Love these podcasts. Escapism for me. Minimal politics and no posturing. No bad vibes - Just Mr Dobbs and talking BIKES! This type of content is just so rare these days. love it
The diesel Kawasaki was the result of a collaboration between Fred Hayes in the US and our own Royal Military College of Science in Cranfield between around 1992 and 2000.
Hi there I am a massive fan of your videos. I was stunned to see that my XTZ660 was a mention of yours at the very end. This explains the massive influx of views, saves and shares! Great work my friend keep it up!
Hey Freddie. I sprung for the optional crash bars on the V85, just because the cylinders looked vulnerable. Turned out to be a good decision. I was doing a U-turn on a quiet residential street, when a car came around an adjacent corner at a fair clip towards me. I tapped the brake, which stood the bike up. I put my foot down and touched nothing, I was right where a pot hole happened to be. The bike toppled over and took me down with it. I picked it up, tearing an interior oblique in the process. Looking the bike over, there was a mark on the crash-bar, and a mark on the bar end weight. That was it. Glad I didn't have the hard panniers on at the time. That's the first time I've dropped a street bike in 30+ years riding. Great video as always. Always enjoy them.
The British Army had a diesel Harley Davidson trail bike in the 90s. Interestingly, the dual use of aviation fuel works both ways; when I was flying the Gazelle helicopter, military diesel was authorised for use in emergencies but I never heard of anyone doing it.
It's such a shame diesel was not invested in more for motorbikes, imagine if it had all the development of petrol over the years, we could have had diesel adventure bikes or cruisers doing 600 miles on a tank lol.
We had one of the diesel klr's when I was in Afghanistan. They say the klr is bulletproof but I can say for sure that this one was literally bulletproof.
Interesting to hear about the diesel military bike. Back in 2012, I bought a Sinnis Max 2 from a company based in Holton Heath, Dorset called OVIK. If I recall, they had the Sinnis simply for riding around the industrial estate or to go to the shop or whatever and no longer needed it. Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that I was chatting to the owner and he was telling me about how they were working on a diesel bike for the British military, and they had one there at the property. I had totally forgotten about this, but after some internet archeology, it turns out that that bike went on to be released as the Track T800CDi diesel bike and was eventually sold to the public for a short time. They are somewhat rare now and the company no longer exists (poor reviews and lo sales I guess), but this video unlocked a memory for me. I still have the emails relating to the purchase of the Sinnis and the guy I bought the bike from was called Duncan Hermer who was the MD of OVIK Group.
Hi Freddie, another really good video with lots of well researched content. You mentioned the DRZ400S and I thought it worth sharing my own experience of this bike. I purchased a DRZ as a replacement for my XR400R (I got fed up with the kick start on an otherwise excellent machine). The DRZ is very accomplished off-road and ok on road. I did experience the carburettor issue you referred to in your video. I had to strip and clean the carb twice in a relatively short time period. The issue is ethanol in petrol which corrodes the bikes petrol tank. The tank is not designed for it and the muck goes in and blocks the very small jets in the carb. You can treat the tank with various linings but it does not solve the problem completely. Basically if you are not going to use the bike for say a month, then you should drain it of petrol, which is a hassle. I do not want to put you off but be prepared for the maintenance. Keep up the excellent work on your channel.
For those wondering about Harley-Davidson's X440 in India, it is a wonderful torque heavy machine. It makes about 38 nm of torque just like the Speed 400 but less power at about 27hp. It sounds great just as a Harley should. Obviously nothing close to their bigger bikes but anyday better than the Speed 400 and the rest in the 400 cc segment. I had one for about 4 days while I was upgrading my ride from a CBR 250R. It looks quite good in real than in pictures is what I found out. It is a hoot in the city and the highway. I felt immediately more connected to it than the Speed 400 that I tested multiple times. X440 is smooth torquey and a lot of fun. Don't ignore it if you get a chance to ride it. Once you ride it you will certainly appreciate what it does. The Royal Enfield 350 series is not my cup of tea and I am happy we have the x440 and its sibling the Maverick as options to the underwhelming Speed400. I did end up upgrading to a used Street Twin 2016 model though and I couldn't be happier. It is everything that the x440 was but at another level.
Dsvm stormbreaker is going to be a great bike for those who want to have the old really Sportster experience. A bike that has a zillion Hopper parts and a zillion customization parts as well as being able to be serviced by any independent Harley-Davidson shop. It is also rebuildable forever. You could always put Harley stickers on it haha.
The Long Way Up was a hillarious mess. They needed to use diesel generators in the middle of nowhere several times. They couldn't ride because they were ALWAYS worrying about power. If it wasn't for the fact they had a decent size crew and were _really_ well funded it wouldn't have worked...
At the start when you were talking about the KLR .. The second photo shows the two army lads riding Honda XR400's, not KLRs .. the military also used XR400's though they were just regular petrol bikes. Interestingly, I bought a XR400 and the person I bought it off got it from the Queen's royal guard at Sandringham Palace as the royal guards actually used XR400's to get around the palace grounds, pick up the post, cut the hedges etc.
Interesting comments regarding the Military Kawasaki, just for reference, the two bikes that you showed a clip of side by side jumping were Honda XR250 or 400's. Would be lighter, faster etc.... hence the airtime😀
Freddie Hi, can you please do a thing on converting from chain to belt drive as this is something I’ve been thinking of as I hate lubricating chains. Thanks Duncan
Another great video Freddie, love the Tuesday videos. Random question for you maybe for next week if you like. I was thinking that with bikes since they are cheaper than cars, you can have 2 or 3 of them instead of 1 weekend fun car. You can see where I am leading with this, what would your 3 bike picks be if you were to own 3 down the road (you can include or exclude the bonneville the choice is yours). For me I think id like to have a big cruiser maybe a Harley of some sort for weekend cruising or on road touring, a Honda transalp for road trips with off-roading and adventures. And then a modern classic for daily riding commuting and casual riding. My interceptor would work or perhaps a Bonneville. Id love to hear your picks in next weeks video. 😊
Freddie, enjoy your videos every week. Always interesting with something old, and something new as in current issues in the biking world. Comments; Mecum auctions is similar to Barrett Jackson here in the US, and the Harley situation has been co-opted by the usual suspects here who love pointing fingers at the "others". It is all down to profit per unit.
