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The ads are up.
You do need a VFR bubba.
A bit 'o fun about what's coming...
To quote the Bosstones, "I headed to a place I've gone before, what you call the disease, I call the remedy and what yo call the cause I call the cure." I'm embracing a slower riding life, but a RK is just too puny. I'm not taking out a mortgage, in fact I'll end up cash positive when all this is done.
This is something I don't think we talk about much. I bought my first motorcycle in 1998 at Weymouth Honda. Within 18 months I was on my second (my first VFR) and off riding with SuperDave and SRNE. In the 20 years since I started, I've only bought one motorcycle from another dealer, shared Celtics season tickets for over 10 years with the motorcycle salesguy Chris and the auto side sales manager and developed great friendships there. The got 6 motorcycles and 4 cars purchased by me and my family. And then the bonehead owner decided to sell to a real group of car whores. Then he couldn't "make the powersports number work" and shut it down. For someone who was a loyal as I was to a smaller family dealership, that was traumatic and a very real breach of trust. I've been looking around a bit and spoken with several dealers and simply put the treatment has sucked. It's put a real chill into my interest and is a truly sad situation.
I hear you on the dealer front. Found myself out there recently and it's pretty awful. There is a sales process that I just don't understand, and it isn't anywhere near as simple as "that one, how much?" Getting a real answer to that question should not require a credit check. G-man calls them "sales prevention teams" and I think he's right.
Yes, I saw the MSRP on the brands website. Your website and my lengthy experience being a consumer here on earth suggests there may be a different price, would you please give that price to me.
Your website says "call for more info". Okay, I've called, why won't you answer the fucking question?!
No, I have no interest in this other model with a different headlight, I have interest in the one I asked you about.
Yes, I know plenty about this model, possibly more than you. Yes, Showa calls it dual bending valve. No, that's not what bending valve means, but sure, whatever.
No, I would not like to discuss accessories or color options.
That one. Yes, as it is. I have solid credit and cash in my pocket. Yes, I'm serious.
What would it take me to sign today? Either an act of god or a great price, which one do you think you can provide me with? Yes, I understand. Thanks for still not answering my question.
Fortunately for me I have a full stable at the moment and no need to deal with that process again for what I hope is a long while.
Unfortunately for you that's bad news for your VFR sale. Much want though. Would look wonderful in the NHBubba motorcycle museum and emporium.
-Christian LRRS/CCS HasBeen ECK Racing
2011 Pit Bike Race CHAMPION!
there should be an accy wire in the nacelle somewhere for gps power. also, im pretty sure you can swap out the handlebar switches for "civilian" ones that arent red (you will need new housings too which really should be easy to find used). without a catalog in front of me im not certain, but you may be able to swap them out for the light up switches. this comes in handy for finding the horn button that isnt in the place it should be
When I start my KTM in the morning, rules are broken. Its inevitable...
01 SV650S (RC51 eater)/07 690SM /03 300EXC/14 XTZ1200
TRACKS:Firebird/NHMS/VIR/Calabogie/California Speedway/NJMP/MMC/NYST/Palmer/Thompson/Club Motorsports
Gotha say I made the big mistake of filling out an online form trying to get a value on my road king, Just so I had a ball park number knew it would be low but what the heck. Didn't think about the ramifications! Phone call happen minutes after I hit click. Women says hi what you looking for in a new bike? Told her was just checking the value of my ride and in short told her that at this time I had no interest in buying new! Well we have used also yada yada went on for 20 minutes with me trying to be nice and getting off the phone. Finally had to tell her I am hanging up now and thanks. Fast forward one whole day, get a call thinking its someone else I pick up its her again! Wow pushy, again had to hang up on her and blocked her number... Makes me not want to go into the dealer and just kick tires.
Well first of all, it aint less effort when you gotta pedal the whole damn way...and I’m not sayin bicycles aren’t fun, but how can they possibly be more fun than dirtbikes?They go slower, jump shorter, roost like 80 year olds ejaculate, don’t sufficiently antagonize liberal tree huggers, and don’t even go BRAAAAAAAAAAAAP unless you put cards in the spokes or do it vocally like a toddler on his tricycle. By your logic, you may as well quit track riding sportbikes and ride a tenspeed on the streets around loudon, too! Or Pomfret...
You still have about 35 years that you should be mixin gas and haulin ass, now get out there!
(LOL just bustin balls, bicycles hurt like hell when you crash and take giant nads to ride at a high level but still, no reason to diss or quit dirtbikes!)
I spent a few hours digging into the wiring diagrams last night.
Best I can tell there are two harnesses; faired and unfaired. FLH (-R, -C and my -P) is unfaired and does not bring the accessory circuit forward. There is a "HDI" wire, for lighting overseas. But word on the forums is that if you put too much load on that circuit the BCM shuts down the whole circuit. My -P/police is a little weird on top of all that as there is no accessory switch trigger, no aux lighting control, but is pickups for the microphone jack, siren/PA, etc.
There are two accessory plugs under the left side cover. One is a Molex with 4 pins. On the civvy bike it is 1x ignition switched, 1x ignition & accessory switch, 1x always hot, and ground. On the police there is no accessory switch so its 1x hot and 2x ignition switched. There is also a 2-pin SAE connector that seems to be for a tender. (Insert comment re: Harleys understanding its customer base here!) Both come off a 20A "P&A" fuse and neither run through the computer (BCM?!).
