Slaughters.com

Was riding home on the freeway last week. Hit the accelerator on my hopped up Sportster and the bike suddenly slowed down. There was a crunching metal sound from the engine. I felt a moment of gratitude that my rear wheel hadn't locked up and grabbed the clutch, coasting to the side of the freeway, where my bike drained the contents of the transmission onto the side of the road.

So here's my $11,000 Sportster with $6000 worth of engine work sitting useless, pathetic. There's a small hole in the top of the crankcase and a large gash at the bottom of the crankcase. For those of you who don't know anything about motors, it's totalled. It's got maybe a couple hundred bucks worth of salvagable parts on the useless motor.

And so continues my story of the "Money Pit Bike".

Call me nuts, but I'm likely not done with this bike yet. I'm considering putting another $7,000+ into it for a new, better motor. I'm convinced I can make something of this weakling Harley motorcycle yet. The trick is taking the Harley out of it.

Yes, I admit, I made a big mistake in buying a Harley. My friends all convinced me that they made nice reliable bikes now. They were wrong on the reliability part. I've had nothing but problems with this thing since I got it. Most Harley service shops are incompetent (at least the 3 of the 5 I've taken my bike to). Harley cuts corners where they shouldn't. A lot of that shiny chrome hides very cheap metal. Bolts and clips and cotter pins are obviously chosen for price rather than quality.

If you buy a Harley, just know this: if you pay $15,000 for a new harley, about $10,000 of that is for the little emblem on the side of the tank. If that's cool by you, then go for it. Otherwise, I'd certainly look at any of the alternatives (except Indian, which is the only worse decision you could make).

For me it's too late. I'm going to pick up the pieces and make the best of it. And just to spite those union fucks in Milwaukee, I'm going to make this thing work. And it's going to blow the leather off most other Harley's it meets, and it's going to be looked on with awe and envy by other Harley victims.

Please stay tuned for the rest of this story...