Nice content, cheers! I especially liked the story and pics from Dirk/SA and his DR400S. However, you mentioned about its successor, the DRZ400. The real successor of the DR400S (in terms of time) was the DR500S which had, for the first time a 4 valve head. The DR400 was an bored-up SP (or DR) 370 engine which was kind of lame. The 4-valve engine of the DR500 (and later the DR600) was a whole different story; reliable and quite fast. Whereas the DR500S still had almost no electricity (6V, next to a bicycle dynamo) and almost no brakes (drums which I consider the first ABS-models). The DR600 then was equipped with modern 12V-electric, H4-front light and a discbrake instead of the rediculous drum and a 21l-fueltank as well. After the huge success of the Yamaha Tenere 600 (the one with the 30l fueltank) Suzuki just had to do something. I still ride my DR600S which I bought brand new 36 years ago. And yes, the bikes did develop a lot. Apart from the (sometimes stupid) electric features, frame, suspension, brakes, tires became a lot better, I think. Apart from this, most bikes are more reliable, have longer service intervalls and are also not always heavier. Unless one needs the strongest, fastest, tank-like klingon-offroader...
Hey Freddie. We don't get the x440 in Australia (perhaps is just an India only model) but HD in Australia has recently brought in X350 (flat tracker tyle) and X500 (more traditional roadster style) parallel twins. The bikes are CHinese made, by Qianjiang in the same factory as Benelli. The bikes compete in the LAMS (roughly same as your A2 license) category. Cheers.
@@kevindarkstar I think the 125 bikes will end but they’ll be a strong market for 300 to 600cc. I also think electric bikes are way off because they can’t carry the necessary volume of batteries to get any decent range.
That diesel KLR looks the business. I'd love one. I like the H-D 440. I had a Suzuki DR250SH in Tokyo over 30 years ago. Lighter and faster than the modern-day equivalent. I am about to buy the modern day equivalent in Thailand: an air-cooled, two-valve, single-cylinder Kawasaki KLX230SM. Not available in GB/Europe due to emissions. I wouldn't entertain an electric motorcycle. Nick
On the cost of low speed drops it’s not the damage but what it costs to bring it up to as new condition. I had a low speed slide on my Triumph Trident 900 25 years ago. Rode it home. Dealer quoted about £2,500 to put right but that included replacing items with the slightest scratch. When I said I wasn’t claiming on insurance, he replaced items from his 2nd hand parts store ( where he had previously replaced barely damaged items under insurance and kept them) and the cost was £800. Could barely tell it had been dropped. Depends on the level of reinstatement you require. For the Africa Twin could be replacing a frame for a slight scratch.
Hi Freddie , re Harley they should make a 350 or 500 v twin Moto Morini and Moto Guzzi did back in the 70s and 8os and great little bikes they were too so a v twin of this size works , as long as it was priced keenly it would be i think quite successful , re repairs , So i bought a R.E 350 Meteor partly your fault as you spoke so highly of them , so don't worry i love it , but it did roll of its side stand yes bad parking , one broken clutch lever and indicator later i went to the local R.E shop for replacements expecting at least £50 plus to buy and fit myself but to my surprise and £27 later one fixed bike , if had been the FZ6 i owned before i definatly would have been paying out a lot more for genuine parts ,approx £ 70 three times the price of the Meteor bits
Hi Freddie, A bit left field for an off road bike but what about a Royal Enfield Bullet trials replica 500cc will send pic's soon. Grandad on an Enfield.
You only need to remember Harley Davidsons treatment of the Buell marque to understand where they are now. As a former owner of Buell X1 Lightning all of the problems I ever encountered were with the Harley donated parts - the worst being the disintegration of the 2nd gear resulting in a belt snap. The real shame was that these bikes when working handled beautifully and attracted attention where ever I rode. The later models incorporated Rotax engines and are far more reliable.
One thing about Keeway/Benda is they know how to build a good looking bike on the cheap, they’ve got quite a line up of great looking bikes in Asia most of which will never see Europe, The NapoleonBob 250/450 look awesome, biking is huge in Asia and dying in Europe so that’s where the markets gone.
Except Harley tried that: the Street 750 (and also the 500 in the US). It flopped. Curiously, the other day I was doomscrolling the classified apps and although there's aren't that many for sale near me, they do keep their value
@@aromaticsnail The street 500 was $7k a decade ago, nearer $8k with abs. Compare that to a sub $5k Triumph 400 today that is selling like hot cakes and you have your answer as to why it flopped. 8k was Bonneville t100 money. It was close to twice the price point for a high quality small bike. Sure the HD name might be able to carry a slightly bigger price tag than the equivalent triumph, but twice? Nah.
@@aromaticsnail Price is ALWAY an issue. ALWAYS. When they priced an entry 500 almost the same as a Bonneville they got the price wrong. So no the Triumph wasn't equally expensive. It was WAY more bike for the money. In today's pricing they were asking over $10 for their entry 500. That is just too much as demonstrated by Triumph selling their entry bike for less than half that.
My Dads RSV Millie side stand sunk in to the hot tarmac while parked up. The damage wasn’t expensive but the wait for parts was horrific. He wasn’t even riding it
หลายเดือนก่อน +1
The RSV Mille has a very weird side stand as well. One of my mates has one and the stand is so tall that the bike very easily topples over to the right side. One has to be very wary of you park it. He bought it cheap with some damages made by the state inspection "Bilprovningen" here in Sweden. It had indeed fell over during the inspections.
