[Sawyer]

Interesting thread.

I can relate to the mid life crisis thing - I got away cheaply by getting myself a Bullet 500, and it did all I expected it to for half a dozen years. I haven't sold it because my son uses it now when he is in the country. A few years ago I was close to getting a Suzuki Bandit - I did not and looking back I am glad I was sensible.

Be sure you want to pursue the hobby before making further investments in that direction, is all I can say - the first time can always be marked down as a mistake. There are plenty of other equally rewarding options. There also are many other ways to prove manhood.

[svsantosh]

Originally Posted by bblost

But then again...as a guy who loves bikes, I know when the heart starts beating the brain literally stops working.

This is the most important line in every decision a man makes!

Be it bikes, cars or anything else too

Look at it this way... "If you cannot convince a dealer to treat you half decent before a sale is made by offering a full and thorough TD, you cannot expect even half of the half decent treatment after the sale is made..... in the basement @ service bay"

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

Be sure you want to pursue the hobby before making further investments in that direction, is all I can say - the first time can always be marked down as a mistake. There are plenty of other equally rewarding options. There also are many other ways to prove manhood.

I think you made a strong statement and that too a very valid one. This whole superbike shindig in India has picked up in last 3-4 years with so many manufacturers opening shop in India. It's a great thing for folks who have lot of disposable income (and their % is growing by leaps and bounds)

As we all know, Indians do have a certain herd mentality and we try to ape as much as we can. Buying and Riding superbikes unsurprisingly is also one of them

As long as you are aware that buying, owning and using a SBK is nothing but a mere "hobby" and you have the time and passion to nurture this hobby religiously then you should certainly buy a superbike. Every superbike is as good as it gets with its own merits and its just a matter of making that right choice with your exact "wants" . Also knowing firmly from beginning that it's not going to be your daily ride

Amit, I normally try to stay away from Harley threads (Blame my ignorance for it's greatness, aversion for too much chrome and low tolerance for marketing hullabaloo) but, your thread is pretty interesting case study for many on how not to buy a motorcycle in "haste" nor by getting influenced merely by a company's marketing/branding lures

I have ridden almost all major Harley's and surprisingly I found the Street 750 to the most pleasurable to ride. But, then my parameters for a good bike are totally different from parameters of most Harley buyers so it can be safely ignored.

I wish you good luck to continue enjoying your Street 750 (as a hobby) and whenever you are upgrading--I know you will make a much wiser decision !!!

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by mobike008

This whole superbike shindig in India has picked up in last 3-4 years with so many manufacturers opening shop in India. It's a great thing for folks who have lot of disposable income (and their % is growing by leaps and bounds)

As we all know, Indians do have a certain herd mentality and we try to ape as much as we can. Buying and Riding superbikes unsurprisingly is also one of them

I started riding bikes in 1977 and had stopped when I no longer needed to do so. But I recall that at the time the accepted wisdom was that one graduated to a litre class bike over time spent learning the ropes with smaller sizes with lower power and weight. A litre class bike isn't something to hop on and ride away, and what was litre class then is probably a 750 now in terms of available power. Even the 600s are very potent machines.

The current trend with the hobby seems to not respect the need for this education, and that too in an environment - of Indian roads and drivers - that is the most hazardous in the world, and I am referring here to the disposable income types that have the money to buy the big bikes, but haven't done all it takes to not be a servant to them. It doesn't take much for a litre class bike to bite you in the rear.

The consequences aren't hard to predict.

[mhr.manish]

Originally Posted by amitkb

Hello Friends:

It has been way too long since I have posted on this thread and I just wanted to put up a quick update, hopefully without offending anybody.

Hmmm I totally disagree street 750 is a fantastically well designed bike
Yes I have iron and I would prefer street any day just get your skills right buddy and don't compare. They are a different genre.

