Recently (10/2005) purchased a 2005 Big Dog Chopper. I have ridden a H-D Road King for 6 years, had over 60K trouble free miles and do a lot of long distance riding. I wanted something different, that being a chopper. I narrowed the field down to the Big Dog and the American Iron Horse. I must...
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Recently (10/2005) purchased a 2005 Big Dog Chopper. I have ridden a H-D Road King for 6 years, had over 60K trouble free miles and do a lot of long distance riding. I wanted something different, that being a chopper. I narrowed the field down to the Big Dog and the American Iron Horse. I must say, for looks and first impressions, the Iron Horse wins hands down. I was initially leaning that way. Reviews were positive for both bikes and manufacturers. I finally made my decision based on two items. One was handling. I teach the MSF course and I was an instructor for Police Motorcycle Operator course. So, to me, handling and manuverablility was an important issue. When it came to handling, the Big Dog won hands down. I rode the American Iron Horse and liked the straight line ride, but you had to really focus and set up your turns and corners. The AIH does not to lean for turns. The Big Dog has no problem and while it takes a little getting used to and you need to think about your curves, it handled more like a convential bike than any other chopper style I had ridden. I was even able to make the 20' box (one of the range exercises where a figure 8 is completed within a twenty foot wide rectangle), with the Big Dog Chopper. Nothing on the left side even touched and on the right side, the bottom of the lower pipe would contact when really leaned over. The box was not possible on the AIH. On the left side, the kick stand really dragged as soon as you leaned left and the frame contacted on the right side.
The second consideration was the dealer. I had done my research and read as many reviews as I could find. I found a number of dealers who were offering the same bikes (both Big Dog and AIH) at considerably less pricing. The AIH dealer would not consider even coming close to other prices and even insinuated that purchasing a bike elsewhere would jeopardize service because there would be no dealer / customer loyalty. On the other hand, the Big Dog Dealer was more than willing to match other dealer prices. Not only that, but the dealership even went so far as to say that any Big Dog, regardless of place of purchase, would be welcomed for servicing and after market needs. The Big Dog dealer said to find the lowest price any dealer had to offer, bring it in and they would make every effort to meet it, which they did. They really went out of their way to make the customer feel like they were willing to work with them and provide the best service possible, before and after the sale.
Another thing I liked about the Big Dog was the custom windshield. Because I do long distance riding (often 1,000 plus miles straight, stopping only for gas), I like having a windshield for those long trips. Big Dog offers several windshields maded specifically for the Chopper. It looks nice on the bike and comes off quickly. AIH doesn't offer a windshield and the only thing the dealer could recommend was to "rig" something up using a generic windshield.
So, now with 500 miles on the bike it is ready for it's first service. Everything has worked smoothly, I have been impressed with the looks, feel, performance and handling. Now, only 95K miles left before I get another...
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