I figure there are some motorcycle guys/gals on CP, so I thought we could have a place to talk all things Motorcycles.
Tire Mount and Balance Prices (as of 10/29/16)
Prices based on if you remove the wheels yourself and bring the wheels and new tires with you:
Cycle Gear - $35 per wheel if you buy tires from them. $58 per wheel if you buy tires elsewhere
Rawhide - $65 per wheel (assuming it would be the same at other HD dealers. they book it at 1/2 hr per wheel)
C R Cycle Tires (DeSoto) - $30 per wheel
Cheapest I've found my Michelin Commander II's. Seem like they have good prices on other brands too. http://www.jakewilson.com - Free 3 day shipping on orders over $75 [Reply]
Who is gonna be out this weekend? 70 something for a high tomorrow? In February? Best to put off all adult responsibilities and take advantage. I'm going to enjoy riding with out layering up like little Ralphie from Christmas Story. [Reply]
I would take you up on the offer, but I got a wicked cold that kept me out of work Thursday and Friday, I feel like ass, and feel even worse looking at the weather outside. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Dayze:
I would take you up on the offer, but I got a wicked cold that kept me out of work Thursday and Friday, I feel like ass, and feel even worse looking at the weather outside.
Next time we get some weather like this we definitely need to get together
I took the Multistrada out for a spin today. Had a nice little ride out to Alma, KS and back. There are a few fun twisty roads out there. Good ride.. and holy crap is this a fun bike!
The ride did not start off well, however. I backed the bike out of the garage to put on my side bags and I *thought* I had the kickstand down. I didn't! I had already leaned the bike over too far to recover and ended up going down with the ship. Luckily, I was not hurt, but the left hand guard was fatally injured. I'm really glad this happened before I had mounted my hard cases, or that would have cost several hundred dollars more!
I got out a bottle of superglue and a hot glue gun and did some patchwork so that I could ride until the replacement part arrives. It's ugly, but it's not going anywhere at least! It held together for the trip admirably.
The temperature started to drop out west of Topeka a bit, so I pulled over to throw on some textile pants. I made sure the kickstand was all the way down this time and hopped off the bike. I noticed the bike quickly leaning over towards me.. NOT AGAIN!!! I got under that thing quick and noticed that what I thought was stable pavement was actually some fine gravel with tar on it. Sheesh.. twice in one day would not have been good. [Reply]
My wife got word of a 2008 883 XLC with just under 12k miles on it for $3900.
All I have seen of it are some pics, but it looked very clean and I am assuming is mostly stock, although it did have bags on it. For those in the know, would this be a good price? And, would it be a good starter bike for someone if so? [Reply]
Originally Posted by allen_kcCard:
My wife got word of a 2008 883 XLC with just under 12k miles on it for $3900.
All I have seen of it are some pics, but it looked very clean and I am assuming is mostly stock, although it did have bags on it. For those in the know, would this be a good price? And, would it be a good starter bike for someone if so?
As long as it looks taken care of and nothing looks obviously wrong with it then yes it is a good price
Sporties like that are normally cheap and for one with that low of miles on it is a good deal..but also look up on NADA and KBB to see if it falls in line with the price as well..if you can find out the VIN and where they took the bike to get worked on you can call that shop and give them the number and ask for service records to see what work has been done..if you can take it to a mechanic you trust and have them look it over I would try that as well [Reply]
I'd say, based on seat of my pants guess, that price is in the ball park, maybe slighlty inflated by $300 or so. Check the condition of the tires and see how they look / look at the wear bar indicators to get any idea of how much tread life is left. If it's sat a while, rotted out tires type stuff. And see if the seller has any sort of maintenance history, either with him at the house, or if he had work done at a particular dealer you could call that dealer for the history. Oil is likely scheduled for every 5k miles -though, my '13 sporty the dealer said it was every 10k miles.
If the bike has after market pipes AND an upgraded air cleaner, make sure it has some sort of fuel piggy-back controller on it. If it only has slip ons but a stock air cleaner, it's ok if it doesn't have a fuel manager (like a Power Commander, etc). but both AC and Pipes will need one (assuming they were running Fuel Injection on Sporties in '08....it might be carburated in '08. don't think HD went FI across all models until like 2011 or so). If it has both but no piggy back controller, it's likely the bike is running lean / hot.
check the belt tension with the little belt guide/tension window thingy that's cut out of the belt guard. If it's really loose, or really tight, that would concern me, simply because that means the previous owner never really paid attention to small maintenance like that....so what else did he/she ignore etc. not to mention a really loose or really tight belt can wear out a lot faster.
good thing about Sporties is they're damn near bullet proof. gear driven timing, as opposed to the Twin Cam motors, so you don't have to worry about mileage as much and if the previous owner ever looked at the timing chain tensioners/inspected them etc. Just overall a nice simple motor.
883 would be a good starter bike, as well as the 1200. 883 might leave a new rider wanting a little more over time, depending on what kind of riding. around town the 883 is more the capable and will put a smile one ones face all day. But extended 70mph runs, I just think it lacks the power at those speeds to be enjoyable of the course of extended ownwership. My $.02. a 1200 will do highway speeds all day long. [Reply]