Hmmm I am feeling not little but heavily quizzed by the absurdity of this whole thread. I have owned it for about 3 months have done all kind of city biking. Yes I buy my grocery everyday on it because that's what a street bike is all about. And it can do so many other things too. But street is a beautiful bike which I use daily now and love every moment of it. I buy milk vegetables or whatever I just need a reason to ride it everyday. Keep watching the space might give you a travelogue.

Well I have iron since 2012 and buying a triumph tiger next week between me and my just so that you would know. But street I love the bike.

Originally Posted by mobike008

I have ridden almost all major Harley's and surprisingly I found the Street 750 to the most pleasurable to ride. But, then my parameters for a good bike are totally different from parameters of most Harley buyers so it can be safely ignored.

I wish you good luck to continue enjoying your Street 750 (as a hobby) and whenever you are upgrading--I know you will make a much wiser decision !!!

Nicely put please for god sake it's the rider who rides the bike not the other way round you ride something which is not designed for that task you will obviously fail.

Get your bearing right pal street is a superb bike rightly priced (manufactured locally) so you pay less 2016 model is quite good.

But then are you even a rider Amit?

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[mayankk]

Originally Posted by mhr.manish

Hmmm I am feeling not little but heavily quizzed by the absurdity of this whole thread. .

Yeah. We were wondering why you put this thread up. Oh wait. You did not.

Originally Posted by mhr.manish

Get your bearing right pal street is a superb bike rightly priced (manufactured locally) so you pay less 2016 model is quite good.

But then are you even a rider Amit?

Apparently not. Good on you for telling him off.

[abeerbagul]

Guys this is getting personal. What with proving manhood, and asking if someone is a rider.

I know Amit personally and have been on three rides with him till now. He is a great guy and an OK rider. All of us who ride together are middle aged guys and we have average riding skills.
We use all safety gear, ride in our lane, give signals, yield to heavy and fast traffic.
We ride to enjoy the bike, the scenery and our weekend freedom, and not to push the limits of the bike or the rider.

The bikes in our group are diverse, I have a Classic 500 and a Honda CBR 250, there is Amit's Street 750, another old cast iron Bullet, an Iron 883 and an RE Thunderbird. So there are no fanboys in the group.

What Amit has is opinions about a luxury goods, maybe like somone buying an entry level manual Swiss watch then then discovering that there were more options and features he did not consider. But hey, its a luxury wristwatch which is not a "need" but an indulgence.

So please do not make personal comments if you dont know the person, please restrict to the pros and cons of the Street 750 or any suggestions you might have for him to either enjoy his ride or walk away from it.
We all have our idiosyncrasies. Please respect those of others.

[Vitalstatistiks]

Originally Posted by amitkb

Sir, I request you to please refrain from making personal attacks. I do have a voice and it looks like you are trying to suppress it, which I will not allow.

Originally Posted by abeerbagul

Guys this is getting personal. What with proving manhood, and asking if someone is a rider.

We all have our idiosyncrasies. Please respect those of others.

My God! This is still going on! My apologies, on behalf of all like minded members. Because the last thing a 'review from heart' of YOUR OWN PRODUCT needs is a sermon from agony uncles.

If you were reviewing MY BIKE, it would still makes sense to me to question your knowledge, speak to you patronisingly (teaching about how to ride bikes, my god). But you are't. You are reviewing YOU BIKE from YOUR PERSPECTIVE. Why is that so difficult to understand. My request to you is to not be disheartened and filter the advice, so that you receive (and react to) the well intentioned ones.

[saranhere]

I normally don't have much to write about, but a lot to read in this forum and that is exactly what I have been doing for years. But, I am compelled to react to this thread, only because I felt like I was reading about myself, in terms of the personal space I am in right now, but with a slightly different take on the bike.

All those who are getting slightly emotional or more than slightly emotional, on either side of the aisle, please understand that my tone is ever-so polite and I mean no dishonour to your biking sensibilities, whatever I pen in the next few lines.

The moment I read Amit's write -up, I found an uncanny similarity to where I was in life. I am 39 years old too, well who am I kidding, I turned 40 between the bike buying days and now, and with a hint of a bald somewhere. Even though it has been scientifically established in this forum that this was good enough latent condition to be a born again biker, I would like to think that I had slightly different persuasions for buying a Street 750.

