I had a 1600cc fuel injected harley as a hire bike when i was over in the states, and one day i did 580 miles on it, try that on a fireblade and then say you cant see the point in a harley.

If you applied the same logic to cars we would all drive westfields and caterhams, but the truth is that i dont want to do 1000 miles a week in a wesfield like i do at the moment sat in my leather seated airconitioned alfa romeo.

A mate of mine in the states has a 2 litre turbo'd harley, its got 300lbft and well over 200bhp, and its quicker than a busa in a straight line, but obviously on the corners he would get his arse kicked if american roads actually had any corners, but they dont generally on yank roads so its irrelevant really.

Id never own a harley in the uk, too big, too cumbersome and not chuckable enouh for a b road, so i prefer stuff like my old vfr honda, or a fireblade, but if i lived in the states i would defiantely have a harley instead.

For stuff like cruising down from miami to key west, which is what i was using it for, a blade just wouldnt get the job done as well as the harley does.

Oh the other thing that people dont realise generally when they are chatting about harleys, simply cause they have never tried it, is how well a harley will take a long sweeping bend, the engine is right down on the floor, and the seat is pretty low too, so they have a very low centre of gravity, and although they dont like being chucked from one side to the other through chicanes and stuff, if you actually go into a 100mph+ sweeping bend on one you'd be amazed how well it actually copes with it compared to a sports bike, there really isnt a lot in it at all on some corners if you are enough of a hero on the harley to try it, although im not for one minute arguing it would be a competitor for an R1 through the twisty b roads we have over here.