No one snubbed me on my old ride. One chick at one bar yelled out as I was kicking my 650 to sart it that’s **cked up. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeverybody else was cool.

I used turning 50 as an excuse to buy a new toy for myself. This bike came back from a dealer in Amytville New York who went out of business and didn’t sell it.(That is the story anyway.) I looked at the Road King, Yamaha Roadliners(wife) and Wicked Customs out of Florida. I hate wrenching and wanted a warranty.

This winter was the third worst on record in Kansas. Low temperatures and snow on the ground. I still managed to put 2,500 miles on this winter. Last weekend was the closest to good weather we have had. Took the bike to Cassoday Sunday Breakfast ride 100 miles away. Rode back and still had not had enough saddle time. Spent the rest of the day riding.

I was worried about saddle time with the rigid frame. Not anymore. The bike is great around town here and even better on all the two lane asphat roads in the Flint Hills.

How are the others guy’s treating me now that I have a newer bike? Exactly the same man. Yeah I get the “nice bike” at intersections from cagers and look over from the other riders in the parking lot. Okay really it is an attention whore

Mostly I am just smiling because I am not at work and I am riding.

FYI:

(1) Conrad has absolutely no ownership position here (Desperado Motorcycles or Jeff Nicklus Customs) so it is not his “bustling bike business”
(2) Conrad is my Son and works here during his off time from college.
(3) In reference to your comment about the “Bustling bike business” …. actually we (Desperado Motorcycles ) are doing better, from a business stand point, than we have at anytime in the last two years. We have started rehiring laid off employees (6 to date) and orders have more than tripled in the last two months. No, it isn’t as good as it was once but I would venture to say none of the other big guys are doing any hiring currently.
(4) Conrad’s opinions or statement of fact(s) are strictly his opinion(s) and his comments are not necessarily the opinion of either myself personally or the corporate position of any my company’s.
(5) Conrad does build about 10 bikes a year on his own for friends and people who request his bikes.

Just a bit of information to bring the record straight.

Over & Out,

Jeff

You seem the be the expert when it come to the very private financial health of Big Dog but you can’t even make a factual statement about something so public such as the dealers carrying the bikes.

Go back to your books and managing your bustling bike business!

The recall did cost a lot of money, both for Big Dog and Rolling Thunder and we sure have taken our licks on it over the years. However,it was both our people and their engineers who designed that model frame and the problems that arose from it. We have admitted fault and accepted blame for our part and it would be nice to see Big Dog do the same. For all the years we made frames for them (2000-2005) the recall was the only time they gave us credit for anything.

….If you owned the bike maybe your bull shit might hold water. But ill bet that your probably some broke dick sidewalk commando who just wishes he could ride or are trying to build some piece of shit in your basement for the last 5 years that will probably never run for another 5 when your done!!! see ya on the road losers!!!….

I have ridden just about everything out there, now the question is have you rode one of our bikes? Yea probably not, as I had suspected. I would say that the above quote from you is almost a challenge yet at the same time a rude comment…..????…. Anyways, as a Harley dealer I would hope you don’t mix BDM in on the mix, I know for a fact Harley would not allow that as we have had several HD dealers try to carry our bikes and HD would not allow it.

Conrad Nicklus

Actually, it wasn’t Colemans (or BDM’s) fault that all those employees lost their jobs, it was because so many guys bought bikes, Big Dogs and Harleys, that they borrowed against their homes to get and couldn’t afford to buy in the first place. Then they handed their homes back to the back, sold their bikes for half that they were worth and now NOBODY can get a loan for a bike even with a 700-800 score!!!

It isn’t BDM’s fault that those jobs were lost!

I have owned more than one Big Dog, and they ride and handle better than Harleys I have ridden. I ride my Ridgeback 400 miles to Daytona every year. Anything less than a 100-150 mile ride isn’t a ride. This new Chopper Rides and handles better thamn most production bikes on the market by far.

I’d rather push my Harley than ride a Honda.

Oh the shame that my son rides a Kawasaki.

Hate to break it to ya’, but Big Dogs are not Harleys.

We’ve got a lot of Big Dogs around here, being from Kansas and all. I have never met anyone that was unhappy with theirs. Some have had warranty issues, but I think they’ve taken care of their customers pretty well.

I really have some good memories of tooling around w/ the first Big Dog Chopper during Summer of 2002, as I remember it was Black w/ the Blue Mastiff fender on it. It was always a very enjoyable ride with its seating position and nice on the Highway with the Headlight and Tank acting to block the wind a little bit better at 80+ (Right before you had to pay attention to keeping your feet on the pegs if you were wearing Jeans). Made little kids jump for joy, and always got thumbs up. It was the best.

I’d probably buy a 2004 Chopper here in the next couple years as finances settle down. The 2004 was the year to have, with the Proprietary Air Cleaner/Coil Cover/Controls and still had a pretty good clutch with minimal lever effort. Really nice motorcycle.

Looks like this 2010 Chopper will be a nice thematic upgrade, with the Right Hand Drive and the Benefits it brings. I just hope it helps Devalue the previous Choppers also, for us bargain hunters.

Little disappointing about loosing the Balanced Drive and Hand Controls as they are Brand Identifiers for BDM Products. I can understand that Economy of Scale makes it better to use Industry-Standard parts though.

Good to see some projects and products still coming out of BDM World Headquarters.

What was the old saying ” I’d rather push my Harley than ride a Honda “. Enough said.

Good Luck to Sheldon and all the crew.

The last year Big Dog used the conventional H-D style primary and not the Balance Drive system was 2004.
I personally would not own a Balance drive system. I personally know all the problems it has.
(This bike is the same chopper that they started building in 2003 and quit building in 2007 because it wouldn’t sell. ) Not Correct

The frame recall in 2003 was for the Rolling Thunder frames ONLY. Big Dog used two frame manufactures that year Daytec and Rolling Thunder. Big Dog lost millions on the rolling Thunder frame recall. The result was Big Dog purchased robotic welders and started making most of there frames in house in Wichita Kansas. They purchased Daytec frames on a limited basis.
( hope they do a little better building the chopper frames this time as well) “Big Dog added a brace and did not repair and cracked frames”.

Who is buying a new bike right now? The used market is plentiful and extremely well priced. This bike is at least 2 years too late. I honestly don’t see how they are going to make it. They would have been better off with a super custom bagger at $22 – $25k.

Oh to Todd who hasn’t had any issues with his BD, you are fortunate. I had a 2001 Prosport that Big Dog bought back from me due to impending Lemon Law action. 30 of the first 45 days of ownership were spent at the dealer for repairs… oil leaks, starter issues, parts vibrating loose (this was a rubber mount bike to boot), and my fuel reserve wouldn’t work on the bike. I never rode the bike when it didn’t have a problem or came back with one. Worst ownership experience of my life. I will give them credit that they took the POS back, but they depreciated it 10% for the 2,000 miles i was able to get on the bike between repairs.

This is just slow death in my opinion.