I know, and I did not fully read my HD manual (or Fractal manual) either from cover to cover ;~)) We are both sinners!! RTFMAN (read the fine manual as needed)!!!Uhh oh I didn't read my Fractal manual only referred to it here and there when I was stumped
That's a great looking paint set! Way better than the stock grey/black for the 100th Anniv.!!
That's a great looking paint set! Way better than the stock grey/black for the 100th Anniv.!!
Here is a pic of my two babies:
Now that 100th Anniversary paint job (gold and black with 22K gold inlay pinstripes on SE Deuce above) was good IMO! Although the stock seat was one of the worst I have ever sat on, so I designed the one pictured above and had Corbin build it! Only other mods on that one are ignition module, SE racing pipes, Arlen Ness mirrors (the stock ones were butt ugly). As mentioned previously, wanted to upgrade the wheels on order, but they would not let me, so left the stock ones on.
The springer has ~120,000 miles on it and the Deuce about 17,000. All done during the course of 7 years of riding including 3 cross country tours.
Not a color you see much for some reason, though.
My first tour is the only one I can really speak to on miles per day because the total numbers are etched in my head for life! 13,293 miles over 9 weeks which comes out to 211 miles per day. It was a childhood bucket list item that I was lucky enough to be able to do at an age where I was still pretty young. I bought my Springer new from dealership, put 500 miles on locally, had break in maintenance done at orig dealer and left on tour. That springer looked like Jed Clampets truck, with stuff bungie strapped all over it (and bags full, luggage rack full, etc.)! Each day I learned better how to pack and balance the loads. Routine was, pack up camp (I only stayed under a roof when at Mom's house for a few days and a friends house for 2 days in Atlanta, all other days were camping), hit the road (with printed maps - 2 lane country highways only except going through TX where I put on 98% of my ~1,000 interstate miles - New Orleand to El Paso in one day, longest riding day ever) heading towards places that looked interesting, stop at a greasy spoon in some little town for lunch, ride until about 2 hours prior to sundown and then start figuring out where I would camp that night. At times it was in a farmers field as I was not near enough to any official resting spots. Once I found my spot, pick up a six pack, some food, set up camp, build fire, eat and drink my fill, many nights write a song, go to sleep, get up, rinse and repeat! Best vacation of my life and I have been to a couple of dozen countries and had some very nice travel experiences, but this one took the cake (and I ate it too)!!!! Did the Martin Guitar factory tour, Rolling Rock beer visit (Latrobe, PA), Graceland, half a dozen Dylan shows in cities throughout midwest, visited friends and family across the country, had my golf clubs shipped to a few locations so I could swing the clubs at certain points, did Sturgis rally (will NEVER do it again, great riding country but horrible time to ride there), etc. An epic journey by my standards and to this day (and when I first started writing this post) I get chills thinking about it!!!!!!! I highly recommend you plan something similar before you get to retirement age! I know this is more than you asked for, but I love telling the story ;~))Man, I love Gold on a Harley for some reason.
How many miles per day did you average on your cross country tours?
Congrats @la szum , that is a FINE looking ride! Safe cruises to you and keep the bugs outta your teeth!
Amsoil! I was turned on to it by some friends who race bikes and they swore by it. After researching it a bit, I committed to it! That was 20+ years ago though and I have not ridden in 15, so not sure if the purchase hoo-ha is still the same. Used to be, you had to sign up as a member of the "club" or some sh!t before you could buy, and then whoever referred you got a kick back or some sh!t! Whatever the case is, it is worth it IMO and friends who still race still use it on their track machines and touring bikes.Epic, Moondog! Epic!
Can I ask what you run for fluids? Specific brand?
Thanks.
Thing is though, you don't need to change it as often. Considering you bike is no longer under warranty, you don't have to worry about that being voided for not being able to prove you changed it as often as required under warranty. I basically doubled the length of time that the usual oil change recommendation was from HD, and just changed the filter on that schedule. So filter, filter and oil, filter, filter and oil was my routine. Unless you are living in Arizona or some other really hot place, I think you will be fine with a similar routine ;~)) Glad you were able to find it at the hardware store, used to be a PITA!!Haha! Nice. I bought Amsoil V Twin 20W50 at the local hardware for $15 a quart! Bring on the days of the $80 oil change.
I had a lift (that went under frame so easy to work on wheel stuff) and it did wonders for cleaning those spoked wheels ;~)) You will probably buy one eventually, great to have around!Made a new friend yesterday who has a lift and is going to let me use it to do all the fluids. Biker Brotherhood!
A frame lift makes cleaning wheels SO much easier. Especially the rear.
Remember though with most frame lifts, if you take one of the wheels off (or anything of weight from front or back), you better be sure you have the other wheel supported with a block or jack stand or something otherwise that weight difference could cause it to tip forward (if rear wheel removed) or backward (if front wheel removed). Don't ask me how I know ;~))
The frame lift jack I have is tiny compared to that one. It is a bit like a standard jack that you roll under a car, but it has a pair of bars rather than a circular plate that contacts the frame. Point is, you can easily fit into any garage, the type I am talking about as it is a 10th of the size of the one pictured here. I think they are around $200 or so, so does not break the bank either. That one right there is BadA$$ though!!!I may look for a frame lift/jack in the future. Have to make more room in the garage before I can do that.
One I am going to use, courtesy of a friend, looks like this.
Good term, weeble wobble! Hence my previous post about bracing front or rear when removing weight from the other end!! May not be your cup of tea, but it served me well ;~))I saw those weeble wobble frame jacks, Moondog.
$150 at Harbor Freight.
