Harley Demo Rides with Friends

This morning we met up with a friend of ours and headed out to one of the local Harley dealers where the demo fleet was doing rides for a few days.  I have to say that I have never been a big fan of Harleys for a couple of reasons.  First, I'd been a passenger on a few Harleys and always felt as if my fillings were going to jarred right out of my teeth.  Second, the practical side of me knows that they are over priced because you're paying for the name.  Often you can get a metric cruiser of equal caliber for considerably less than what you would pay for a bare bones Harley.  Finally, I'm not a designer kind of gal, it doesn't matter to me what label is on my possessions as long as they fit and serve me well.  So I don't "need" a Harley to be a biker.

All that being said, before today, my only other experience riding a Harley was a demo ride on a V-rod several years ago at the AMA conference in WV.  Back then the V-rod was so different from the standard Harley that it almost wasn't a Harley, in fact, some dyed in the wool HD riders looked down their noses at the V-rod, saying it wasn't "really" a Harley.  Anyway.......

The lines for the demo rides were pretty short today because the big shindig was yesterday, so we were able to ride pretty much whatever we wanted.  Right away I was drawn to the Street Bob for the lines and color scheme.  Unfortunately, I think it's intended for a shorter rider because when my feet were on the pegs, my knees felt as if they were under my chin.  Looking around, the next bike that got my attention was the Wide Glide so that was my first demo.

Starting the Wide Glide I got the expected vibration although not quite enough to unseat my fillings.  What I didn't expect was how quickly the bike got up and moved as I eased out the clutch.  That was a nice surprise since I expected a clunky slow start.  The bike was amazingly well balanced with plenty of umph and responded well to every rider input.  Highway speeds were a bit different without a shield but the ride was smooth and enjoyable.

After returning to the dealer, I looked around at the other bikes for demo and kept being drawn to one particular bike.  I was hesitant to ride it because of the rather large fairing and floorboards on it, I had never ridden a bike with floorboards or a fairing like that and felt a bit intimidated by it.  Eventually desire won out over intimidation and I signed up to ride the CVO Street Glide.  What a sweet ride!  Smooth, considerably less vibration than the Wide Glide and handled like a dream.  The floorboards would take some getting used to as would the heel/toe shifter, the fairing was no issue as all.  The only thing that didn't work for me on this bike was the width of the seat which bothered my hips when putting my feet down at a stop.

I still love my VTX and I'm not ready to give her up, however for the first time, I can actually see myself on a Harley.  Don't look for that to happen any time in the near future my friends, I still don't believe I can get past the sticker shock.  Yet if someone gave it to me I wouldn't turn it down :-)

All in all it was a really fun time with Scuter and Deb with an early dinner afterwards.   Great time catching up and riding together again.