Next similarity with Amit, I am from Pune too and bought the bike from the very same Two Rivers Harley Davidson, from Amanora Mall as well and lo and behold, I got my bike in the first week of January 2016 and got served a juicy Street 750 2016 edition as well. Oh , I forgot, I even have the same colour, Matt Black.Now that I have established that I am Amit's long lost brother in the 1980s Maha Kumbh, I shudder to realise that my similarities with his Street 750 experiences may cease to reverberate henceforth.

My Harley buying decision was all heart, no brain whatsoever and I am no biker myself, after having sold my Suzuki Shogun a good 12 years back. With receding hairline and wiser beyond years wisdom in my eyes, I also added a bit of padding to my waist. That establishes the fact, rather shamelessly, that the only difference between my waist and the broad rear tyre of my bike, were that mine had no treads. This lack of fitness was seen on the very first attempt to stylishly sit across the seat on the day of delivery, ended up in my foot getting caught on the high backrest and I nearly toppling over on my side, with the bike still standing still. Did I remember to tell you that, there was a bunch of giggly gals watching me get into that kinda awkward position? Sigh !

For those Pune residents, who may know the geographies of the place, I stay in Kothrud, a good 20 odd kms from the Harley Showroom. Since I had got delivery at about 6 in the evening and then followed by the Haha's and Hehe's of the family, I managed to ride out by about 7:00 pm, in the fading lights of a late dusk, but bang right into the very heavy Pune traffic. Did I mention before that my experience with the Harley was unique because, I had not test driven (or ridden) any other bike, heck I had not even properly test ridden a Harley 750, except the rather miserly two rounds inside the mall. In fact, I was more interested at which petite woman was looking at me on my Harley, during the test ride and not what the bike did or did not. Also, I have till date not ridden a Bullet too. Not before the Harley not now. So, long story short, I ride out my Harley, which is about 50 kilos heavier than a Bullet, for the very first time, into the heaviest possible traffic. Somethings are up there on my achievement ladder, this one is definitely up there, where I reached home without crashing me or my bike into anything anywhere. On that ride, which seemed like the longest ride ever, I thought I had another rider in a bike behind who most probably was getting take -away of some kind of fried meat. Little did I realise that the smell of the fried meat, was my own flesh burning somewhere in the general area of my thighs, because of the engine heat.

The bike was heavy, I couldn't find neutral if my life depended on it, some part of my physical body was burning constantly, the fingers were numb and I couldn't even sit on her till a certified third attempt. But for some reason I had a broad smile pasted on my face when I got down from the bike at my home. The ride, Gentlemen, was heavenly. When the bike revved, it felt like I had just died and was being served up with apsaras on a plate. The pick up needs to be felt to be believed and the exhaust note that my Screaming Eagle exhaust makes is something only dreams wrapped in satin cloth is made of.

Ok, let's talk about my usage. In simple terms, mine would most probably be the most domesticated Harley in the country, nah... on the planet would be a safer assumption. I have just completed 5000kms on my Street 750, in about 4 months and a few days, WITHOUT going on a single HOG ride of any kind or a ride with any other group or even alone on the highway. All my 5000kms are certified to be within the city, as a daily commute to work, to the kids school and of course to buy vegetables and milk. And sometimes I jump out of bed, throw water on my face, and ride out on my bike, in my shorts and slippers, to pick up milk or whatever my wife has taken a fancy to at that point of time in the day.

My garage has a Figo (which I drive), a Wagon R (which my wife drives) and a Vespa(which again my wife rides). I needed a two wheeler to do the run about thingy and this is what I bought and now, I am not gonna hurt my pride in going back to my wife begging for her scooter. Little did I realise that, once you know what to do with this bike and how to ride her in the city, one doesn't need to worry about taking the bike in heavy traffic.

