Quite an Interesting Week - Motorcycle-Journal Forums

Copronymous · 07-04-2008, 02:10 AM

I'm on vacation this week, visiting my parents back in St Louis. It's been a ton of fun. Now since I brought my family with me, I couldn't well just ride my bike up. And, since I bought my dad some surround sound speakers, I had to bring the truck anyway. So I loaded the M50 up and brought her with us. I figure since my dad is a biker as well, and lots of his buddies are, it would be a great week.

So far it has been. Riding around old haunts and taking in some of the area flooding along the river...fun.

My dad and all his buddies ride Harleys. My dad's is a Heritage Softail Classic. Back in the day, I wanted a Harley. It's typical American fare, no? I mean we all measure bikes to the American Harley standard.

I'm not really one to disparage any bike because we're all out here together. But I had some serious Harley saddle time this week and I had some thoughts. I'll not put them all down, but instead just my reasoning and its justification.

I now definitely do not want a Harley. It's way top heavy. It's generally heavy. It is way underpowered. It doesn't handle well.
To be fair, it is a very, very well made machine. Rides great, comfortable seat & suspension.
But, I just didn't like it. I couldn't wait to do 2 things:
Get back on my M50, and
Buy a Mustang seat.
The M felt as powerful as my dad's modified 96CID bike (Arlen Ness, PCIII, and custom Rush mufflers). More importantly, it just simply handled so much better it was almost surreal. Heck, my dad was riding it and looked like a big old kid on there carving out the twisties and all.

I'm not talking down to the Harley as a bike, nor its crowd. I've always been hesitant to ride his bike in the past, for fear of bike envy or the yearning to buy what is simply impractical right now. But after this week I am supremely pleased with my M50, now more than ever.