It's 2010 .... and I'm searching for a bike to do some miles... lots of miles on. The previous year I bought an Indian Chief, but I'm not sure this is 'the' bike I want to do stupid miles on . No Cruise, it's got a hard mounted motor, and I've done some mod's that make me question it's reliability. It'll turn out there are no reliability issues, putting over 20k miles on it today but yet ... I found myself looking.
First bike I looked at was a Victory Cross Country. I didn't like the modern crash bars on it. I hadn't come around to liking the fairing yet (I'm a fan today). And something as simple as the tank logo, didn't appeal to me. What I didn't' realize I was passing up was a superb bike with lots of roominess and a solid motor. I passed
Next bike I looked at was a Rocket III tourer. Though I have a 'classic' model today, I wasn't sure what to think at the time. The bike felt 'short' to me. I didn't understand why there was a huge power difference between the touring and the other models which had 25% more power. And.. I something about the look .. I didn't buy into. I had no clue what I was passing up. My wife loves our Rocket III today. SMOOTH POWER! So back then, I passed.
Harley Davidson. Up to this point I was never a huge fan. But, I traded a car for a high mileage Ultra Classic and starting to rethink about HDs. I quickly yanked off the trunk from the Ultra, found
 |
| My first HD . Ultra that I stripped down then traded for current bike |
a Big Daddy seat to allow me to stretch out, extended out the shifter peg and brake arm ..and .. I could live with it. That bike was loaded with thousands in chrome and would haul ass with a 95" big bore kit but ... deep down.. I didn't trust it. And still, overall the bike felt small to me. I'd rode a Road King and wasn't a fan. The Steet Glides were everywhere and they felt small to me. Also, they seemed to be dime a dozen and not the way I go normally. But the Road Glide. They
 |
| Sat on just about everything in the store.. and ... found the one |
were unpoplar and still scarce in the big picture. A lot of folks don't like the 'shark nose'. However, I do. It pushes away from the handlbars , pushing forwards giving you more room. It gives the illusion of the bike being much larger than it is, even though it's the same friggn' bike at the core as the RK and SG. I liked it. There weren't many colors out in '11 that I like so .... black it was. My plan was to ride the wheels off this thing so I optioned with out with Screaming Eagle this and Screaming Eagle that. SE air cleaner. D&D 2 int 1 Exhaust... and .. a 7 year total
 |
| Got my 'free' hat after dropping stupid $. Day 1 and I'm off! |
 |
| Had the bike for a month and already swapped out the windshield. I need to see if I've still got this buried somewhere and put it back on |
|
warranty. I don't remember how much that bike cost me but seems like it was up around 28k or so by the time I rode it home. But, I wasn't content. Put some SE255 cams in it. Gave that 103" a great pull on the highway. Some
Daylighter LEDs to light up the night. Some extended bags to give it a better overall look. Custom wheels; 21" up front and one on the back to hold a 200 tire. Told myself I wouldn't throw money at it, but here I was doing just that. One day I rode up to discuss new shocks to replace the OEM air shocks so I didn't have to screw with them anymore and Joe Crumpton is outside American Iron smiling. He's just installed a custom Air Suspension on the rear have moving up and down, in heaven. Really? Damned it... you know what the next project now was! But still one last problem. It's black, like 95% of all other HDs. So, we go in for the custom paint. A deep, dark purple with ghost flames and skulls. Now, she's set apart. But not quite 'badass". In '13 we are in Sturgis and a guy rolls up next to me with a pretty radical motor. Lucy's asking me why his sounds better than ours.
 |
| Texas Hill Country |
"It's the cams baby .. he's got bad ass cams" . She immediately says "WE need some bad ass cams " ... so .. it's game on. When we get back to TX I head down to the dealer and discuss the game plane. I realize we need to bump it up for what I want to do so we start working a 110" plan with radical cams, etc. When we get it all on paper and I ask the guy at the desk "what would you do if this was YOUR bike?' Looks up and say's " I'd drop a fucking 120R in it" without blinking. Interesting. I ask why not a 131R or 135R? Heat. For reliability 120R is the best option. So, I say to him the inevitable. "Well, lets drop a fucking 120R in it!" .. and we did. And that, is the bike I have today. Dyno's at 132HP to that rear tire and 136 ft lbs or torque. And the mapping still, isn't perfect. Can't imagine how she's going to fly when that's fixed.
 |
| Day I picked it up with new paint job from Strokers |
I don't ever plan on selling it due to the stupid cash spent on it; I'd never see a fraction of it back. Problem is .. I have a passion for Indian Motorcycles and once I got my Indian Chieftain back in '13 it's taken over as my 'go to' bike for road trips and 2 up riding. The RG got relegated to the back corner of the garage. I'd taken it to Daytona in '16 and LSR in '15. Apparently I didn't do a great job cleaning it up because I ended up with a lot of corrosion on various parts. So much that I didn't want to ride it anymore. Last month that problem was solved. I dropped it off at a local shop and had a full service done on it and swapped out several key components with new ones drenched in fresh chrome. And it's back. I've got a few more parts on order to do some upgrades myself and I need to get it to a local tuner to fine tune the SE tuner map once and for all. But, it's ready to be ridden this summer. Time to smoke some fattys. I may have to pull some of my ol' HD shirts back out of storage. Well.... the ones that fit. But thats....another story.
 |
| Doing miles in Eureka Springs AR area |
 |
| One of Lucy's fav' bikes |
 |
| Lucy's HD |
 |
| Current pic. Looking Good ! |
Daylighter LEDs to light up the night. Some extended bags to give it a better overall look. Custom wheels; 21" up front and one on the back to hold a 200 tire. Told myself I wouldn't throw money at it, but here I was doing just that. One day I rode up to discuss new shocks to replace the OEM air shocks so I didn't have to screw with them anymore and Joe Crumpton is outside American Iron smiling. He's just installed a custom Air Suspension on the rear have moving up and down, in heaven. Really? Damned it... you know what the next project now was! But still one last problem. It's black, like 95% of all other HDs. So, we go in for the custom paint. A deep, dark purple with ghost flames and skulls. Now, she's set apart. But not quite 'badass". In '13 we are in Sturgis and a guy rolls up next to me with a pretty radical motor. Lucy's asking me why his sounds better than ours. 
Comments