My plan is to run heated gear off the SAE. I need to invest in some molex connectors to wire something up off one of the ignition switched lines on that Molex, route to the steering head, find a place to stash an accessory outlet or maybe just USBs. No solid plan yet. Best I can tell I have to pull the tank to run wires up to the steering head. Trying to come up with something clean.
Also dug into the lighting. My police does not have the aux lighting switch on the nacelle like the civilian model does. Looks like the wire for it is not even populated in the wiring harness at all. Instead I have a red 3-way switch on the right control. All these controls are wired right to the computer by CAN bus. There is a Front Running/Fog Light Power output on the BCM. On the civilian model that runs right to the aux lights. On my cop bike it runs to an emergency flasher. Looks like they cut this out as part of the civilian-ification. Oddly, they wired both leads for the aux lights right to the Running Light Power circuit. Meaning my aux lights are always on, with ignition. I'd like to experiment with the wiring to see if I can get the control to work. If I'm reading this correctly, I can just rewire the Front Running / Fog circuit to the aux lights and should be good to go. Need to bust out the meter and verify first.
Anyway. My goal with this one is to keep it as clean as I can. Fortunately this is a touring platform and obviously wired for it. Plenty of accessory wiring options. Unfortunately none run to the front of the bike. Which is fine.. we can fix that.
As for the civilian switches.. Looking at my buddy's '14, it seems my police setup just has extra switches that do nothing. PA, sirens and lights. I'd like to keep the light switch as I say as I think I can get the aux lights wired through it. The siren and PA switches are easy to just ignore. While lighted switches are neat, they aren't neat enough for me to pay for just yet.
-Christian LRRS/CCS HasBeen ECK Racing
2011 Pit Bike Race CHAMPION!
i wouldnt recommend running heated gear off the OEM tender lead for the exact reason you mentioned, its part of the accy circuit. if it was a battery mounted one then id say go for it, thats what i do.
the spot lights are supposed to come on with the Pursuit switch but because its a 14+ it doesnt work that way once its decommissioned. its less expensive to just wire the spots right to the headlight then to hook them up another way. SHD was notorious for sending us bikes that the horns didnt work (because as a police bike the "horn" was the siren) and the spot lamps didnt work at all. that doesnt mean you cant hook up the spots like a regular FLHR. a toggle on the nacelle is an easy add on. when we converted FLHTPs we put civilian switch housings and switch packs on them and put a switch on the dash for the spots
the handlebar switches i think are just a matter of changing them out. they are their own little computers so im almost certain they are plug and play.
EDIT: on pre 14 police bikes, the spots came on when you turned the Pursuit OFF. opposite of what you think it would do. ive never seen 14+ popo bikes have spot lamps that work anyway other than installing a separate switch or wiring them hot to the headlamp
Last edited by SVRACER01; 04-04-18 at 04:16 PM.
When I start my KTM in the morning, rules are broken. Its inevitable...
01 SV650S (RC51 eater)/07 690SM /03 300EXC/14 XTZ1200
TRACKS:Firebird/NHMS/VIR/Calabogie/California Speedway/NJMP/MMC/NYST/Palmer/Thompson/Club Motorsports
one of the "accy" plugs under the side cover is not an accy plug, its a data link. a HD OBD2 if you will. hooking anything up to that will either not work or fry the ECM.
HDR has a great electrical guy that breathes this stuff.
Last edited by SVRACER01; 04-05-18 at 11:22 AM.
When I start my KTM in the morning, rules are broken. Its inevitable...
01 SV650S (RC51 eater)/07 690SM /03 300EXC/14 XTZ1200
TRACKS:Firebird/NHMS/VIR/Calabogie/California Speedway/NJMP/MMC/NYST/Palmer/Thompson/Club Motorsports
Looks like the FLHTP has the trigger wire run. It’s not even in my FLHP harness. Little harder. Can’t decide if I care right now.
My friend who was considering the rocket, just bought a 2018 road glide special, red with blacked out forks and pipes... looks gorgeous. My other friend just bought a leftover 2015 Honda Valkyrie? From naults, which I don’t know much about... same engine as the gold wing? What was that naked gold wing (or less dressed), the fb6? Did they just change the name?
I’ll check back in with their impressions.... now, I am going to look like a jackass riding the ninjette with them... I need to either pull the trigger on what I’m looking at (hence the fees thread) or strip the ninjette and turn it into an absolute rat bike and wait one more season.
The Valk is the same drive train as the GL, but "naked" is a pretty good description of it. It's not naked like a common naked bike, but imagine a naked GL.
I flirted with this, owned the original Valkyrie but at this point, I know I want bags.
I agree entirely. Somehow the newer Valk is a big pile of almost-but-not-quite. First major misstep is no bags.
Truth told the F6B is the droid I think we're looking for. Helluva nice machine. Especially now that it has electronic cruise. Can't believe they left that out when first introduced.
And then there's this.
To be fair, if we're going to try and get close to apples to apples, shouldn't this thread be titled "Gold Wing vs HD Ultra?"
I went to MMI I know what Im doing here chief
And stupid fast, packed with every imaginable bit of tech and arguably the one to slay the others.
Yeah..
Or F6B vs K1600B vs Street Glide vs Road Glide..
Or..
Yeah, something like that.
IMO nearly nobody makes a direct competitor to the HD Road King. Indian finally came to bat with the Springfield. Indian styling is an instant turnoff for me, but lots of people love it and say the bikes are the tities.
Honda used to have the Valk GL1500, but that thing is pretty old now. I'm normally not all that anti carb, but two banks of 3 each makes that an easy pass for me.
Hey SteveM, wtf did you buy?!