Well I went from Asian bikes to Beemers in my 20s and have had a few Kaw-Yam-Suz-Hon along the way also. BMW was always the common denominator.
The modern BMWs are the best ride out there (IMHO) but they have gotten away from what lured me there in the first place, ie: simplicity, soul, economy, serviceability....and are now so incredibly sterile that I'm seeking a change. Not to mention the cost of repairs.
Also our mission has changed from "get on the bike and ride to pretty surroundings" to "put the bike on the trailer and pull it with the motor home to a campground in pretty surroundings". And anyone who has ridden across the moonscape/inferno/wind tunnel of Western Oklahoma through the Panhandle and New Mexico to get to the beauty that is Colorado knows what I'm saying. And while the HD doesn't compare to the big BMW in riding comfort, performance or handling, it's a hella lot easier to get on and off a trailer and maneuver at low speeds or on non-pavement. Also, since I can't afford a new bike with a warranty, the owner-serviceability of the new Beemers falls short when you're talking EFI, ABS, reverse gear, etc.

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1983 M-B 240D-Gone too.
1976 M-B 300D-Departed.

"Good" is the worst enemy of "Great".

The Delphi is post 2002, correct? Which years had the tensioner issues? I'll lurk on some HD forums also, thanks.

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1983 M-B 240D-Gone too.
1976 M-B 300D-Departed.

"Good" is the worst enemy of "Great".

I've never owned an HD FL. Mine (still) is a 97 FXD. I rode out to the 95th with a friend of mine who had a first year HD FI motor. IIRC it was a new 1998 Evo Ultra Classic. He was the HOG Chapter Director, so he always got best. An unusual feature, again iirc, was that it did not have a low fuel indicator lamp. I vividly remember getting off the interstate in Mackinaw City during the "Ride Home" to Milwaukee and he coasted, ouf of gas, right up to a fuel pump at a service station.
I think there were some problems with the rear cylinder getting hot on some of the earlier twin cams. As in glowing red.
In my expereince, I've not heard many complaints about the Ultra being underpowered or having too many problems, including Evo's. A low mileage Evo would give you plenty of miles of fun and be simple to maintain.
My $.02

I guess a question would be how often it needs that service. This is just like people who grumbled about 20000 sensors failing on EFI. I don't think it is as bad as it was thought to be.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

If you're on FB, shoot me a PM with your name, and I'll send pics of his bike. I know it's carbed, that's certain.

My riding days are over...My last bikes were an 02 Road King and a 05 Big Dog Custom. The BDC was a nice deal for me...I finished putting it together and painted it, rode it for about a year, then flipped it to my brother for double what I paid. The RK was the best riding bike I ever had...I really miss going out on it with my wife on the back.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Post 02. All the 88 and early 96 had tensioner problems, but most have been fixed or outfitted with gear drive. The later hydraulic tensioner works pretty trouble free but is still a wear item. Evos have their own issues, but have less moving parts. Twinkie can easily be rebuilt to 107-110 inch for massive cruising torque. I have a 2011 Dyna and have put 25 k trouble free miles on it in less than two years.

Instead of downgrading all the way to a Harley, have you considered some other touring bikes? Kawasaki Concours, Honda Goldwing, Yamaha FJR1300 are some that come to mind. I personally know an FJR1300 owner and he thinks it's the greatest bike ever.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

Skippy - I agree that the Connie, ST and Feejr are good bikes, but arent most of them solid-lifter ? Expen$ive valve adjustments ? The 1400 Concours, All ST's and FJR's are Water-cooled IIRC - another maintenance headache compared to an air-cooled bike.

IIRC the old Concours (the 1000cc) have screw/locknuts, but you still have 16 valves and 4 carbs to mess with- I'm done messing with carbs (except I dont have the money to buy anything FI...). Unfortunately for every bike I like, I think a belt drive Harley is less maintenance than everything else.

When did Harley go to drive belts ? you don't want to go too far back...

-John

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2009 Kia Sedona
2009 Honda Odyssey EX-L
12006 Jetta Pumpe Duse
(insert Mercedes here)

Husband, Father, sometimes friend =)

I rode a 1971 Norton for over six years until a couple of years into the demise of the original company. When I started looking for a replacement, my biker trash friends said "Get a Harley". When I asked why, they said things like; It's American; It's Big; It's loud; It sounds good; It vibrates and leaks. Not very inspiring.

I rode with them to a swap meet in upstate New York and while there was able to look at deconstructed parts. I could see a naked frame, I could hold a crankshaft in my hand, etc. I became convinced that a Harley is heavy duty lifetime machinery. It is a tribute to the bike that most remain reliable in the face of some of the worst home mechanics that I have ever seen.

As a result, I bought a 1977 shovelhead FLH and rode that same bike for 24 years. I was able to make it reliable as a Chevy (or a W123) and if I became bored, for $1000 worth of parts I could turn it into something else. I sold it a few years ago for almost four times what I paid for it a quarter century earlier. Made enough money to buy a 1980 BMW R100T AND a 21 ft. travel trailer.

Old Harleys are like W123 Benz. There will always be NOS or aftermarket parts available which is more than one can say for the ricers.

Sorry if I bored you. Bottom line is ... go with the Harley. It will never be worth a dime less than you paid for it and after a few years, the value increases.

My advice, but no-one ever listens to me anyway.

if you can get yourself to stray from harley, look at the kawasaki's in the 2000-2008 range. i just picked up an 08 nomad for 8k. im not sure what your price range is, but if its closer to 20k you could have a brand new kawasaki vaquero that will more than rival the bagger harleys.
heres a pick of my bike and a vaquero.

Attached Thumbnails

   

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

my nomad has self adjusting valves.

imo, shaft drive is the way to go. service it every 15k and other than checking the final drive oil at oil change time, you can just about forget about it.

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

Valve adjustments are only expensive if you pay someone else to do them. Even then, the interval on them is getting pretty high. On my bike, the check is scheduled every 26,000 miles.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

sell the k and get an rt of the same vintage.avoid the linked brakes of the 1150's.harley's are nice and the flt i had was pretty much trouble free.but it also weighed 950 lbs compared to my rtp's 600 lbs.

Thanks for all the replies.
I've had a Goldwing, a Venture Royale, two Concours (even set a world record on my 86 that was broken before I could file it) and have ridden lots of other bikes. IMO the BMW K1200LT is superior to any other big tourer out there. The BMW oil head twins are the best at what they do as well. But as much as I still love BMW they have eclipsed me with their newer offerings.
What I'm looking for is the simplicity, the owner serviceability and the soul of an airhead Beemer, the long distance comfort of a heavyweight tourer and its got to be easy to trailer and handle well on dirt and gravel. In my mind that leaves the HD bagger preferably with a carb or at least a non-problematic FI unit. Also, if I do this and rue it, it's an easy sell and do-over.
Anyway, from the comments and some of my other research I'm going to focus on the carbureted Evo and if a good buy on a TC88 with cam woes corrected comes up I'll look at it hard.
JP I'll try to get in touch with you re that bike. I'm a little far away but it might be worth looking into.

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1983 M-B 240D-Gone too.
1976 M-B 300D-Departed.

"Good" is the worst enemy of "Great".

Had thought about this but my 1985 RT is pretty close to the oil head (not as smooth and quiet but nearly equal in performance) and I can do nearly all the mx on it. It's is what we take now when we trailer a distance.

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1983 M-B 240D-Gone too.
1976 M-B 300D-Departed.

"Good" is the worst enemy of "Great".