I have two jobs. Why you may ask, but that's another story for a different forum. But, that kind of makes me have a work run of 45 kms before lunch and a work run of 30 kms after lunch. The first 45 km run includes part highways and part city and the second 30kms is completely city. Somedays I get unlucky on the first run and it becomes miserable and on other days, I get lucky and my second run becomes a little bit humanly possible. But, all of this, on a daily basis, I have been doing on my Street for the past 4 and a half months and that is why I have clocked up 5000 kms on city roads. I have never been on a single ride above 100kms, nor have I touched speeds above 130kmph. But, what I have done is, I have done more than 200kms cumulatively on a single day within the city and have enjoyed it too.

I have fitted a few HD accessories like Screaming Eagle exhaust, performance air filter, leads, backrest, engine guard and rear view mirror extenders. In Harley parlance, that is pretty much having a stock motorcycle. I do not even own a riding jacket till now, but do have a pair of gloves and a good helmet.

I have made a few changes to my riding style, if at all I had one before I bought the Street
. I realised that the bike fishtails a little, but now I can safely report that the bike only fishtails at speeds below 40kmph and not at higher speeds. Secondly, it only fishtails when the rear braking effort is more than the front braking effort. Press the front brakes at 70:30 ratio to the rear brakes and no fishtails and no cause of any concern, even at high speeds. You wanna corner at higher speeds, you could do that, but with a little bit of caution, looking for gravel and slippery stuff on the road, but then, I am sure any sensible rider would do so, on any bike, unless you wanna convene a meeting of your knees with freshly laid tar. Is it a little bit scary to ride her in some riding conditions like wet surfaces or broken roads or roads with lots of female movement? Yes of course it is. The earlier two for the reason that it is a heavy bike and the later one, because you donot want to look like a fool.

My fingers were sore for the longest time, in the initial days. Some bloke went and changed his handle at Two rivers HD, with a so-called "bollywood" handle. Yes, they actually call the stock as hollywood and this contraption as bollywood. And, he claims his sore thumbs are a matter of the past. The cheapster that I am, I persisted with my stock handle bar and now, after 4 months, my body gave up its protest in desperation and I have perfect fingers to type this long diatribe, in utter comfort.

I just realised that I may have overstayed my welcome in terms of the length of this write up. So, I will stop here and sum up. My Street 750 was a dream bike and after having ridden it for 5000kms, I am still dreaming about it, for the next flimsy reason and opportunity to take it out for a run. This is not a bike for the extreme creature of comfort, but definitely for those who can forego some niceties for the sheer joy of owning and riding a Harley. The Street comes very close to what a HD street bike should be. I am sure, they would improve upon it in later versions, with ABS et al, but as of today this meets all that I wanted to do and some.

The critical question now.. Will I do it again, given a chance.

I think hard, sweat a little and ponder over my options and will safely say... "Hell Yeah!"

I might sound contrarian in my views or overly defensive, but the fact still remains is that I have the odometer to show and I still wanna rush to my saddle at the first glimpse of a reason to do so.

Ride Safe, Folks !

I forgot something important. So, how do I manage the heat from the 750 cc monster, sitting between my legs?

I kind of have adapted to a few rules, always try to be on the move as much as possible, even if it is at slow speed and if I have to stop, switch off the engine immediately, even if it is for a very short time.

Like, I try to be the last one or first one to cross a signal, and never to be in the centre of the traffic, as much as possible. This way, either I am riding continuously or stopping with my engine off. In 5000kms and maybe about 4000 traffic stops (because I live & commute in the middle of the traffic zone), I have felt the heat being uncomfortable, where in, I had to move back a little on my seat, only about 3 or 4 times.

Now, I guess, thatz fine for owning a HD... right?

Proof of the pudding is in the eating...Some pics to share

[amitkb]

Originally Posted by saranhere

I might sound contrarian in my views ...

Hello Saran: You have written a nice review that deserves it own independent thread! Thanks for posting here and raising the quality of this thread many notches.

Amit

[abeerbagul]

Hey Saran, thats a wonderful writeup about a wonderful bike. I too really liked the Street first time I rode Amit's bike.

