money to the second-hand market the sky's the limit you could probably get 10 trash GSXR 's and cobble together one actually presentable squid missile for like 9 grand I'm exaggerating of course there's no such thing as a presentable GSXR so if there's all these better options for the money why even consider a Harley now this one is really gonna come down to personal preference you need to understand that you're probably gonna pay a solid 20 to 30 percent in the Harley tax or maybe even more however when you think about it Harley's a premium brand and in my opinion there's no substitute if you put a Harley next to a metric cruiser I guarantee it'll draw way more attention there's an ethereal quality to Harley's that really elevate them beyond their competition Jesus that's about the single most dukkha teesta thing I think I've ever said now finally let's talk about the culture this one's an unfortunate stigma that Harley's are saddled with and it'll sound something like this hey man I'm thinking about getting a Harley oh come on dude you don't want to be one of those guys do you it's a fact that Harley's have long since been associated with a bad-boy culture no not that one I'm talking about the legitimate Lee bad people from Sons of Anarchy to the Hells Angels when you think of a Harley you can't help but conjure the image of some skinhead looking guy in a patched vest this goes all the way back to the 60s and 70s when the entirety of riding was wrapped up in that image only to really be broken when Honda released their nice campaign what people don't seem to understand is that Harley's are just objects they're not inherently good or bad they're not gonna make you a thug it's down to the way you ride the bike are you gonna be the guy with straight pipes revving your way down the Main Street of your town with no gear ensuring that every ruined dinner inspires more apathy towards riders or are you gonna be the rider that rides responsibly doesn't bother other people and just is having fun the choice is up to you but I would really urge my fellow Harley riders to consider the wider implications of their actions if we want to not all be those guys we need to show people that those guys are outliers and there you have it some of the most common reasons not to get a Harley shot all fools I know some people out there are gonna write this off but I hope I've convinced a few of you to take another look at the Motor Company because when you get down to it it's a bunch of folks who are passionate about bikes making some of the most iconic vehicles on the road also I promise the next one won't get all philosophical in the meantime head over to ya minuto and sign up you'll get entered to win one of our bikes and it helps us keep our two-wheeled shenanigans going I'll catch y'all later fact according to former astronauts space smells like a seared steak following a spacewalk they said their suits had too stink t'v smell of a hot meal now I'm gonna have to take that one on faith goodbye [Music]

Channel: Yammie Noob

Views: 553,711

Keywords: harley davidson, test ride, moto vlog, first look, buying a motorcycle, first motorcycle, harley davidson iron 883, harley davidson livewire, harley davidson sportster, yammie noob, yammie noob hayabusa, yammie noob beginner bikes, yammie noob cruiser, yammie noob gear, yammie noob craigslist, yammie noob ninja 400, yammie noob r3, yammie noob helmet, harley davidson street 750, harley davidson v rod, harley davidson sound, harley davidson fat bob, nooner

Id: o7cAPP_-pX8

Length: 11min 29sec (689 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 15 2020