A Harley Davidson Dyna for Touring? I think it would work…

A couple of months ago I was looking for a new bike that I could both commute on and take on long distance rides.  The bike had to get good gas mileage, have a good reputation for reliability, solid aftermarket support, a nice suspension, decent power and of course it had to look good.  At first I had an idea of what I wanted and the bikes that made the short list were a Honda Valkyrie, a Kawasaki Drifter 1500, a Harley Davidson Fatboy and finally a Harley Davidson Dyna.  After some initial research I eliminated the following bikes:

Kawasaki Drifter 1500, though a nice bike by any measure aftermarket support was lacking and when it comes to working on metric engines (all bikes need work especially when ridden hard) I thought that it might not be the best investment for me.  After all in 10 years who knows if it will be worth anything.

Second up was the Harley Davidson Fatboy.  This bike had style and comfort but there were two things working against it.  First was the Softail suspension.  Despite the “Softail” moniker this type of internal suspension is not nearly as forgiving as the external dual shock configuration of the Sportster, Dyna and Touring models (depending upon the shocks and setup of course).  A note, almost all stock Harley shocks suck but Harleys have excellent aftermarket options.  The second factor working against the Fatboy was the frame mounted engine.  Granted a big twin that is counterbalanced does not exactly vibrate like a Dyna would when at a stop, but once on the road that vibration could easily translate into the handlebars and ultimately the grips.  This leads to numb hands down the road and the greater the speed, the more intense the vibration.  Some people may disagree or not notice this phenomenon but after owning a softail already, I can tell you there’s more truth to it than not.  The Fatboy was out.

Third up was the Honda Valkyrie.  I got to ride a couple of different specimens and let me tell you, they had power to spare.  They were smooth, surprisingly nimble, incredibly powerful and notoriously reliable.  They have decent aftermarket support when compared to say a Kawasaki Drifter, hold their value well just like the Harley Davidsons and given that they have not been made in several years and have a loyal cult following.  I suspect that well cared for Valkyries will still draw top dollar in the used market later down the road.  The things that worked against the Valkyrie were the total cost of ownership and gas mileage.  One of the contributing factors to the legendary power on a Valkyrie are 6 individual carburetors, one for each cylinder.  That means 6 carburetors to service, keep clean and synch every 10,000 miles.  This synching can be $300-$400+ per interval.  Add to this the Valkyrie eats rear tires and gets downright horrid gas mileage and it’s a no brainer, keep looking. The Valkyrie would make an incredible hotrod, but they are not the best touring bikes despite their Goldwing origins. 

Lastly was the Harley Dyna.  I’m kind of a stickler about Harley Dynas.  I love the Street Bob and most of the Dyna series with a full rear fender or even the new style "bobber" chopped fender. What I don’t like are the narrow glide or mid glide front ends.  So I looked at the Wide Glides and love the front end and 21 inch front wheel, but that fat bob "bobbed" fender (not to be confused with a chopped bobber fender) on the rear looked…well, it’s just not my style.  After some consideration I figured I could change a rear fender easier than a front end and decided to look for a suitable Wide Glide. 

Another thing that was important to me was to find a 1998 Dyna because I wanted the Evo motor.  Why?  Well…first the Evo is the longest running Harley Davidson motor made, second is a fanatical and healthy aftermarket and third is that the Evo is the only engine designed with reliability being the #1 priority, it was the engine that saved the reputation of Harley Davidson after the infamous AMF years.  I know what some of you might be thinking right now, Dynas shake like crazy when started.  This is true, it’s an unbalanced big twin but it’s rubber mounted to the frame and surprisingly the engine really smoothes out under acceleration.  Add the rubber mounted engine to a dual external shock system and you’ve got a pretty smooth bike at cruising speed.  Lastly the Harley will hold its value after a given point of depreciation and who knows, maybe one day increase in value. 

So I began my search for a 1998 Dyna Wide Glide.  I found one in perfect show room condition with only 8,000 miles on it.  Now for those of you good at math it was readily apparent that this bike did not get ridden much which is not necessarily a good thing.  Leave a bike sitting long enough and the gaskets and whatnots (a technical term) start going bad and before long it’s leaking.  Add to that gummed up carburetor and…well you get the idea.  Either way I checked it over thoroughly and made the guy an offer.  Long story short the guy hemmed and hawed and played games until I just walked on the deal.  I kept looking and found something unique, a 1998 Dyna Convertible with a Wide Glide conversion.  That means the bike is lowered to the ground, had every piece of chrome Harley Davidson offers, a Wide Glide front end and the classic full fender.  The bike was gorgeous even though I’m not really big into chrome.  The bike wasn’t perfect though; the previous owner added some Stabil fuel additive and let the thing sit for a year.  He replaced the battery after the old one died but the carburetor was gummed up even though the bike had 21K miles on it.  Everything else looked good though so I bought it.  After some adventures in carburetor rebuilding I now have a smooth running Dyna.  Given that I paid $5,800 for the Dyna and about $50 in rebuilding it I’d say I did okay.  More about the carburetor rebuild in a later post…