Why Harley Davidson’s and Moto Guzzi Could Save You Money

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Time Stamp:

0:00: Intro
1:08: How Much Does it Cost to Keep Normal Bikes on the Road? (Honda VFR800, Yamaha MT-01 starter motor for £750, Triumph Tiger 900s at £1200, Ducati Desmo Services at £1,500, Moto Guzzi V7, a 400,000 mile Harley Davidson Sportster, BMW R100RS and a BMW R1200RT)
13:10: Rock Solid British Engineering (The Triumph Legend)
18:17: Harley Davidson Doing What They Do Best (Harley Davidson Hydra Glide)
20:29: Bike of the Week: The Husqvarna Norden 901

Hello and welcome back thank you as ever for getting in touch sharing your thoughts and opinions the best place to do so comment section below and if you have a longer Story made with some pictures you can email hi Tuesday ats.com your input is so essential for

Making these weekly podcast so I’m so sorry I don’t get to reply to everyone but I personally read through every comment and every message so please do continue to do so because without you it would be infinitely harder to make these weekly episodes I’m going to start this

Week in fact I’ll give you a quick update in about 8 hours time Monica and I are heading off to Heathrow Airport to finally head over to India for the first time so can’t wait behind me or in front of me here behind the camera a whole

Load of stuff that needs to get packed but I’ve cleared a little Oasis here of clean to film the podcast I’ll start off with a conversation from last week how much does it cost to keep a bike on the road I’m not talking about Italian Exotica some really high-end machine I’m

Talking often about a winter hack a commuter bike what is the reality of keeping these bikes on the road I’ll start off with Mr Vulcan Freddy with regards to the Honda vfr800 valve inspection and adjustment that was quoted 1,600 last week well that doesn’t surprise me I was quoted

$1,000 in labor alone I bought the special tools and I did it myself back at 16,000 miles and my it a royal pain I spent $500 in gaskets and shims on my 32,000 m go around of this maintenance process once it gets to that level of cost

$500 just for parts to do the valve adjustments oh i’ I’d almost rather just pay the extra well 500 sometimes a thousand to get a mechanic to do it because it’s it can be so much hassle this is from Allan Allan’s got a slightly different take on

Things and this was mentioned a few times from Allen with regards to the Honda VFR valve check simply not needed my last one Honda VFR did 89,000 Miles and when it was checked it required nothing so I’ve got a question for all of you let’s say a

Valve clearance check a valve service is 1,000 to 1,500 and you have just bought yourself this bike a Honda VFR on Facebook Marketplace so easy to find these kinds of bikes that’s £1,600 and let’s say you get 100 off the purchase price you haggle down the current owner so you’ve bought this bike

For £15,000 500 mil after you’ve been riding it you realize Bugger I need to do the valve clearance service and you’re quoted 1200 do you spend the £1,200 and religiously stick to under’s service schedule or do you think look the bike’s only one and a half Grand there’s no

Point spending the same price of the bike again just to do a service when I know full well people like Allan and I’ve heard from a lot of other people who say the same have ridden 100,000 miles and never even looked at never touched the

Valves if it were me and I just bought this H VFR I wouldn’t be doing the valve checks I would just take my luck and hope that look the bike will probably be fine and I’m going to save myself in essence the price of the bike on this

Valve check I’d love to know your thoughts on the matter am I being irresponsible saying that or is that quite a level-headed approach love to hear your thoughts moving on to breaker Steve with regards to a Yamaha mto1 I needed a St motor I was quoted from Yamaha

£750 plus fitting for genuine part that’s for starter motor so I did some research and I found a matching part from Italy that had a good reputation between other owners and I got one new off eBay for6 I fitted it myself in the complete cost including 1 liter of oil

130 so that’s a £620 saving this same bike I was quoted £450 to supply and change four spark plugs twin cylinder bike two plugs per cylinder Steve I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this on the podcast before but this always this type of thing always

Brings me back to a plumber we had to call over here in beler to the flat the flusher for the toilet had broken and it was constantly on water was constantly pouring in so I called a plumber got to over he said yep okay we’re going to

Have to rip out all of the tiling completely replace the toilet and it will cost 600 everything needs to be replaced after I would have paid him £600 he said you’ll then have to get a carpenter or someone to completely retile the back wall I thought this

Cannot be true so I went onto the Facebook owners group of our development and sure enough there was a thread there and someone said do not listen to local do not listen to local plumbers this is what you need it’s a 15 part this is how

You replace it on YouTube you buy the part from here on eBay and you can easily do it yourself so I thought okay come on it’s got to be worth a try at £15 bought the part off eBay arrived 3 Days Later watched the YouTube video