The guys at "Bikes and Beards" in the US got hold of one of those diesel bikes...I'm not sure if they ever got it to run properly...maybe that's why the one you mentioned had such low mileage
Harley's portion of the U.S. large motorcycle market recently dropped to its lowest level since the 1980s." He notes that the average age of the Harley customer has risen substantially in the past two decades. The company reports that the average age is 49.12. juli 2024. .....Votes conservative, is overweight and has several children with different mothers....;) Not exactly the age group to.....
Used Harleys with low mileage are being sold at giveaway prices. If you want to buy a Harley you can buy a Harley price is not an object you just won't have a new one. My local dealer is giving away a free Triumph 400 with every big Harley that gets purchased.
They will...except it'll be Shinerai. At least in Europe the ex-Italian-Now-Chinese SWM was supposed to bring a clone of the Sportster 1200 to the local market, the SWM Stormbreaker.
@@aromaticsnail yeah I'm aware, but it won't be an Harley without the bar and shield and without being made in the USA. If the quality is on par with the old irons I think it will be a hit, but it won't be an Harley
I'll ask my brother how much and how long it took for his friend to sort out his Africa Twin Freddie. As far as electric bikes are concerned, they are silent death traps, even before you get into how impractical they are. The whole idea years ago of making traditional bikes more visible for safety reasons, was a permanently switched on headlight. Now all new cars have those too, so the only thing that really helps bike safety more is the sound they make. No sound, less safety in my opinion and a totally silent bike will kill I think. They also have about as much character and genuine sense of joy as a synthetic carbohydrate factory as far as I am concerned. I would ignore these eco zealots. They are usually 5ft tall males with balls the size of raisons. They hate themselves so much, that they just want to bring the rest of us down to their level. Electric motor bikes indeed!!! lol 🙂
I nearly got run over on a pelican crossing by a food delivery electric moped rider that you simply couldn’t hear coming. He was on L plates and wasn’t stopping for anyone.
Freddie r.e electric bikes. Agreed they don't work for long distance, but don't tar them with the 'urban' brush. The average commute is 20 miles per day. Someone could use an electric bike for their work commute, charge it on a 3 pin plug and never have to worry about range anxiety. You should swap urban out for a more accurate term like short distance or commuting. When will I commute using the 200 miles of my bike's tank? Same for my car, I get 340 miles and only ever use a full tank in the rare long distance trip. for most it would make sense if they were cheaper.
Good one this week Freddie. Those old USMC diesel Kawasaki’s are kinda hard to find. But if you really want to spend money look for a Harley MT500 military bike. They got Rotax motors and are pretty cool. Your right Harley isn’t doing to good right now. Go woke go broke ! They got to get rid of there CEO. If that guy tries to bring that Chinese made 400 with Harley stickers on it over here to go against Royal Enfield he’s done. There’s some things in America that have to be American. Harley is one of them. They’ve survived for along time. Through the Great Depression, and two world wars. I truly doubt a foreign born DEI loving tree hugger is gonna bring them down. I just hope they learned there lesson.
I would love to hear from an insider why manufacturers are pushing lower cc'd bikes. Haleys bid was them selling out to Hero just to get into the Indian market but it isn't a Harley and it won't go anywhere. What is going to happen to the 1000+cc bikes in the next few years, higher tax, higher insurance, Euro 6 or just out and out lies to get rid of them.
I saw one of these bikes "Diesel" just outside of Wrexham North Wales about 10 years ago thinking it was a botched up bike sale price of £2,500 which I thought was very expensive for a home made bit of kit I was tempted to go and knock on the door as it was outside with a sticker on it just simply saying diesel bike but I did not do so perhaps I should have ????????
Pulled away with my d-lock on my triumph scrambler 1200 a couple of weeks ago and warped one of my discs (🔔🔚I know)Main dealer£930 repair or take to Maidstone straitline for £50 repair what shall I do?
Agree on that one, Marc spent so long riding in India his visa expired. Maybe right about the public chargers though, how many times does Marc have to plug in to shops and cafes
Infrastructure for electric vehicles is excellent in India. Just watch Marc Travels, that you have mentioned. In fact Marc has mentioned that the country with the worst provision for electric vehicles has been the UK!
Been a biker 15 years (Guzzi Griso 4v/8v, Triumph Street Triple 675 MK1 & Thruxton MK1, Honda Africa Twin, even a wonderful Buell 1125 CR) and I hate to say it....if you want a really good Harley; buy an Indian...better engineering, better quality, better performance, better brand identity just...better. Harley have a big image problem that's a bit of an elephant in the room and the wont nod, wont wave, anti-woke' brigade kind of do the talking all for themselves; old, white-supremacist biker gang wannabes or boring as feck yuppies...are what spring to mind when many people think Harley; not gen speaking a crowd your likely to want to hang with. I am prepared for a roasting in the comments but I'm pretty convinced that pricing, a failure to keep up in regards to engineering and quality (see Indian for how to do it) and a pig-headed brand identity cult are what have taken Harley down a dead end street rather than the seemingly all encompassing claim of a 'woke agenda'. That said the pivot to electric and small capacity is probably a road to nowhere for Harley who unlike the European Named Heritage brands do not have a small capacity heritage line up or tradition to draw from, think BSA Bantams, Enfield Bullets, Triumph Tiger Cubs etc. A small capacity Harley (and they have sort of tried with their entry level 500s and 750s over the years) is always a sign that somethings going wrong with sales and the brands in high volume, low cost panic mode. The Eric Buell/Roland Sands/Harley Davidson recent special was a thing of beauty and if Harley went that kind of route on a number of genuine performance specials whilst refreshing and really upping their game on the engineering and quality of the traditional line up; springer soft tails, sportsters etc in the same way as BMW have on their heritage line and, again, as per Indians entire line up, I don't think they'd be beyond saving.
he must have droppeed the africa twin on a rotating band saw or something - my mates have crashed theirs across rock and all sorts of terrain on repeat, and barely broken mirrors...
