opinions wanted on bikes

 

                Hi. Although i have found a bunch of info so far about
the bikes i am looking into, i still couldn't decide where to put my
money down. Here's my dilema. I have been riding an '84 Honda Shadow
700cc for almost 3 years now. It was my first bike and on it i've felt
the real freedom as they say you only get when you arrive to USA(i'm
from E.Europe). She has been realy good with me on the road and
together we've taken quite some fun long rides. Although I haven't had
anything major done to it, besides some regular maintenence and change
of tires, I am thinking it's time for a new one(I can aford it now:)).
               Since I had a very good experience with the Honda, I had
my eyes set on the Honda Spirit 750. I realy like the way it looks and
felt just right for me when i sat on it.
               Having a friend that works for HD though, I also got the
chance to check out the 883 Sportster. It's a nice bike and if i were
to buy that one i would probably buy it only for the sound(the looks of
it doen't atract me that much-don't know why). Now, I have a bunch of
friends that all about the Harleys...buy a Harley, buy a Harley!-- they
keep on saying, but none of them realy give me a good enough reason on
why to do that(besides the fact that it doen't depreciate too much over
time). Because it's a Harley, they say...it's american. Not from what
i've heard. The name is american, anything else is as japanese as a
Honda, i think. Maybe i'm wrong...pls correct if i am.
                Besides every chick i've seen rides a Sportster, maynly
because probably some guy convinced her into one, but not because she
realy wants it. I am willing to do my homework and find out why i
should choose a Harley Sportster over a Honda Spirit.So far, from the
homework i've done, the Spirit tends to be first in my choise between
the two. I would love to find out more differences between the 2. I
need your imput guys....


mimi

 


....

THAT is the only thing that really matters.  Damn near every bike on
the market is more than acceptable as far as longevity, performance,
etc..    FWIW, I also like the stretched out look of the Spirit over
the stubby Sportster.

 

mimi,

 You've answered your own question. You've given all the reasons. Buy
the Honda.

 

Everyone looks for different things in a bike, chooses a bike for
different reasons, so it would be silly for me to tell you what kind
of bike _I_ would choose.

I only know one woman who owned a Sportster.  She decided it wasn't
comfortable on long rides and traded it in on a Fat Boy.  I was
surprised because the whole idea of cruisers is that they're
comfortable for long rides.  But the Sportster is not really a
cruiser, it's kind of in a class by itself.  If you like long rides,
the Sportster is probably not the optimum bike for you.  

Also, while Harleys do hold their value better than Japanese bikes, I
think the Sportster doesn't as well (I could be wrong about this but
I've seen used Sportsters around here that seemed pretty cheap.)

And I think Honda gives you better value for the money in the first
place.  If you buy one a couple of years old, you get the best of both
worlds.

Finally, as I've said here before, nearly all the people I know who
own Harleys are people who wanted a Harley, not a 'motorcycle'.  A
Honda rider might buy a Suzuki or Yamaha next time, depending on what
model he likes best when he's in the market.  But a Harley rider
doesn't even consider foreign bikes. He'd rather walk than ride a
'rice burner'.   The fact that you're considering both a Harley and a
Honda shows that you're not the typical Harley rider.

 

             Thanx for all your answers guys. It helps alot because it
gave me a bunch of perspectives. To answear to blazing laser, yes, i
will be taking long rides with the bike. The longer the ride the
better:). So i am definetly looking for a reliable comfortable and
durable bike. I definetly do not ride the brand, but the bike, so
that's the most important to me...wether it's a HD or Honda, it realy
doesn't matter as long as it offers the comfort, power and is reliable
for the long run(i'm not planing to re-sell it any time soon).
             I definetly like the Honda Spirit, in particular the '04
model and I think i most definetly buy that one and not give into my
friends persistances to buy a HD.


         mimi