Took me 20 minutes to fit and I fit the part15 no extra work doing I didn’t have to knock down in an entire tiled wall in the bathroom I was flabbergasted rant over moving on UK Vamp Freddy I know two people that got rid of their Triumph Tiger 900s because

They got fed up of the service costs especially once they got the big one which seemed to be about £1,200 plus I’ve always fancied a ducatti myself but I have to say that desmo service is very very expensive if done by a dealer you’re looking at £1,500 from a main dealer ducatti onto

Eddie now here’s where things take an interesting turn if you’re looking for a good value bike from a maintenance point of view something that’s easy to maintain and cost effective as well forget about the Japanese stuff forget about the stuff you thought was the simplest to maintain you need to go over

To to Italy and the USA from Eddie okay I live in Spain not the UK but mechanics Sly rates aren’t far off back in Britain and parts and oil cost the same I’m going to pitch in for my Mo to goodsy V7 again it’s got two cylinders two valves

Per cylinder and my last major service listen to this last major service oil change valve clearances adjust just the clutch total €240 at the local Motor goodsy dealer I’m done with 16 valve Japanese inline fours think that’s amazing Frank’s got something even more incredible over in the US my sportser has hydraulic valve

Adjustment and belt drive so all I have to do is change the fluids and the filter that’s a 30 minute job on the driveway I’ve had my sportser for 25 years and it’s done 400,000 miles on the original engine I get 100,000 miles from a belt drive much

Cheaper than a train Drive per mile cost Frank that that needs to be some kind of or close to Guinness World Record it’s a testament to American Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson longevity 400,000 mil and again a really good point about Harley-Davidson’s hydraulic valve adjustment does that actually add

A really big sales pitch to the argument about Harley-Davidson’s because you don’t have to pay these big bills for the valve clearance checks you could be saving over ,000 a time because Harley-Davidson have that hydraulic valve adjustment that isn’t an insignificant Factor when considering a Harley that’s a huge huge selling point

And the belt drive as well I’ve had countless people messaging about the motor goodsy setup where you don’t have to worry about chains and things like that and Harley-Davidson exactly the same simple maintenance I’ll do one more from Australia Freddy I have two BMWs I’ll

Put them up here pict it what a pairing it’s a bmwr 100 RS 197 7 model with 185,000 kilm on it you can rack up the miles in Australia probably easier than anywhere else on Earth it has or it runs perfectly and I can get everything I

Need for it even though it’s 47 years old my other bike’s a BMW R1200RT that’s a 2013 model with 102,000 km if I ever need a new ECM for for it well that would be $11,000 plus fitting and programming get a used one I hear you ask no the problem

Here in Australia is the dealers won’t touch secondhand parts or spares see this is the thing Gary it’s the same in the UK as well most mechanics don’t want to put their name to secondhand stuff so either you buy the secondhand part fit it yourself or yeah you do have to pay a

Lot more and just get a mechanic to do it with a used or a new part if they can actually find it carrying on with Gary a bike like mine with 123,000 kilomet is worth $5,000 Aussie dollar the cost of repair for electrical problems makes the bike financially

Unviable this is the major problem with today’s bikes Gary a bang on this is the thing that scares me have a think about it now all of the classic vehicles whether it’s an old Land Rover Defender a classic 1960s VW Beetle classic Triumph or BSA motorbikes classic Royal enfields you’ve

Got Jonathan in his garage tinkering away on a a 50-year-old Triumph you’ve got Julian who rents out a garage 100 meters down the road and he’s working on his old classic VW Beetle they’re tinkerers and the reason they can be tinkerers is because old engineering is

Incredibly simple so you can open up a YouTube page watch how to do things watch how to change an entire engine on a vehicle because it’s all simple you don’t need a ludicrous amount of special tools it can be done by a DIY mechanic and that means that they can save these

Vehicles they can keep them on the road but what happens when this current crop of vehicles whether it’s cars or motorbikes coming out in 2024 get to 40 years old Jonathan and Julian won’t be able to maintain uh a brand new BMW 5 series for example whereas they probably

Could maintain a 35y old 5 Series BMW it’s just too complicated you’re going to have to have a degree in engineering to be able to properly look after these vehicles and it means that so many vehicles won’t be able to be saved because tinkerers won’t physically be

Able to know how to save these vehicles I think it will completely change the landscape of of classic vehicles and the market for used vehicles as a classic proposition in the next maybe three to four decades I think Everything Will Change on now to Rock Solid British

Engineering this is in regards to the Triumph legend that I was talking about last week I expected to get almost no Insight almost no feedback from that no one commenting on the legend that I recommended but I was completely wrong so many of you from a certain generation

Really know these bikes very well and praise them highly I think anyone under the age of 30 40 even has almost no idea about them but the people that were around when these bikes came out they rate them highly I’ll start off with Oliver pictures here these pictures are