If electric bikes are actually really good then the message is not getting through to bikers in the UK. July’s ICE bike sales: 8,952. Top selling big bike: BMW R1250GSA. Total sold: 105. Total electric bikes sold: 389. Top selling >35kW bike: Zero SR/F ZF15.8. Total sold: 1 (yes, ONE). Top selling 11-35kW hour bike: Mahindra TREO. Total sold: 1 (yes, ONE).
What’s with all the Harley snowflake owners getting offended by the views of the CEO 😂. (I’m a Harley owner - love the bike for what it is, couldn’t care less about the branding direction because I’m not a stroppy and easily influenced teenager 😂)
'Marc Travels' one electric bike channel out of thousands of bike channels on youtube, and he's had his problems. E-bikes, not worth considering if you want to tour.
The British Army had a diesel motorbike also. The British Army stopped using motorbikes; maybe those new effeminate recruits might have hurt themselves. The British Army have EV motorbikes on test. Ask the enemy to wait 4 hours while one charges it up with a generator on the front line. Says it all about the common sense of the current British Army military decision makers.
Woke has nothing to do with it. Harley has been out of touch with the motorcycle market for a long time already in that they kept going on not innovating enough and not adjusting their portfolio to demographic and economic developments, thereby pricing their models completely out of reach for the majority of bikers in US and Europe. So they might very well go the same way as the Brits manufacturers went in the ‘70’s if they do not change quickly. And it is probably already too late, given the success of the current 400 - 650 cc bikes and the slow pace of product development at HD.
Bearded Mechanic and another mechanic tried to get one they bought but what a painfull experience, very comlpicated engine, timing , diesel pump, no spares.He terrorists in Lebanon are all riding KLR Kawasakis petrol machines in all their promotional videos, dont know cc's and all sprayed matt green.😮
Harley Davidson “the woke route”. What an ignorant comment. Why do people feel compelled to tarnish the meaning of woke by using it as a derogatory term for everything. Woke is simply “awake to social justice”. What that has to do with overweight, overpriced American bikes I have no idea.
It’s the “go woke go broke” rage line that makes me laugh, Gillette, Nike, Keurig, Disney, Bud light, Bens, Aunt Jemima and many more, all been raged at and boycotted by these reactionary types and all still very much in business, “woke” capitalism is very successful and it’s why these big corporations use it, they’re going quite the opposite of broke.
Please ...no more about electric bikes! They're complete crap and just look at the damage done to the environment in pursuit of the raw materials for the batteries. Green? Total bollocks! I'd rather have an XTZ660......rode one once and that was enough!
As a 38yr old new rider here in the UK I would stay well clear of Harley Davidson. Big bearded men (me) do not stomach woke and Harley prices are out of reach for young weak woke snowflakes. Their German CEO is a hard core extremist woke nutter. The company is going under because of him and he just doesn’t care. Just look at Sturgis 2024 and Harley was empty of customers. Following this they have moved their American 🇺🇸 Made heritage of their bikes to production now in Thailand 🇹🇭. No patriotism and no honour. I won’t be surprised if Indian motorcycle buy them out in the next couple of years. And I am also looking at Indian motorcycle rather than Harley for all the reasons under the sun. And they make a far superior bike.
You would need your one brain cell to be on the blink to think that's 1 hours riding equals 12 hours charging makes sense must work for the labour party if you believe this nonsense😀👍
Hi all! You can visit our Libertatia shop here: www.thelibertatia.com
Love these podcasts. Escapism for me. Minimal politics and no posturing. No bad vibes - Just Mr Dobbs and talking BIKES! This type of content is just so rare these days. love it
The diesel Kawasaki was the result of a collaboration between Fred Hayes in the US and our own Royal Military College of Science in Cranfield between around 1992 and 2000.
Hi there I am a massive fan of your videos. I was stunned to see that my XTZ660 was a mention of yours at the very end. This explains the massive influx of views, saves and shares!
Great work my friend keep it up!
Hey Freddie. I sprung for the optional crash bars on the V85, just because the cylinders looked vulnerable. Turned out to be a good decision.
I was doing a U-turn on a quiet residential street, when a car came around an adjacent corner at a fair clip towards me. I tapped the brake, which stood the bike up. I put my foot down and touched nothing, I was right where a pot hole happened to be. The bike toppled over and took me down with it.
I picked it up, tearing an interior oblique in the process. Looking the bike over, there was a mark on the crash-bar, and a mark on the bar end weight. That was it. Glad I didn't have the hard panniers on at the time.
That's the first time I've dropped a street bike in 30+ years riding.
Great video as always. Always enjoy them.
The British Army had a diesel Harley Davidson trail bike in the 90s. Interestingly, the dual use of aviation fuel works both ways; when I was flying the Gazelle helicopter, military diesel was authorised for use in emergencies but I never heard of anyone doing it.
It was called the MT350
It's such a shame diesel was not invested in more for motorbikes, imagine if it had all the development of petrol over the years, we could have had diesel adventure bikes or cruisers doing 600 miles on a tank lol.
We had one of the diesel klr's when I was in Afghanistan. They say the klr is bulletproof but I can say for sure that this one was literally bulletproof.
