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I picked up a new bike yesterday.
I wandered back into the Harley dealership on Sunday afternoon to look at something to ride for long distance. I was looking at the new Road Kings when the salesman had to go out to the shop with another customer and left me all alone in a room full of shiny motorcycles.
What could possibly go wrong?
After sitting on a bunch of new 2018 bikes that looked a lot like the 2017 bikes, I spotted a good-looking machine with an interesting number on the engine that wasn't dressed up like a shark or a bat or a seal. Hmm, it didn't look like they had finished painting it yet but it had the new 114 engine in it, not the 107 like the other bikes. I thought, "Maybe it's a marketing thing and you get to pick the color you want them to paint it after you buy it."
When the salesman came back, I was informed that it was a completely new model for 2018 that was, indeed, painted and that it was a new "Red Denim" finish, not "Primer Coat". Silly me....
So, I went for a test ride and bought it on the spot. After buying a broke-back bike from Yamaha and being told, "Gee, that's too bad about the frame, you should get that fixed!" I left my new bike at the dealer overnight for the mechanics to do the final delivery prep, then I picked it up Monday morning and went riding.
Naturally, the first thing I did was take it up one of my favorite local roads, Black Canyon. Yes, the footboards scraped on a few corners but the new frame just worked with that 114" engine to put a grin on my face.
2018 Heritage Classic 114 FLHCS
I discovered that the footboards have a little metal stud that makes noise when you lean a little too far, like the pad wear sensor on disk brakes. It sounds scary when they scrape but the boards fold up and there's still plenty of lean angle left once you figure out what's been hitting the road. I should put a couple of urethane skateboard wheels on there.
Left side
Right side
At 80 MPH, the engine's just beginning to think about 3K so the RPM limit's kind of moot. The front forks are adequate for a ~700 lb light street cruiser but they dive on hard braking and they're not adjustable unless you take them apart and change the guts. The new softail frame does have a hydraulically adjustable monoshock that I haven't messed with yet. There are 5 numbered lines for more or less weight but it works fine the way it came dialed out to "1" for a solo rider so I left it alone. I rode out to the beach and through a lot more twisties on Decker Canyon and Mulholland Highway, then split traffic on the freeway most of the way home.
The engine idles around 850 RPM. The gas tank has a real gas cap and a fake gas cap, I need to get one of those ubiquitous skull decals to mark the fake one so I don't try to put gas in it.
The beach looks pretty good.
Hey, my bike looks pretty good too!
After a few days of riding, there are no oil leaks.
My new favorite picture is my new bike parked in my driveway.
I wandered back into the Harley dealership on Sunday afternoon to look at something to ride for long distance. I was looking at the new Road Kings when the salesman had to go out to the shop with another customer and left me all alone in a room full of shiny motorcycles.
What could possibly go wrong?
After sitting on a bunch of new 2018 bikes that looked a lot like the 2017 bikes, I spotted a good-looking machine with an interesting number on the engine that wasn't dressed up like a shark or a bat or a seal. Hmm, it didn't look like they had finished painting it yet but it had the new 114 engine in it, not the 107 like the other bikes. I thought, "Maybe it's a marketing thing and you get to pick the color you want them to paint it after you buy it."
When the salesman came back, I was informed that it was a completely new model for 2018 that was, indeed, painted and that it was a new "Red Denim" finish, not "Primer Coat". Silly me....
So, I went for a test ride and bought it on the spot. After buying a broke-back bike from Yamaha and being told, "Gee, that's too bad about the frame, you should get that fixed!" I left my new bike at the dealer overnight for the mechanics to do the final delivery prep, then I picked it up Monday morning and went riding.
Naturally, the first thing I did was take it up one of my favorite local roads, Black Canyon. Yes, the footboards scraped on a few corners but the new frame just worked with that 114" engine to put a grin on my face.
2018 Heritage Classic 114 FLHCS
I discovered that the footboards have a little metal stud that makes noise when you lean a little too far, like the pad wear sensor on disk brakes. It sounds scary when they scrape but the boards fold up and there's still plenty of lean angle left once you figure out what's been hitting the road. I should put a couple of urethane skateboard wheels on there.
Left side
Right side
At 80 MPH, the engine's just beginning to think about 3K so the RPM limit's kind of moot. The front forks are adequate for a ~700 lb light street cruiser but they dive on hard braking and they're not adjustable unless you take them apart and change the guts. The new softail frame does have a hydraulically adjustable monoshock that I haven't messed with yet. There are 5 numbered lines for more or less weight but it works fine the way it came dialed out to "1" for a solo rider so I left it alone. I rode out to the beach and through a lot more twisties on Decker Canyon and Mulholland Highway, then split traffic on the freeway most of the way home.
The engine idles around 850 RPM. The gas tank has a real gas cap and a fake gas cap, I need to get one of those ubiquitous skull decals to mark the fake one so I don't try to put gas in it.
The beach looks pretty good.
Hey, my bike looks pretty good too!
After a few days of riding, there are no oil leaks.
My new favorite picture is my new bike parked in my driveway.
It'd be nice to have a set though so I'm going to keep an eye on eBay, some knucklehead will be selling 'em off to make a buck and buy leather bags with bells and fringes or to make a bobber/flat track/cafe/whatever out of a touring frame. I don't see them listed in the catalog but you have to be able to buy them without a motorcycle preattached at the factory.
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