So good so enjoy the pictures as I read about this from Oliver Freddy my dad won his his Triumph Legend at the BMF rally Peterborough in 1999 look at the pics two mallets there look at the style look at the bikes The Legend on the podium carrying on he and

His two mates all bought a ticket each for a quid as Triumph had a raffle on and as luck would have it my dad won he rode the thing everywhere from down to see his mom in London to lont and all over Europe to various shows and events

With our local Club the St neots British biker club and I would also go on the back of it as often as possible on as many Adventures as poss with him at one point I remember it being his only form of Transport he would ride it in all

Weathers it would never let him down and I always had this is interesting I always had a LoveHate relationship with it because the legend isn’t a Bonville and I could never understand understand my dad’s love of the bike but fast forward to 2020 when my dad sadly passed

Away I took the bikon and also a modern Triumph Street Twin at first I would solely ride the Street Twin and I would never touch the legend but then one time I dragged the legend out and I had a ride on it and I just fell in love with

It this is incredible I promptly sold the much newer Triumph Street Twin and I’ve never looked back since I bloody love it and I wish I wish the model would get more recognition as it deserves I must admit I’ve changed a little bit since my dad had it as more

Of a Torah focused bike but it still is the same bike with all of the memories I had on it with my dad and now making even more memories it’s got 65,000 Mi on the clock and still it doesn’t miss a Beat I’ve serviced it myself and apart from routine maintenance and checking

The valve clearances it’s been absolutely spot on and it goes all right too I’ve attached a couple of picks one being my dad when he won the bike he used to bloke on the left with the hat and a couple more recently since I’ve owned the bike Oliver Oliver that is the

Perfect example of the intangible element the intangible element that adds to the value of the bike way way disconnected from the the financial value of the bike is the emotive element and that bike is the definition of an extremely valuable bike from a mo motive point of

View beautiful machine onto now this is brilliant Charles Dale the Coronation Street actor those of you who may not know Coronation Street if you’re not British it’s a very very long running series one of the most popular series in the UK this is from Charles Dale the actor himself Freddy the first proper

Bike I ever rode strangely was the Triumph Legend I also didn’t have a license at the time Strangely I was cast as an ex Builder called Dennis Stringer on Coronation Street this is so good but they forgot to ask me if I had a licence about 6 months later they turned up with

A brand new Legend and I got got to ride around the set for a couple of years including the 40th anniversary live episode I fell in love with it and tried desperately to fit it in to fit a test in around my filming schedule but to no

Avail I eventually left the street to go and leave the BBC sadly leaving the legend behind finally I got round to taking my test in 2015 and I’ve been riding bikes ever since Charlie I’d love to know you must have had someone on set to teach you otherwise the nerves going

Through your head as they would say right Charlie jump on the bike and look as cool as possible ride into shot and then jump off loads of cameras filming everyone watching never having ridden a bike before it’s a great Insight harleydavidson now moving on to what

They do best I saw this about a week ago and I was so happy to see it for me this is the exact kind of bike that Harley do better than anyone they can try to get into the adventure bike sector with the TR the pan Amica for example and they

Can try and make faster bikes with the likes of the the sporty Sportster but the place that no one in my mind will really ever get them ever catch up to them is this kind of bike this is the Harley hydr Glide from Jerry here Freddy

Just a quick note to say there’s a new Harley David it’s an icon in the lineup oh Jerry I know I know you love the Retro look in some of your preferred motorcycles and thought I’d give you a heads up the new Harley hydrog guide has

Arrived and it’s nice it’s very nice of course this really isn’t the kind of bike to travel the world on as it’s a limited production run of around just 1,700 but honestly I think Harley have nailed it with this nostalgic throwback to the asked Jerry I I could not agree

More when I saw this in the marketing that’s going around at the moment for Harley I immediately said to myself yep there you go that is exactly what Harley-Davidson need to be making this bike the hydrog Glide was originally made from 1949 to 57 and this is on

Harley’s website to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Harley hydr Glide a champion of the pan head era is resurrected with the release of The Limited Edition 2024 hydr Glide Revival I think this will be about £29,000 if I remember correctly so it’s

A lot of money but that is a lot of bike for the money as well they’ve got the styling spot on this if they Market it right is the kind of bike I really think Harley should be focusing on because they’re so unique with what they offer in this kind of

Package Jerry I love it on now bike of the week I’ll start off here by reading andreas’ from hamburg’s email Freddy you compare the Honda trans Alp with the motor goodsy v85 TT and the Yamaha ten 700 in your review video both bikes are a wee bit on the soft side of

The Honda in respect to torque and performance how would you think about a comparison with the husana nordan 901 Explorer this one is a very Vivid KTM engine inside and would be on the more potent side of the Honda I would say I assume that I would fancy the

