For me it's a mixture of performance, potential and nostalgia. Is the 1000hp Honda impressive? Well, yes, I can appreciate the work that went into it to do what it does. However, that same amount of work on an American V8 would absolutely dwarf it. The V8s have enough displacement to overcome the tech edge and to crush it.

On the bike end that scenario is reversed. Is a 6.70 from a mostly HD engined bike impressive? It surely is, however a 5.79 @ 245.36 mph is a whole other world (Kawasaki/Puma), one which will never be reached by HD without engine development. And if you step away from the fantasy world of TF then the difference is much, much greater.

Face it, the only thing that most Cobras and most HDs have in common is old tech and coolness. The performance difference is the massive superiority in terms of displacement vs. weight that most Cobras enjoy. HD can't make that same claim. They suffer from low power to weight ratios and have woefully under developed chassis for bikes that are supposed to be new. And it’s not just that they are V twins, there are other V twins that regularly trounce HDs with less displacement. Even AMA sport twins faced 1125cc Buells up against 650cc Suzuki’s and that was with a Buell designed mill, not the tractor motor like is in mine. What do you think would have happened had they gone up against the Ducati V twins in Superbike? That’s right, a royal ass-kicking from the freaking Italians! BTW, those are just facts, #s that can’t be argued so it’s pointless to try.

To see that in terms of what could happen, just think about facing off with just about any car you’ll see on the street with your Cobra. Unless it’s a high dollar supercar you can probably kick it in the azz. Now consider the same sort of scenario except with bikes. If you’re on a HD without a huge amount of mods you’d better not pick on any bike with a displacement of 750cc or larger because it’s going to kick your/my azz. It’s just physics, no emotion, just power to weight ratios.

So don’t bury your head in the sand while chanting “Harley is the greatest” with all the other oh, oh, me to, me to, HD faithful. Pull your head out of the sand and write a letter or 12 to Milwaukie telling them to pull THEIR heads out of the chrome tank for a while and get back to the design-board so we can ALL ride American bikes that really DO make more POWER, not just more sound.

Lovehamr, We are not so far apart on opinion of HD performance as you might think. Heck, I had a riceburner Kawasaki Triple brandnew in '74 that was little brother to the fastest production bike on earth a few years before I bought a Hog. If you had read my post you would see that I totally capitulated on the performance issue regarding HDs. It's all good man. I love a classic HD as good as anyone for the sound and for the look (and for the comfort for a large dude like me).

We're floggin' a dead horse here.

I live up on Diamond Hill about 100 yards from the Cheshire line. When and if I go near downtown Meriden, I see nothing but ricers with fart cans. They are ethnic cars, with a certain enthusiast base, but I just don't like 'em and don't think they belong here. Plenty of other sites for that stuff.

Me either!:)

That Knucklehead video is incredible. That engine really snaps. You can actually see Pete's pacemaker light up right through his skin when he gets on that beast.

Oh, and in the spirit of full disclosure, I must reveal the nature of Pete's work on my new-at-the-time HD Evo scoot. His guys disassembled the engine and had all the casings and covers chromed at Brown's, then reassembled. Period.

Hey, that adds at least 100HP, and 100 ft/lbs of tq, right? :LOL:

:LOL:Bull****! They are the hotrods of today's youth (all colors of them) simply because they are relatively cheap and plentiful, much like the Dodge Darts and Chevy Novas, etc of yesteryear. Not my cup of tea either, but they don't offend me or upset my apple cart. Retentive old pharts way back in our day hated the jacked up, Cherry Bomb noisemakers kids were disturbing the peace with just as much.

One other thing, this site should not be one to read about bashing our beloved Harley Davidson motorcycles.My last two Harleys were meticulasly hand built to be the quickest V-Twins I will ever own.One is sporting a 2050cc Evo, the other a 2550cc TwinCam,both of these bikes will go by most all others on the streets,but that was not why I built them.Been building and riding Harleys since 62,never wanted to own any other brand.No amount of touting the over the pond bikes will ever make me want one.The same goes for my hand built Cobra,it to is a car I have lusted for all my adult life.No other vehicles stir the soul like these two incredible examples of pure Americana.
Those of you that feel the need to tell us how much faster,better engineered,whatever else you want to call them,save your breath an aweful lot of us could care less.No matter who ever ends up looking at the others taillights,park the different vehicles in a parking lot and see whose gets the most attention.Honestly that doesnt matter to me.
Lastly I still enjoy the newest technology even with a caveman mentality,

For the sake of spirited debate...
 

The Harley is definitely an icon of pure Americana - not so sure about the Cobra though. 'Vettes, Mustangs, Camaros, Chevelles and GTO's maybe. They were built and sold on both sides of the pond and other than the drivetrain, everything else about a Cobra - a small, low, 2 seat superleggera design, is *ahem* pure European!%/

If a modern day Shelby-like character took , say, a Honda S2000 or even a Miata and crammed a V8 into it, beefed up the suspension and chassis and flared the fenders for some fatter rubber; then took it out and kicked arse on the racetrack - would you endorse the modified "ricer" as pure Americana?

In the 60's I think many of us tended to view the British and their cars as more "us", and the Japanese and their cars as more "them". Maybe it was because of WWII. Maybe it was the English sports cars some servicemen were bringing back with them. They sure weren't bringing back any Japanese cars. The war was only 16-17 years behind us when the first Cobras came along. After that first small block V8 got stuffed in an AC "Ace", then it really became "ours" and it's been for "ours" for 50 years now, don't you think? :3DSMILE:

From that POV it makes perfect sense - just not sure our fellow Brit Cobraphiles would necessarily agree though :LOL:. There's a sort of a "soul" in special and iconic machines that makes them stand out from basic commuter mobiles. Cobras and Harleys have that in spades and I suppose it impacts each of us in its own unique way.

For me - I like all performance cars (and bikes, and 4X4's) and I can't identify with the need to bash and denigrate other brands in order to validate my personal preferences. In the case of the Cobra especially, that just ain't necessary.:)

Well...maybe not "ours" exclusively :o, but certainly a part of the "Americana" that was mentioned earlier. :)

I imagine a lot of us have fond memories of MG's from the 60's, VWs, Triumph motorcycles, etc...even the early Honda motorcyles (if you can call 90cc a motorcycle). So they're all "foreign", and lots of us love 'em from when we were teens, UNTIL someone starts bashing "our" American iron (even if it got its start overseas).

It's like they say, "I can talk bad about my Mama, but YOU can't talk bad about my Mama. :LOL:

I love any kinda of motorcycle but I just don't get dressing up like a pirate to part of the gang. I picked up this old ricer CB750F1 and having a blast making it something other than intended. Aftermarket parts are a dime a dozen and I'll save a bit on gas in between Cobra fixes.

http://gallery.me.com/cobrajunky/100...12982149580001

http://gallery.me.com/cobrajunky/100...13019373090001