Royal Enfield also had diesel bullet , it s give 90 to 100 kmph milage per litre
Interesting to hear about the diesel military bike. Back in 2012, I bought a Sinnis Max 2 from a company based in Holton Heath, Dorset called OVIK. If I recall, they had the Sinnis simply for riding around the industrial estate or to go to the shop or whatever and no longer needed it. Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that I was chatting to the owner and he was telling me about how they were working on a diesel bike for the British military, and they had one there at the property. I had totally forgotten about this, but after some internet archeology, it turns out that that bike went on to be released as the Track T800CDi diesel bike and was eventually sold to the public for a short time. They are somewhat rare now and the company no longer exists (poor reviews and lo sales I guess), but this video unlocked a memory for me. I still have the emails relating to the purchase of the Sinnis and the guy I bought the bike from was called Duncan Hermer who was the MD of OVIK Group.
bikes and beards got one on you tube
Freddie 50years behide most people
Enjoyed it’s like a natter down the pub
Watch an old blog of bikes and beards they put a diesel kwak through its paces if I remember correctly
Hi Freddie, another really good video with lots of well researched content.
You mentioned the DRZ400S and I thought it worth sharing my own experience of this bike. I purchased a DRZ as a replacement for my XR400R (I got fed up with the kick start on an otherwise excellent machine). The DRZ is very accomplished off-road and ok on road. I did experience the carburettor issue you referred to in your video. I had to strip and clean the carb twice in a relatively short time period. The issue is ethanol in petrol which corrodes the bikes petrol tank. The tank is not designed for it and the muck goes in and blocks the very small jets in the carb. You can treat the tank with various linings but it does not solve the problem completely. Basically if you are not going to use the bike for say a month, then you should drain it of petrol, which is a hassle. I do not want to put you off but be prepared for the maintenance.
Keep up the excellent work on your channel.
Use isopropanol ,mix it 20 ml to a litre ,
For those wondering about Harley-Davidson's X440 in India, it is a wonderful torque heavy machine. It makes about 38 nm of torque just like the Speed 400 but less power at about 27hp. It sounds great just as a Harley should. Obviously nothing close to their bigger bikes but anyday better than the Speed 400 and the rest in the 400 cc segment. I had one for about 4 days while I was upgrading my ride from a CBR 250R. It looks quite good in real than in pictures is what I found out. It is a hoot in the city and the highway. I felt immediately more connected to it than the Speed 400 that I tested multiple times. X440 is smooth torquey and a lot of fun. Don't ignore it if you get a chance to ride it. Once you ride it you will certainly appreciate what it does. The Royal Enfield 350 series is not my cup of tea and I am happy we have the x440 and its sibling the Maverick as options to the underwhelming Speed400. I did end up upgrading to a used Street Twin 2016 model though and I couldn't be happier. It is everything that the x440 was but at another level.
Completely agree with you about that Suzuki and adventure bikes in general, they're getting too big, heavy and impractical for most of us.
Dsvm stormbreaker is going to be a great bike for those who want to have the old really Sportster experience. A bike that has a zillion Hopper parts and a zillion customization parts as well as being able to be serviced by any independent Harley-Davidson shop. It is also rebuildable forever. You could always put Harley stickers on it haha.
It's just not the same without the car alarm.
Watch the Bearded Mechanic, he worked on one to get it running.
The Long Way Up was a hillarious mess. They needed to use diesel generators in the middle of nowhere several times. They couldn't ride because they were ALWAYS worrying about power. If it wasn't for the fact they had a decent size crew and were _really_ well funded it wouldn't have worked...
At the start when you were talking about the KLR .. The second photo shows the two army lads riding Honda XR400's, not KLRs .. the military also used XR400's though they were just regular petrol bikes.
Interestingly, I bought a XR400 and the person I bought it off got it from the Queen's royal guard at Sandringham Palace as the royal guards actually used XR400's to get around the palace grounds, pick up the post, cut the hedges etc.
Very interesting as usual
I did 40000 miles on an XTZ660 never missed a beat. No problem with the seat as I used it daily. Used to eat chain and sprockets
Interesting comments regarding the Military Kawasaki, just for reference, the two bikes that you showed a clip of side by side jumping were Honda XR250 or 400's. Would be lighter, faster etc.... hence the airtime😀
Freddie Hi, can you please do a thing on converting from chain to belt drive as this is something I’ve been thinking of as I hate lubricating chains. Thanks Duncan
Another great video Freddie, love the Tuesday videos. Random question for you maybe for next week if you like. I was thinking that with bikes since they are cheaper than cars, you can have 2 or 3 of them instead of 1 weekend fun car. You can see where I am leading with this, what would your 3 bike picks be if you were to own 3 down the road (you can include or exclude the bonneville the choice is yours). For me I think id like to have a big cruiser maybe a Harley of some sort for weekend cruising or on road touring, a Honda transalp for road trips with off-roading and adventures. And then a modern classic for daily riding commuting and casual riding. My interceptor would work or perhaps a Bonneville. Id love to hear your picks in next weeks video. 😊
22:55 what about the heat in India in regards to the battery and motor of said ev 🤔
Freddie, enjoy your videos every week. Always interesting with something old, and something new as in current issues in the biking world. Comments; Mecum auctions is similar to Barrett Jackson here in the US, and the Harley situation has been co-opted by the usual suspects here who love pointing fingers at the "others". It is all down to profit per unit.
Nice content, cheers! I especially liked the story and pics from Dirk/SA and his DR400S. However, you mentioned about its successor, the DRZ400. The real successor of the DR400S (in terms of time) was the DR500S which had, for the first time a 4 valve head. The DR400 was an bored-up SP (or DR) 370 engine which was kind of lame. The 4-valve engine of the DR500 (and later the DR600) was a whole different story; reliable and quite fast. Whereas the DR500S still had almost no electricity (6V, next to a bicycle dynamo) and almost no brakes (drums which I consider the first ABS-models). The DR600 then was equipped with modern 12V-electric, H4-front light and a discbrake instead of the rediculous drum and a 21l-fueltank as well. After the huge success of the Yamaha Tenere 600 (the one with the 30l fueltank) Suzuki just had to do something. I still ride my DR600S which I bought brand new 36 years ago. And yes, the bikes did develop a lot. Apart from the (sometimes stupid) electric features, frame, suspension, brakes, tires became a lot better, I think. Apart from this, most bikes are more reliable, have longer service intervalls and are also not always heavier. Unless one needs the strongest, fastest, tank-like klingon-offroader...
