Harley-Davidson Refutes NY Times Article

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Harley-Davidson refutes New York Times article, "Harley, You’re Not Getting Any Younger" (Click on Link in my Twitter) with a two page spread.

Harley-Davidson two page spread.

Now You Know: Biker Joe

Motorcycle Lifts and Jacks

Clicking the above will bring you to The Official YouTube Channel of the Harley-Davidson Motor Co.

Keeping up with my "TWITTER" updates is easy. Just scroll down, it's at the bottom of the right column.

A lot of bikers do maintenance, clean, or store their scoots using a lift or jack of some kind. In this Post we will cover Harley's, Dyna Glide model, using the Craftsman/Sears yellow aluminum jack. To make things easy, when you read "Sears Lift" it will stand for, Craftsman/Sears yellow aluminum jack.

The Dyna is a very hard bike to put on a lift. Because the engines oil pan is lower than the frame, Harley welded a Protector Plate to the bottom right side of the frame to protect the oil pan. You have to use 2x4's or the Harley-Davidson Lift Adapters. Using either method is not the safest way to go.

Protector Plate View

Left Side With 2x4's

See How Narrow The Lift Is

H-D Lift Adapter

As you can see in the above photos. The Lift is not stable. In photo two, the bikes weight twists the lift and makes the bike lean over. The adapters aren't any better.I don't have photos using them because when I found out they sucked, I sold them on eBay.

I like visiting Biker Forums. One of them is, V-Twin Forum : Harley Davidson Motorcycle Forums. http://www.v-twinforum.com. I Posted my experience with this Sears Lift. Here is the Post.

Start:
I know people are using the Sears yellow jack with no problems.
This is my experience with it:

I used the Sears yellow jack for two years using 2x4's for winter storage. I never liked the way the jack wobbled side to side when the bikes wheels were lifted off the ground. So I only lifted it high enough so the first safety notch was set on the lock bar. The bikes wheels just barely touched the ground, this kept the jack from wobbling. Year three I used the H-D adapters and they were no better then the 2x4's. And now that I know the orange and black parts are held together with two sided tape I would never have used them. I taught they were glued or fused together.

I was getting the bike ready for riding after a winters sleep. I was raising the bike so I could release the locking bar. Turning the handle gently like they said in the manual, the release valve got stuck so I turned the handle a little harder and the jack just dropped down and the bike fell to the ground. The straps get loose when the jack is lowered so they did not help. I never lowered the bike without siting on it. All I wanted to do was release the locking bar. You can't do that sitting on the bike. You can use this jack solo but I think this jack should be used with two people.

With all the $$$ I spent replacing all the damaged parts I could have purchased the J&S Motorcycle Lift. Last year I did purchase one and it was the best money I've spent for my Bike.
End

The Sears Lift can be used with Dirt Bikes and ATVs, but not a very good idea to use with a Harley-Davidson. I have a Link to the J&S Motorcycle Lift Web Site on my Links page. This lift is made for Harley's.

Just be care-full with any lift you use. You can be seriously injured and not to forget the cost of replacing the damaged parts when the your scoot falls.

Meaning Of The Day: Dumping the Bike/Dumped the Bike - A zero speed spill. A bike is dumped when the rider applies brakes while in a very slow turn, or is trying to get his bike up onto (or off of) its center-stand, or is walking the bike and it gets away from him, or forgets to put the side-stand down and tries to get off the bike, falling off a jack or lift, or any of dozens of other 'dumb' things that lead to losing control of the bike and its laying over onto the ground.

Now You Know: Biker Joe

Twitter Addition To The Harley Blog

Clicking the above will bring you to The Official YouTube Channel of the Harley-Davidson Motor Co.

I'm having a little trouble updating here on the Blog at times because I'm busy with my eBay store and getting ready for the detailing season to start. Buy the way I'm going to dump the store because the fees are getting way out of hand. I might do Auctions time to time, but no more store. I'm now working on an E-commerce store that I hope will be up and running in a couple of weeks. When it's ready the Tab will change from eBay-Store to E-store.

So with all that is going on I don't have the time to Post as much as I like. It takes a lot of time to do research on what I want to say the day of the new Post. I also have to hunt down photos I think you buds will like to see. All I can say is, keep checking in. When I grab up something interesting I'm going to Post it.

So that you all don't think I gave up on this Blog, last week I decided to register myself on Twitter. Twitter if you buds never heard of it before, is a real-time short messaging service. You can see it now on the right side of this Post. I will write something that comes to mind at the moment. Maybe two or three times a day. If you like everyone can join Twitter and become followers.

I went over to Woodstock Harley Saturday for their 2009 open house. I got there, took out my camera and the ###### thing would not work. The battery would not hold a charge. The battery is only 7 months old. So no photos to share. I was so ###### off.

The party was not as good as past years. I guess the bad economy was at fault. The last two years the weather was cold and wet. This year the weather was great for riding and hardly anyone rode their scoots. Lets hope this isn't the sign of the times. I said hello to some people and then went back home.

No photo today

Meaning of the day:Indie Shop - Independent, not franchised

Now You Know: Biker Joe

Almost Dumped My Harley Yesterday

Clicking the above will bring you to The Official YouTube Channel of the Harley-Davidson Motor Co.

The weather was perfect for a ride yesterday. We almost broke the record temp. for the day, 74°. We had a few days of warm weather before this but the roads still had dry salt dust and sand on them. It rained a few times before yesterday and it looked like the roads were clean. So I took the cover off the bike and decided after the long, long, long winter, it was time to ride.

So I took a ride over to a detailing shop in the area to see how much they are charging for their service. On the way there the roads seemed they were clear of salt, sand and gravel. When I arrived I had to make a left turn off the highway to enter their parking lot. I moved into the left turn lane stopped and waited for oncoming traffic to pass. When it was clear I started to make my turn, I turned on the throttle just a little and my rear wheel slid out from under me. I quickly backed off the throttle and saved the bike from falling on it's side.

All I was thinking, what a way to start the new riding season. I was told by many old timers. Don't ride until there has been at least three good rain days after a long winter. I guess your never too old to learn new tricks.

Now after this scary ordeal I went into the shop and started to ask some questions. I wanted to get an idea what they charged for different levels of service. They are charging almost 20% to 25% more then me across the board. That made me feel good because I think my customers get their moneys worth using Biker Joe's. Now if any new customers think I charge too much I will give them this shops phone number so they can compare pricing.

If you frequent this Blog you have noticed, I Post many fine looking scoots here. I'm signed up at a number of Biker Forums. This Forum, V-TwinForum.com has a member who's name is bosken. He lives in Sweden and has a 2007 Custom Street Bob 103ci. I think it is a really cool looking scoot. Looks like he's done a lot of custom modes on this bike. With his permission I'm pleased to Post a few pics of his ride.

2007 Custom Street Bob, Sweden style.

Meaning Of The Day:W.H.O.R.E - We Haul Our Rides Everywhere. Those people that trailer their bikes to about 2 miles from an event, and then unload them and gently ride them in, only if there isn't going to be any rain, dust or dirt roads. I wish I could afford to be a W.H.O.R.E.....

Now You Know:Biker Joe