Buying my first Harley

For those of you that have been around Harley’s for so long, I thought it might be entertaining to read about how a newbie went about choosing and buying my first Harley.

I’m not really a newbie when it comes to motorcycles and biking. I’ve owned and ridden bikes since I was 12 years old. 2 years ago, I got this urge to own a Harley. To feel the thump th-thump rumble of a large bore V-Twin. Since I was young, I’ve seen people riding Harleys around town and around the country. To see the way those bikes torque out of corners was always alluring to me. I’ve had this urge all of my life, but spent the first 54 years of my life riding everything but Harley’s. I’ve had dirt bikes, motocross, street, Honda and Yamaha cruisers, Ducati sport bikes, but no Harleys. I started on a search for the perfect Harley. I absolutely love riding all types of bikes. So choosing the right Harley was going to be difficult. I quickly found out that there are so many kinds of Harleys… many are custom and modified to suit. I worked at a Yamaha dealer in late 70s and being the best shop in town, I was fortunate to be able to ride all sorts of bikes. I appreciate every one of them for their individual abilities. The quickest bike ever… Suzuki GT750 water buffalo 2-stroke triple! I also dabbled in stock car racing, so you see… one thing that I knew was that I wanted the sound and feel of a performance motor.

I went online and started reading everything I could get my hands on, learning the years, engines, models and individual traits of each model. That’s when I found HDFORUMS.com. What a fantastic resource. I learned what bikes people were customizing, what was popular, issues for particular years, motors, etc. I matched that up with what I personally like. In the beginning, I decided that I what I wanted was a slightly custom Harley with a large displacement motor (CVO?), something that I could ride for longer trips as well as shorter ones. I loved the look of the CVO Breakout, the Fat Boy, Wide Glide the 2011 CVO dyna, even the Convertibles. I considered buying a bike and getting a HiPo crate motor. After considering the entire drive train, decided against that. I read all about the CVO 110 issues and heat problems, but love the feel of that extra power. I live in Oregon so the heat issue is not as bad here.

Next up: Test rides

First of all, Harley dealers are the best when it comes to test riding their bikes and taking with them about ownership. They want you to feel good about your purchase and to become part of the community. Of course, they’ll sell you whatever you want, but they are there to help first and foremost. Harley ownership was feeling good even before I bought my first bike! After riding a couple of bikes, I quickly found differences in the twin cam motors. I like to feel the vibrations at idle and love the quick initial take off I feel on the motors without the balancers. I love the looks of the softails, but the vibration free motor wasn’t for me. To each their own. I felt that the softail was great for around town and lighter touring. That combined with a custom look and possibly a CVO motor was looking pretty good. I asked about customizing the suspension and handling, especially when riding 2-up with my wife. I am willing to do some customization… I really pained myself over customization, fixing the little things (every bike has their own peculiarities…). I was looking at the convertibles (CVO softail, Dyna convertible). All of the customizations were starting to add up. It’s amazing how much you can spend once you start making changes! Used bikes with customizations already installed were looking pretty good. But with that option, you really need to find one exactly like you want it, a difficult task.

Here is where I was at after riding a bunch of bikes. I like the looks of many of the softails, I like the handling of the dynas, I like footboards for touring comfort, I like the ability to custom suit the bike for my needs, I like strong motors and I love the feel of the “A” unbalanced motors. I wanted a bike that I could easily put saddlebags and touring gear on. Footboards were a must. Custom look… fantastic. Quick release options, love that. I am planning to ride the bike in town, around the country side, and around the country for long touring rides. I was thinking that it would be about 50/50 for day rides vs. longer touring.

Now I needed to decide which bike, as a base, to go. HDFORUMS.com… I can’t say enough good things about the resources available there. After literally months of research, thinking, reading, looking at aftermarket and what I could do myself, and riding many bikes… I took a ride on a late model FLHPI police bike. You see, I was staying away from the touring (larger) bikes.

Wow, I absolutely loved the handling, the solid feel of the full sized and suspended Harley. In an instant, I knew it was the bike for me. Impressions, power was down, I like having some electronics, but the full dash was a bit much for me, I love the handling and suspension, the reach and feel was pretty close, I like footboards for longer trips. I rode more bikes and couldn’t find one that felt better to me. I love the 110 power, I know about the issues that some people have, but even though, I get the most out of motors, I am actually pretty easy on them. The heat could be an issue… more on that later…

10 things I learned:

I love to feel the V-Twin torque and feel of the A motor
Handling was important to me
Floorboards or ability to mount full size ones
1 and 2-up riding
Must look good
Ability to run full size saddlebags and a tour pack (bonus)
Good for day rides as well as long touring trips
I like the convertible capability to run as a town bike too
I love power and the feel of power
I like a custom look

Then along came the 2013 CVO Road King and I fell in love with it. I had ridden enough Road Kings to know that the changes on it would be a good. The 19-inch front, the slightly lowered suspension and seat height (I am 5-8), the extra power, the electronics, all were changes that I would do. The bling was definitely a bonus.