Hey Freddie. We don't get the x440 in Australia (perhaps is just an India only model) but HD in Australia has recently brought in X350 (flat tracker tyle) and X500 (more traditional roadster style) parallel twins. The bikes are CHinese made, by Qianjiang in the same factory as Benelli. The bikes compete in the LAMS (roughly same as your A2 license) category. Cheers.
The demand for big engine bikes is dying, Royal Enfield spotted this years ago hence their huge success.
Personally, with the way they are going on vehicles at the moment, I've said that the era of the liter bike is coming to an end 🤷🏻♂️
@@kevindarkstar
I think the 125 bikes will end but they’ll be a strong market for 300 to 600cc.
I also think electric bikes are way off because they can’t carry the necessary volume of batteries to get any decent range.
That diesel KLR looks the business. I'd love one. I like the H-D 440. I had a Suzuki DR250SH in Tokyo over 30 years ago. Lighter and faster than the modern-day equivalent. I am about to buy the modern day equivalent in Thailand: an air-cooled, two-valve, single-cylinder Kawasaki KLX230SM. Not available in GB/Europe due to emissions. I wouldn't entertain an electric motorcycle. Nick
On the cost of low speed drops it’s not the damage but what it costs to bring it up to as new condition. I had a low speed slide on my Triumph Trident 900 25 years ago. Rode it home. Dealer quoted about £2,500 to put right but that included replacing items with the slightest scratch. When I said I wasn’t claiming on insurance, he replaced items from his 2nd hand parts store ( where he had previously replaced barely damaged items under insurance and kept them) and the cost was £800. Could barely tell it had been dropped. Depends on the level of reinstatement you require. For the Africa Twin could be replacing a frame for a slight scratch.
Marc travels said in a recent video, when he does South America he is going to use a petrol bike.
Hi Freddie , re Harley they should make a 350 or 500 v twin Moto Morini and Moto Guzzi did back in the 70s and 8os and great little bikes they were too so a v twin of this size works , as long as it was priced keenly it would be i think quite successful ,
re repairs , So i bought a R.E 350 Meteor partly your fault as you spoke so highly of them , so don't worry i love it , but it did roll of its side stand yes bad parking , one broken clutch lever and indicator later i went to the local R.E shop for replacements expecting at least £50 plus to buy and fit myself but to my surprise and £27 later one fixed bike , if had been the FZ6 i owned before i definatly would have been paying out a lot more for genuine parts ,approx £ 70 three times the price of the Meteor bits
Hi Freddie, A bit left field for an off road bike but what about a Royal Enfield Bullet trials replica 500cc will send pic's soon. Grandad on an Enfield.
8:10 I rode commando once. Terrible chafing.
Please, someone save Harley-Davidson; we need this legendary brand to endure with the original and authentic spirit it began with long ago.
You only need to remember Harley Davidsons treatment of the Buell marque to understand where they are now. As a former owner of Buell X1 Lightning all of the problems I ever encountered were with the Harley donated parts - the worst being the disintegration of the 2nd gear resulting in a belt snap. The real shame was that these bikes when working handled beautifully and attracted attention where ever I rode. The later models incorporated Rotax engines and are far more reliable.
The Keeway V302C shows what HD should be doing for a small bike. Imagine that with decent build quality, dealer support and engineering.
One thing about Keeway/Benda is they know how to build a good looking bike on the cheap, they’ve got quite a line up of great looking bikes in Asia most of which will never see Europe, The NapoleonBob 250/450 look awesome, biking is huge in Asia and dying in Europe so that’s where the markets gone.
Except Harley tried that: the Street 750 (and also the 500 in the US). It flopped. Curiously, the other day I was doomscrolling the classified apps and although there's aren't that many for sale near me, they do keep their value
@@aromaticsnail The street 500 was $7k a decade ago, nearer $8k with abs.
Compare that to a sub $5k Triumph 400 today that is selling like hot cakes and you have your answer as to why it flopped. 8k was Bonneville t100 money.
It was close to twice the price point for a high quality small bike. Sure the HD name might be able to carry a slightly bigger price tag than the equivalent triumph, but twice? Nah.
@@LiamE69 BMW, Ducati, Triumph... all equally expensive bikes. Price is not the single issue
@@aromaticsnail Price is ALWAY an issue. ALWAYS. When they priced an entry 500 almost the same as a Bonneville they got the price wrong.
So no the Triumph wasn't equally expensive. It was WAY more bike for the money.
In today's pricing they were asking over $10 for their entry 500. That is just too much as demonstrated by Triumph selling their entry bike for less than half that.
My Dads RSV Millie side stand sunk in to the hot tarmac while parked up. The damage wasn’t expensive but the wait for parts was horrific. He wasn’t even riding it
The RSV Mille has a very weird side stand as well. One of my mates has one and the stand is so tall that the bike very easily topples over to the right side. One has to be very wary of you park it. He bought it cheap with some damages made by the state inspection "Bilprovningen" here in Sweden. It had indeed fell over during the inspections.
The guys at "Bikes and Beards" in the US got hold of one of those diesel bikes...I'm not sure if they ever got it to run properly...maybe that's why the one you mentioned had such low mileage
Harley's portion of the U.S. large motorcycle market recently dropped to its lowest level since the 1980s." He notes that the average age of the Harley customer has risen substantially in the past two decades. The company reports that the average age is 49.12. juli 2024. .....Votes conservative, is overweight and has several children with different mothers....;)
Not exactly the age group to.....
