Harley to sell in India

Harley-Davidson to sell motorcycles in India

By DAN STRUMPF (AP) – 6 hours ago

NEW YORK — Harley-Davidson Inc. said Thursday it will begin selling motorcycles next year in India, the world's second-largest motorcycle market, where the company hopes its iconic, heavyweight bikes will find a niche among the country's rising middle class.

The Milwaukee-based company said it has established a subsidiary near Delhi and has begun scouting the country for dealers.

"Given the rapid development of India's economy and physical infrastructure, this is exactly the right time to bring the world's greatest motorcycles to one of the world's largest motorcycling nations," said Mark Levatich, Harley's chief operating officer, in a statement.

India is the world's largest market for motorcycles behind China, but it is overwhelmingly dominated by smaller, inexpensive bikes used primarily for transportation, said Dilip Chenoy, director general of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

Still, Harley said the country's growing economy, rising middle class and expanded highway construction has created a market for leisure motorcycle riders.

"Motorbikes, scooters in India are family commuting bikes," Chenoy said. "They tend to be more robustly built and the focus is on fuel economy, but there is an increasing market for leisure and high-end bikes which is beginning to happen here in India."

The move marks Harley's latest push into developing markets overseas, where it hopes rising incomes and the company's strong brand identity will spur sales and help offset flagging business at home.

International sales have made up a growing part of Harley's business. In 2008, motorcycle shipments in the U.S. fell 15 percent to 206,000 units while international shipments climbed 9 percent to 97,107.

Shares of Harley-Davidson closed Wednesday at $21.95. The stock has gained 29 percent since the start of the year, as investors begin to see a recovery in demand after a wrenching drop in sales during the U.S. recession.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Installing a jet kit on a Kawasaki Vulcan 800.

This process is what I had to do on my 2002 Kawasaki Vulcan Drifter 800. It should be the same for all 800 models from what I can tell. Also, some Harley Davidson bikes use this same carb, or a very similar one from the same manufacturer, so this should help the Harley crowd out as well.

I used a DynoJet jet kit part# 2186. I have a K&N filter and Hard - Krome pipes on the bike. For the most part, any jet kit you get will be done exactly like this.

Your first order of business is to remove the carb from the bike. Sorry I do not have a write up for that but it wasn't that hard.

With the carb off the bike take it to a work bench or table. There will be some springs and smaller parts so don't do it over grass or gravel or something silly where you'd lose a part if it fell to the ground. Or maybe stopping in the middle of your product to crawl around on the ground for an hour looking for a part the size of a needle is your thing?

Now, let the fun begin!

Needle Installation

The first step in removing the needle is to remove the black plastic cover, outlined in yellow in the image. It's held in by 4 phillips head screws. Be sure to use the correct size screwdriver on these. Mine were a little tight and I could see these being a possible disaster is you stripped them.

Once the cover is off here is what you'll see.

Remove the spring, shown above, and the vacuum piston, shown below. Inside the vacuum piston there will also be a needle and a plastic needle holder.

This is what you should be left with.

In this picture I've outlined in yellow, the needle, and needle holder. The vacuum piston is the item in the upper right corner of my work mat.

Next you'll take the new needle, spacers, and e-clip, included with the jet kit, and follow the instructions. The new needle will have several grooves cut into the top of it. For my application, it called for an e-clip in the #3 groove with 2 washers resting on top of it.

You can now reassemble the vacuum piston, needle, needle holder and cover. The installation is simply the opposite of removal.

Jet Installation

Now for the installation of the new jet.

First, turn the carb upside down and locate the 4 phillips head screws, circled in yellow below, holding the float bowl on. Remove the screws using the proper screw driver making sure not to strip them.

Once the screws are removed simply remove the float bowl. Below is what the carb will look like with the float bowl removed. I've circled the jet in yellow.

The old jet is easily removed using an open wrench and the new jet is simply screwed right back into the same threads the old one came out of. Some kits come with different size jets so be sure to read the instruction to determine what jet to use. The jet size should be stamped right on the jet.

Put the float bowl back on and secure it with the 4 screws and move onto the next item.

Pilot (Fuel Mixture) Screw Adjustment

The final step to the jet kit install is to adjust your pilot screw. If you skip this step you'll have a very poor running bike.

First, turn the carb upside down and locate the metal mixture screw cap ,circled in yellow in the next two pictures. Once the cap is located drill a hole in it (the jet kit comes with the drill bit). NOTE: STOP DRILLING THE SECOND IT GETS THROUGH THE CAP OR YOU'LL DAMAGE THE MIXTURE SCREW UNDER IT!

Next screw a screw (the jet kit came with a screw) into the hole, just enough to bite into the cap.

The yellow box in the picture below shows the screw in the hole.

Next, use a pair of pliers to grab onto the screw and pull. The cap should pop right off with ease.

Once the cap is off adjust the screw per your instructions.

Ta-da! Your new jet kit is in and all that is left to do is toss the carb back on and enjoy a smooth running bike!