Nordon 901 also by the looks that round headlamp nice engine protection and a great sound Andreas Hamburg you know Andreas I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned a husana ever to the best of my knowledge Swedish brand they’ve they focused on the more off-roading element of motorbikes but

This is what you get for the base model £2,900 and then for the Expedition model now this is the model that’s ready set to Take On The World it even comes with paner bigger screen I think a crash bar some other things that’s 14,600 I was playing around on husv Van’s website

I think they have one of the best marketing approaches out of any of these Adventure bikes take a look at some of these picks you’ve got the bike racing along behind a group of about four or five camels trustworthy equipment written at the top and then you can open

Up this page where it lists a few of the key points equipped for expedition look at these pictures they are stunning made for the purpose outside for Daily Business collect new memories and you’ve got these bikes just exploring the most stunning scenery this is the blur for the 901 Expedition even the writing’s

Great an exceptional evolution of the pioneering nordan 901 the nordon 901 Expedition is assembled with all the technical accessories necessary to make it the ideal Expedition motorcycle designed and built to reach the most remote destinations this Tech technically enhanced touring machine is characterized by the distinctive color scheme applied to its ergonomic Bodywork

Built for Pioneers your next Global Adventure Starts with the nordon 901 Expedition I like to do a bit of back research just have a listen to this just before I give you the bike of the week and show you what I found husv has changed hands more than any other bike

That I can think of in my mind at the moment I’m going to read out a few snapshots here from the timeline 1689 husana started I mean it wasn’t a motorbiking brand back then but as a name associated with motorbikes if you link it up all the way back then 240 years

Ago that will be the longest running biking name in biking the birth of husana 1689 started as a weapons Factory the brand evolved to produce sewing machines and kitchen appliances then 1903 husana unveils their first motorbike this is something I didn’t realize so husana is one of the oldest

Motorcycle Brands still around 1903 that’s 121 years fast forward to 1960 racing success transcends into production securing the 500cc Motorcross World Championship I watched a documentary on Steve McQueen he always used to love triumphs for off-roading doing the desert races but then husv came along and really stepped up the

Game with the Off-Road Motorbikes they were infinitely lighter so he ditched the triumps and switched over to husana motorbikes for all of his desert racing onto 1977 now following the this is where things start getting chopped and change and just passed on to new buyer to new buyer buy to new buyer every

Through every few years so 77 comes along following the division of H’s production of sewing machines chainsaws and white goods appliances one of Sweden’s leading corporations Electrolux acquires the Brand’s motorcycle segment so Electrolux I’m sure we’ve got some electroic stuff here in the kitchen that they make food

Processes blenders things like that they bought a motorcycle brand fast forward another 10 years to 1987 they moved to Italy husk Van’s motorcycle division is acquired by Kiva I had no idea Kaja becoming part of the MV austa umbrella all models are now produced in ver Northern Italy again I

Had no idea husv vanas were for a Time produced in Italy let’s move on 20 years now 20 2007 H’s Rich Legacy of off-roading attracts another European entity BMW who acquire the brand with ambitious plans to expand their off-road motorcycle range and I do one final one

One final change of hands six years after BMW purchased hrana KTM purchased them the start of a new era 2013 husberg owner KTM AG acquire husana reuniting the two halves of the original husana brand at their headquarters in Austria so what can I find if I’m looking at 12,900 for the

Base model husana nordon or 14,600 for the Expedition let me just keep things low and see what I can find at the entry point into the market bear in mind these bikes are only 2 years old the husana nordon came out in 202 2 so an absolute bargain you may not find but

I would argue this is this is quite a deal for so much bike this is a bike with over 100 horsepower a proper setup really Dynamic adventure bike and you can get one for £ 8,400 for just a one and a half twoy old bike I think that’s a brilliant deal and

If you go on to MCN I’ll wrap it up here but I found this really interesting m CN gave the husana nordon three out of five stars but owners give it five out of five stars I’m not rounding up here from 4.8 out of five five out of five husana

Owners give these bikes I’m going to read one of them here just to give you an example about high how highly rated these bikes are from the owners the most important people really five out of five stars from bill this was two years ago I really have no clue how the MCN tester

Reviewed this bike as badly as he did ignore the review and ride one for yourself I test Road all of the adventure bikes and this is pretty close to a unicorn bike that does everything really well I also think from from a looks point of view it’s Unique it’s

Purposeful it’s got something about it and it’s a bit of Exotica really because these are not seen often I think I’ve probably seen two of these on the road they may well not get the attention that they deserve because everything I’ve seen from the owner reviews is exceptionally good the marketing is

Incredible the the website the photos they’ve taken these bikes deserve some recognition they look fantastic and I wrap it up there I need to now go and desperately get ready for India so thank you so much everyone for watching this week’s episode have a great week all and

I will see you all all in the next one