They definitely shouldn't cater for that demographic. Some would argue that it's what's killing the company
Used Harleys with low mileage are being sold at giveaway prices. If you want to buy a Harley you can buy a Harley price is not an object you just won't have a new one. My local dealer is giving away a free Triumph 400 with every big Harley that gets purchased.
Nobody is going to see the x440 as an Harley anyways. HD needs to bring back the sportster 883, price it competitively and just go from there
They will...except it'll be Shinerai. At least in Europe the ex-Italian-Now-Chinese SWM was supposed to bring a clone of the Sportster 1200 to the local market, the SWM Stormbreaker.
@@aromaticsnail yeah I'm aware, but it won't be an Harley without the bar and shield and without being made in the USA.
If the quality is on par with the old irons I think it will be a hit, but it won't be an Harley
HD doesn’t care to sell
@@mar0364 the States aren't hd's only market though
@@mar0364which is why they are hurting. Most younger riders aren’t going to start or end up on a 900lb, 30K bagger
I was just wondering if you where all out of Lambs in south Africa. Could you pay with sheep's instead?
Of course!😆
I'll ask my brother how much and how long it took for his friend to sort out his Africa Twin Freddie. As far as electric bikes are concerned, they are silent death traps, even before you get into how impractical they are. The whole idea years ago of making traditional bikes more visible for safety reasons, was a permanently switched on headlight. Now all new cars have those too, so the only thing that really helps bike safety more is the sound they make. No sound, less safety in my opinion and a totally silent bike will kill I think. They also have about as much character and genuine sense of joy as a synthetic carbohydrate factory as far as I am concerned. I would ignore these eco zealots. They are usually 5ft tall males with balls the size of raisons. They hate themselves so much, that they just want to bring the rest of us down to their level. Electric motor bikes indeed!!! lol 🙂
I nearly got run over on a pelican crossing by a food delivery electric moped rider that you simply couldn’t hear coming. He was on L plates and wasn’t stopping for anyone.
😂😂😂
Freddie r.e electric bikes. Agreed they don't work for long distance, but don't tar them with the 'urban' brush. The average commute is 20 miles per day. Someone could use an electric bike for their work commute, charge it on a 3 pin plug and never have to worry about range anxiety. You should swap urban out for a more accurate term like short distance or commuting. When will I commute using the 200 miles of my bike's tank? Same for my car, I get 340 miles and only ever use a full tank in the rare long distance trip. for most it would make sense if they were cheaper.
Good one this week Freddie. Those old USMC diesel Kawasaki’s are kinda hard to find. But if you really want to spend money look for a Harley MT500 military bike. They got Rotax motors and are pretty cool. Your right Harley isn’t doing to good right now. Go woke go broke ! They got to get rid of there CEO. If that guy tries to bring that Chinese made 400 with Harley stickers on it over here to go against Royal Enfield he’s done. There’s some things in America that have to be American. Harley is one of them. They’ve survived for along time. Through the Great Depression, and two world wars. I truly doubt a foreign born DEI loving tree hugger is gonna bring them down. I just hope they learned there lesson.
I would love to hear from an insider why manufacturers are pushing lower cc'd bikes. Haleys bid was them selling out to Hero just to get into the Indian market but it isn't a Harley and it won't go anywhere. What is going to happen to the 1000+cc bikes in the next few years, higher tax, higher insurance, Euro 6 or just out and out lies to get rid of them.
Speed cameras are everywhere and limits are getting lower. Why does anyone need 1000cc?
You need to look at the tax, licencing and insurance costs in the various markets to understand.
You sure the guy wasn’t talking about the XT660Z?(not the same as the XTZ 660)
17:56 and an absolute scumbags dream! 😮 These type of bikes are a thief magnet 😢
Harley sell a 350 and a 500 in Australia -- not exactly a big market...
Same in New Zealand, the X350 and 500. Build in partnership with Chinese manufacturer Qianjiang Motor.
I saw one of these bikes "Diesel" just outside of Wrexham North Wales about 10 years ago thinking it was a botched up bike sale price of £2,500 which I thought was very expensive for a home made bit of kit I was tempted to go and knock on the door as it was outside with a sticker on it just simply saying diesel bike but I did not do so perhaps I should have ????????
Pulled away with my d-lock on my triumph scrambler 1200 a couple of weeks ago and warped one of my discs (🔔🔚I know)Main dealer£930 repair or take to Maidstone straitline for £50 repair what shall I do?
Mark rides for 150 miles on a zero at one go at all speeds in India there are plenty of chargers so you are wrong!
Agree on that one, Marc spent so long riding in India his visa expired. Maybe right about the public chargers though, how many times does Marc have to plug in to shops and cafes
Infrastructure for electric vehicles is excellent in India. Just watch Marc Travels, that you have mentioned. In fact Marc has mentioned that the country with the worst provision for electric vehicles has been the UK!
Been a biker 15 years (Guzzi Griso 4v/8v, Triumph Street Triple 675 MK1 & Thruxton MK1, Honda Africa Twin, even a wonderful Buell 1125 CR) and I hate to say it....if you want a really good Harley; buy an Indian...better engineering, better quality, better performance, better brand identity just...better. Harley have a big image problem that's a bit of an elephant in the room and the wont nod, wont wave, anti-woke' brigade kind of do the talking all for themselves; old, white-supremacist biker gang wannabes or boring as feck yuppies...are what spring to mind when many people think Harley; not gen speaking a crowd your likely to want to hang with. I am prepared for a roasting in the comments but I'm pretty convinced that pricing, a failure to keep up in regards to engineering and quality (see Indian for how to do it) and a pig-headed brand identity cult are what have taken Harley down a dead end street rather than the seemingly all encompassing claim of a 'woke agenda'. That said the pivot to electric and small capacity is probably a road to nowhere for Harley who unlike the European Named Heritage brands do not have a small capacity heritage line up or tradition to draw from, think BSA Bantams, Enfield Bullets, Triumph Tiger Cubs etc. A small capacity Harley (and they have sort of tried with their entry level 500s and 750s over the years) is always a sign that somethings going wrong with sales and the brands in high volume, low cost panic mode. The Eric Buell/Roland Sands/Harley Davidson recent special was a thing of beauty and if Harley went that kind of route on a number of genuine performance specials whilst refreshing and really upping their game on the engineering and quality of the traditional line up; springer soft tails, sportsters etc in the same way as BMW have on their heritage line and, again, as per Indians entire line up, I don't think they'd be beyond saving.
he must have droppeed the africa twin on a rotating band saw or something - my mates have crashed theirs across rock and all sorts of terrain on repeat, and barely broken mirrors...