Home for the first time:

The ride home was amazing. Running through the gears, the powerful brakes. The thu-thump, thump, thu-thump, it’s intoxicating. I’ve got to say, learning how to ride the big Harley well, was a new experience. I let bikes tell me how to ride them. I find that if I ride them how they like to run, I get immense joy and get to sit back and enjoy the ride. The first lesson, how to turn. It takes some butt action and some intentional turn in with the handlebars. Fairly fast runs on sweeping corners and long stretches of road are what this bike loves. You settle it in, get on the correct arc through the corners, look way ahead and slice it through. For the longer straights, you drive a lot with your right thumb… on the cruise control. I believe this is why it’s called a Road King. It loves burning up lots of asphalt… the kind of miles that motorcycle roads are made of…

I get the first service out of the way, add fully synthetic all around, take a bunch of local rides, I then plan for a 2,500-mile adventure. Seeking sunny weather, I head for Needles, CA where my father was born. Southbound on I-5 through Oregon was a lesson in riding smooth around the curves, shifting without too much noise and easing the throttle off the line. I use my previous lessons and use my butt to lean and a smooth arc through corners. Using these techniques saves a lot of energy over the long haul. After getting into California, I get away from the interstate and learn to appreciate the ability to put lots of miles between stops. With the 6-gallon tank, I really need to plan better between stops because I can go 230-250 miles between stops easily. Speaking of miles, I actually love the new fangled windshield vent. I aim it directly at my face and all the buffeting goes away. Just clean air. I hear that for taller people it doesn’t work so well. But for me, it’s fantastic. On this trip, I get to try the interstates, the mountain roads, passes across the Sierras, desert straights, and some old route 66 roads. On the way back, November hit me. 500 miles of hard rain and high gusty winds thru the Mojave Desert had me high five waving at the few bikers venturing out. I had to stop for waterproof gloves along the way.

I’ve got the 110ci motor and it likes to jump a little on starts and on slow turns (I am hoping that removing the cat and a good tune will fix this for me). In the meantime, I just concentrate smoothing out the right wrist and occasionally using the clutch a bit. This 110ci motor loves it right around 3500 to 4000 RPM. Torque max is at 3750 and you can really feel it. Cruise control was spot on. One click adds one MPH. Love that drive by wire technology for cruise control. But in real life riding, I tend to like the immediate analog feedback of throttle on cable that I grew up with. The hydraulic clutch can barely be felt, but I can feel the assist as downshifts are smooth and predicable. Shifting on the Road King is an art. You must engage the clutch to prevent that ‘clunk’ of metal from neutral to first. No problem, just move the shift lever slightly, holding, then shift. No sounds, clean engagement. Shifting through the gears up and down is not so consistent and I haven’t yet figured out how to be smooth and quite when shifting. Sometimes, it’s great, and I can go all the way through the gears without so much as a click. But other times, I am a mess. It must be me. More miles?

The weather is much hotter in the southern California desert and I start to understand the issue with the 110 heat on my right leg. Just a hint that I don’t fully appreciate until next July when in stop and go traffic in 97 degree heat on the freeway. I buy the heat deflectors and that does help quite a bit, more to come I am sure. There are cylinder/head fans, remove cat system, custom tuning… it’s a huge can of worms.

After 1 year of owning the 2013 CVO Road King

13,000 miles on her
Solo rack to mount my tank bag when riding solo
Installed the tour pack and top rack with bag for adequate luggage when with my wife
Plastic paint protector on saddlebags and side panels eases getting on and off the rear seat
Mustang Touring Seat (lowered ½ inch and narrowed front) my perfect seat is now even better!
Kuryakyn adjustable passenger pegs, my wife loves this one
Harley passenger footboards
Kuryakyn passenger grab rails, nothing spared to make my wife comfortable
Powerlet adapters
RAM Handlebar mount GPS
iPhone Navigon GPS with maps
GoPro mount and USB power
1 new handgrip (warranty)
38 MPG low, 50 high, 44 overall MPG overall average

More to come:

Remove Cat
Tune to smooth out the motor and reduce heat
Possibly get accessory head fans
Frame mount GoPro
New rear tire (done)
Get to 20 and 30,000 miles!

What did I learn from this experience and after owning and riding a Harley? Just buy one. It doesn’t matter which one. Buy one, ride it like you stole it and then buy another one… They all have their own personality and yours will too. You’ll change it and it will change you… the sooner the better… 🙂

Here are some pics of where Linda and I been on our Road King.

Amboy on Route 66, the road is rough, but worth it

Arches National Park was hot

I love the clouds at Bedrock Colorado

The Grand Staircase-Escalante was amazing!!!

Lassen Peak Hwy 89. Get the lifetime pass and all National Parks are included!

Middlegate Station. I met cross county bicyclists and motorcyclists on the loneliest highway 50

The long house at Mesa Verde. Sightseeing was as fun as the roads there. Take the tour. It’s worth it.

San Juan Inn at Mexican Hat

Silverton Harley on the Million Dollar Highway in Colorado.

Moki Dugway… Keep your eyes on the road… J

Everyone was just excited to see Monument Valley. Those are people jumping up and down in the road!

Breakfast at the Black Bear Diner in Mount Shasta

Highway 101 on the Oregon Coast

There are many passes over the Sierra Madres. This one goes to Lake Isabella

Too many people on Tioga Pass, but you’ll just stop and hang out anyway.