Why dont you join us for some short rides on weekends? We can call this the MLC group (Mid Life Crisis group, not Member of Legislative Council group)

So we will have the perfect foil to Amit, one Street lover vs another reluctant biker

[saranhere]

Originally Posted by abeerbagul

Hey Saran, thats a wonderful writeup about a wonderful bike. I too really liked the Street first time I rode Amit's bike.

Why dont you join us for some short rides on weekends? We can call this the MLC group (Mid Life Crisis group, not Member of Legislative Council group)

Sure. Amit has my number from the HoG Whatsapp group. Please do let me know and we could ride out on the weekends. Thanks again for the offer.

[amitkb]

I would like to imagine my "rant" here had something to do with the Street 750 getting ABS. You fellas are all welcome.

http://overdrive.in/news/harley-davi...-abs-in-india/

[amitkb]

Terminal Update

(Mods, please attach this update to my original write-up if possible.)

Okay fellas, time for a much delayed update on my ill-fated ownership of this bike. In late May 2016, having decided to make lemonade with the lemon I was served, it was proven beyond doubt that the bike was not only a lemon, but a rotten lemon at that.

I was riding with a HOG group to Nagpur for a World Ride Day event when at 400 kms from Pune, my bike lost power and broke down, leaving me stranded in the heat of the middle of the day in god-awful-hot Vidharbha, kitted out in full gear, with nary a tree in sight to take refuge under. The engine was revving, gears were engaging, but no power could be transmitted to the rear wheel.

The bike took revenge on me you think?

Long story short, 32 harrowing hours later, I had the bike towed back to Pune where I was told that the "belt sprocket teeth had worn out." I am a careful and mechanically-empathetic rider and this was clearly not a part I had any hand in damaging. See picture below. Obviously, HD offered to repair the bike under warranty, but I was having none of it.


Defective part on left, new part on right.

In 2500 kms and 5 months of ownership, the bike engine and transmission was opened up at the workshop by the same fine gents who could not diagnose the "grinding noise coming from the engine bay" that I had complained about on three previous different occasions, including just before the ride, during the pre-ride checkup (duly documented). They adjusted the drive belt on all occasions and sent me on my way. See pics below of my brand new bike torn apart at the workshop.



Check out the new windshield I had put on the bike just before the World Ride, like putting lipstick on a pig, me thinks.


The drive shaft that wore out the pulley teeth.

HD India simply refused to respond to my emails. I wrote to the India head and worldwide CEO of HD which also went unanswered. So much for customer service.

The Two Rivers HD dealership generously offered to pay me back the full price of the bike if I upgraded to an Iron at Rs. 3 lakhs extra cost. I refused since I was done with biking and HD. I wanted all my money back. In October 2016, after a long, futile, and one-way fight in which HD India simply did not respond to my emails, Harley-Davidson won a pusillanimous victory and I gave up and sold the bike back to the dealership at a huge loss.

I leave it up to you guys to draw your own conclusions. I hope to put this sordid chapter in my life behind me. Down with Harley Davidson!!!

Amit

[mobike008]

Amit : Sorry to know about your long horrid ordeal of your 750 ownership !!!

We all make mistakes and I think yours was to choose the wrong bike to start a new motorcycle journey

Street 750 has a beautiful engine and is personally one of my favorite from the Harley line-up but, otherwise lacks in overall quality

Recently, during a ride a friend of mine met with an accident on his 750 when his front brakes didn't apply and rammed into a jeep that took a sudden U-turn in a town and thankfully his injuries were minor (except for a brief period where he lost his memory for a few hours) and came out of that ordeal in one-piece

I recommended him to sell that motorcycle immediately and get a more reliable one. And, despite his family against motorcycling he has decided to continue his passion for biking but, with a different bike after a few months of careful thought of which one to replace it with

My advice is not to give up and do try to continue motorcycling and I'm sure you will put this episode behind you and enjoy the spirit, freedom and overall joy of motorcycling