Topic Approved.

@Olias: Thanks for sharing these pictures with us. Since this is the "Motorcycle Ownership Experiences" forum, we all would love to hear about your ownership experience with the Wideglide 1340.

Great pics and great ride

Hi olias nice to see the pics of ur bike... looks awesome... as i am not a big fan of HD... its great to hear that u passed an R1...

@Olias - in general how tough are Harleys to maintain? Are they like the Enfields i.e. bikes with special characteristics?

Also great pics, ride safely.

Man!! RAW this is RAW Harley. V Good

BLUE!!!

So... I had fancied doing a flip-flop paint scheme on a bike for a while i.e. the top half one colour and the bottom another. I chose confederate grey and black. Classic and simple.

It needed a new back tyre so I replaced both (standard Dunlops) with Avons which work really well with the Harley power characteristics and the chassis. I then took of the mid-ape hanger bars and replaced them with the wide beach bars you see in the pictures. The standard seat was a very plush and padded thing so that HAD to go. LOL!! Can't be having comfort on a lowriding 'sickle' like this one!

I never did take this particular bike out of the UK to tour in Europe but I still managed to clock up around 20,000 more miles on it over 2 summers in the UK.

Mechanically I've always found Harleys to be top class, well the post 1984 ones tend to be because that's when they changed from the Shovelhead to the Evolution motor and as a result Harley-Davidson gained a much better reputation than they had received in the decades before. They are big, thumping, torque orientated motors with a healthy acceleration (not R1 or Blade like) and have a powerful roll on from 60 mph. They do (the Evolutions) tend to top out around 100 -105 mph wheras the new Twin-Cams motors which are current in the range since around 2000, have a better top speed of 115 - 120 mph although they're not really built to sustain that. The new (Twin Cam 1580cc) has 6 gears whereas the Evolutions (built till 1999 - 2000) had 5 and the new bikes have a far smoother spread of power and acceleration although personally I find them lacking in the character that the older bikes had. The handling is perfectly suited to crusing and touring but not seriously fast riding as it tends to bounce about a bit on soft suspension. That can be an eye opener for some riders who see this flailing shape coming towards them in their mirrors and going passed in, what looks like a tank slapping riding style, when they are pushed hard. LOL. They take a bit of getting used to but when you do master the quirks of handling and the smooth roll on of the throttle to get the most from the motor instead of snapping it wide like on a Japanese bike, when you ride, you ride with the biggest smile and the happiest heart!

The Evolution engined Harleys, like their predecessors were of a 'pre-unit' construction i.e. the engine is separate to the gearbox and primary chaincase which each had their own independent lubrication system. The Twin-Cams are more of a unit construction with an oil feed interface between the engine and gearbox.

The older (pre 2000) bikes are very straightforward to work on as they don't have the electronics and digital fuel injection of the Twin-Cam bikes. The Evos are quite idiosyncratic and can develop faults which disappear as quickly as they appeared and can leave a rider scratching his head a bit, thinking that the gremlins had been at work on it!

The one thing that you do need to work on a Harley is an AF (American Fine) or Imperial tool kit as most nuts and bolts are in inch or, fractions of, measurement. They are INFINATELY harder to judge the size of than metric but you soon get used to that.

I changed the 3 oils regularly (engine, primary and gearbox) about every 3,000 miles and I'd recommend anyone to keep doing the same as the oils are the life blood of the engine. The bike served me very well and I can say that, having been a 'dyed in the wool' sports biker for decades prior to owning Harleys, they have a character (read personality) that you'll only find in Italian or British and Indian (Enfield) machines.

My current Harley (see the avatar and previous pictures posted a while back) is also an Evolution engined bike. I doubt wheteher I'd have a newer Twin Cam now as I feel H-D have engineered out everything that I love about their bikes.

I hope this also answers another post on how easy they are to work on, but I'll check that particular post to see if I've missed anything out.

WOW.. now thats a detailed post. never knew about all this stuff. Olias thanks for sharing each and every bit in such a good way..

Hey Olias,

Cool bike and a very good post. I got a lot of info on the H-D from this one !!

ohh LORD THATS SUCH AN AWESOME LUKING BIKE.!!!!!GO HARLEY GOOO!!!!!!!1

Awesome details there dude.just loved every part of your post.Keep it coming...

Re: Harley Wideglide 1340cc

nice pics olias..