With a range of 60 miles an Electric bike is no use apart from around a city and i don't live in a city.
Thank God you covered that mark on your laptop lid, nice one.
It only took me 17 months!
If electric bikes are actually really good then the message is not getting through to bikers in the UK.
July’s ICE bike sales: 8,952.
Top selling big bike: BMW R1250GSA. Total sold: 105.
Total electric bikes sold: 389.
Top selling >35kW bike: Zero SR/F ZF15.8. Total sold: 1 (yes, ONE).
Top selling 11-35kW hour bike: Mahindra TREO. Total sold: 1 (yes, ONE).
3:50 a motorcycle on an aircraft carrier?
They're big things them there aircraft carriers!😂😂😂
Anyone complaining about "woke" is a joke.
A new career as an off-road motorcyclist? Let me know which ward you are in and I'll being some grapes!
there is also a 350 and 500 harley available in aus and nz. not actual harleys of course.
Thanks for this- I wasn’t aware😳
@@tuesdayatdobbsI'm currently trying to find a dr400 sm ,scotland just dnt seem to have any about ,
Did freddy just admit to employing cheap foreign labour ? tut tut 😉
What’s with all the Harley snowflake owners getting offended by the views of the CEO 😂. (I’m a Harley owner - love the bike for what it is, couldn’t care less about the branding direction because I’m not a stroppy and easily influenced teenager 😂)
That bike is rhe biggest joke to ever Exist
'Marc Travels' one electric bike channel out of thousands of bike channels on youtube, and he's had his problems. E-bikes, not worth considering if you want to tour.
The British Army had a diesel motorbike also.
The British Army stopped using motorbikes; maybe those new effeminate recruits might have hurt themselves.
The British Army have EV motorbikes on test. Ask the enemy to wait 4 hours while one charges it up with a generator on the front line.
Says it all about the common sense of the current British Army military decision makers.
Woke has nothing to do with it. Harley has been out of touch with the motorcycle market for a long time already in that they kept going on not innovating enough and not adjusting their portfolio to demographic and economic developments, thereby pricing their models completely out of reach for the majority of bikers in US and Europe. So they might very well go the same way as the Brits manufacturers went in the ‘70’s if they do not change quickly. And it is probably already too late, given the success of the current 400 - 650 cc bikes and the slow pace of product development at HD.
1st comment.... Woohoo
Thanks Griffin, I hope you enjoy it!:)
@@tuesdayatdobbs always do! Thanks for the content.
Bearded Mechanic and another mechanic tried to get one they bought but what a painfull experience, very comlpicated engine, timing , diesel pump, no spares.He terrorists in Lebanon are all riding KLR Kawasakis petrol machines in all their promotional videos, dont know cc's and all sprayed matt green.😮
Do Not think about buying one. There are only two people who know how they work. One is almost 80 years old. And the other is still learing.
GO WOKE GO BROKE 💔
12:38 well this is virtually irrelevant then in terms of HD and the company has seriously lost its way 🤷🏻♂️
Harley is no longer the American standard. Indian Motorcycle is the only way to go…
This Harley thing sound just like politics in the U.K. as we speak does it not ????????????????
Harley Davidson “the woke route”. What an ignorant comment. Why do people feel compelled to tarnish the meaning of woke by using it as a derogatory term for everything. Woke is simply “awake to social justice”. What that has to do with overweight, overpriced American bikes I have no idea.
It’s the “go woke go broke” rage line that makes me laugh, Gillette, Nike, Keurig, Disney, Bud light, Bens, Aunt Jemima and many more, all been raged at and boycotted by these reactionary types and all still very much in business, “woke” capitalism is very successful and it’s why these big corporations use it, they’re going quite the opposite of broke.
Replied to your comment but TH-cam removed my comment. Social justice is a disease.
Most people who use the 'woke' term don't actually know what it means.......They use it to disagree with anything they don't like.
@@Victor-vf1fi
Ok Skeletor 💀
Awoke to injustice you mean. Egalitarian rubbish.
Please ...no more about electric bikes! They're complete crap and just look at the damage done to the environment in pursuit of the raw materials for the batteries. Green? Total bollocks! I'd rather have an XTZ660......rode one once and that was enough!
As a 38yr old new rider here in the UK I would stay well clear of Harley Davidson.
Big bearded men (me) do not stomach woke and Harley prices are out of reach for young weak woke snowflakes.
Their German CEO is a hard core extremist woke nutter. The company is going under because of him and he just doesn’t care. Just look at Sturgis 2024 and Harley was empty of customers.
Following this they have moved their American 🇺🇸 Made heritage of their bikes to production now in Thailand 🇹🇭.
No patriotism and no honour.
I won’t be surprised if Indian motorcycle buy them out in the next couple of years. And I am also looking at Indian motorcycle rather than Harley for all the reasons under the sun. And they make a far superior bike.
At 38 you might be the youngest boomer ever
You would need your one brain cell to be on the blink to think that's 1 hours riding equals 12 hours charging makes sense must work for the labour party if you believe this nonsense😀👍
😂😂😅
Wasn’t the eco warrior or him being German as much as the alphabet club support. You may have purposely done that to appease the TH-cam gods.