Henry Rifle Forums

All my life I have had many bikes. But I had never driven a Harley !

I am now almost retired, and I wanted a "real" motorcycle, to really have fun.
I tried several harleys, and understood why many bikers only ride on harleys!

I chose a low rider 2022, 117 Ci and I plan to go on a road trip in the spring, maybe in Budapest for the 120th anniversary of harley via the HOG... or elsewhere!
I'm crazy about the low rider
What a fantastic machine .... what a dark beauty!

Nice looking bike. Congratulations on realizing a dream. Safe and fun driving.

Good lookin bike, haven't ridden any of the newer soft-tails, but
have heard from a few that they ride way better than the original soft-tails. Congrats on the new ride.
I have an older Road King. Enjoy the ride, be safe, and I'm sure you know.
Watch out for the distracted drivers.

RP

Very nice BruniX! Congratulations. Keep the shiny side up!

Vaquero wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 27, 2022 12:13 pm

Watch out for the distracted drivers.

RP

I have heard that Harley's are one of the safer bikes to ride because even if distracted drivers don't see you they are a lot more likely to hear you.

Congratulations. Great choice of Harley. My first Harley was a low rider and it served me well until I moved up to a touring bike. Now that I'm gettin older the big touring bike (over 900 lbs) is a lot to handle. The low rider (250 lbs less weight) is looking much more attractive.

Paul

Congratulations! Very nice

very nice indeed .... hopefully using it will help you build many good memories

Congratulations!! Very nice looking!
Hate to admit this but never owned a HD. Been riding 40+ years.

RIDE SAFE!!

Congratulations on the dream realized. I rode for several years in my younger days, but two close calls that WEREN'T my fault in less than two weeks put an end to my riding. I took the hint. that was back in the 70s. I haven't ridden since and it's a lot worse here these days. Two of our Motor Patrol Officers were in major accidents just before I retired, one was fatal and the other was out of commission for six months. Neither of them were at fault either.

Watch out for the other drivers, and enjoy that new bike...

BrokenolMarine wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 27, 2022 9:24 pm

Congratulations on the dream realized. I rode for several years in my younger days, but two close calls that WEREN'T my fault in less than two weeks put an end to my riding. I took the hint. that was back in the 70s. I haven't ridden since and it's a lot worse here these days. Two of our Motor Patrol Officers were in major accidents just before I retired, one was fatal and the other was out of commission for six months. Neither of them were at fault either.

Watch out for the other drivers, and enjoy that new bike...

Same here, started at 16 and rode all the time. Got my dream bike (not a Harley, a '83 Honda Sabre), hadn't even had it a year when a 80 year old woman pulled out in front of me, if I could have got up and dusted myself off I would have got back on and rode off but the bike was totaled and I was on my way to the hospital, spent 9 months off work recovering. Too many close calls before that so I haven't ridden a bike since.

Too bad I hadn't been hit by someone very wealthy. Her insurance adjuster was a nice guy and once told me if the money was there he would be offering me a million dollars to settle (1984 dollars!). She was just a little old lady widow, no lawyers involved, I just settled for her policy limit.

dave77 wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 28, 2022 12:28 am

BrokenolMarine wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 27, 2022 9:24 pm

Congratulations on the dream realized. I rode for several years in my younger days, but two close calls that WEREN'T my fault in less than two weeks put an end to my riding. I took the hint. that was back in the 70s. I haven't ridden since and it's a lot worse here these days. Two of our Motor Patrol Officers were in major accidents just before I retired, one was fatal and the other was out of commission for six months. Neither of them were at fault either.

Watch out for the other drivers, and enjoy that new bike...

Same here, started at 16 and rode all the time. Got my dream bike (not a Harley, a '83 Honda Sabre), hadn't even had it a year when a 80 year old woman pulled out in front of me, if I could have got up and dusted myself off I would have got back on and rode off but the bike was totaled and I was on my way to the hospital, spent 9 months off work recovering. Too many close calls before that so I haven't ridden a bike since.

Too bad I hadn't been hit by someone very wealthy. Her insurance adjuster was a nice guy and once told me if the money was there he would be offering me a million dollars to settle (1984 dollars!). She was just a little old lady widow, no lawyers involved, I just settled for her policy limit.

A tight circle of friends in high school would swap vehicles around to meet our needs. I had a custom van that was really popular and I had a couple friends with bikes. They loved the van. I had gone on a long ride through the country one weekend and was headed home when the weather betrayed me.

An 80 year old woman looked straight at me from the exit of a grocery store lot, in the driving rain. She was in a brand new cadi, it was 1978. So that Cadi was a BOAT. Still looking dead at me she pulled out in front of me, across two lanes of traffic to get to the turn lane... and stopped. Her car was blocking two and a half lanes of traffic. In the driving rain, I "touched" the brake, the bike started to slide in the water and oil on the road. I was a tripod, both wheels and my right foot, the bike pointed at a 45 degree angle to the right... Sliding straight at her Cadi, and her blurry face looking straight at me out the driver's window, mouth a huge "O" like it was my fault I was going to smash into her new car. The dealers stickers still on the back door glass. (Back then they left them on the windows until they turned yellow and fell off by themselves. LOOK, I have a brand new car!)

Luckily the car to my right saw what was happening and slowed, and the one car between was also alert and changed lanes. I hit that slightly dry pavement. The bike popped upright at the last second and I cut by her so close that her taillight grabbed at my pants. I pulled off to the side of the road, and managed to stop, pulled the bike up on the kickstand, dismounted, and it fell over in the mud. I sat on a concrete culvert beside a 20' deep concrete drainage ditch and my hands were shaking so bad I couldn't get back on the bike for twenty minutes.

After I got the bike home, I returned it to the owner.
(I had an incident two weeks before involving a bird strike to my chest at high speed that made it hard to breathe for a month.)
I took the hint, I didn't ride again.

I don't want to discourage BruniX now that his dream has been realized. I still have my bike but rarely ride. The point is to be very careful. You need to have a head like an owl and be extremely alert. Don't ever get overconfident in your skills either. I too had the senior citizen in a large Buick pull right out in front of me, but I was fortunate to not go down. Ride the more rural back roads as much as possible and enjoy that new bike.

I have had several close calls through the years.
Back in the early 90's I had a similar incident to BM's above.
I never went down but did slide barely by the car, and my heart was pounding like it was going to jump out of me.
Last year I had one merge onto the bypass I was traveling and if the other lane hadn't been vacant they would have plowed me.
Three years ago I did have a lady pull out in front of me, then when she did see me she just stopped.
Locked it, and sliding I just caught the rear quarter panel, it threw me over the handlebars.
Some how I landed on my feet, a guy across the street said he saw the whole thing, and said I actually did a flip.
I had to completely rebuild the Whole front end. I escaped with only a stretched groin and hamstring.

But I still enjoy the wind and the freedom, it's like riding a Really fast horse, of which I have had a few of, also.

RP

The lady that pulled out in front of me was stopped at a 2-way stop intersection, early summer afternoon, no sun in her eyes, bright red motorcycle and she said she didn't see me. I was going maybe 30mph and was close enough to the intersection that I knew if I tried to stop I would T-bone her. Tried to swerve around her and almost made it, would have been OK, with just some road rash but the Sabre was a mono-shock and my leg was trapped between my bike and her bumper and as my leg was pulled back my foot ended up going into the bike's rear wheel which did some pretty major damage to my foot. Always wondered if I had sped up or tried to go around the rear of her car (maybe into an oncoming car!) I would have made it but I was so close it all happened in a split second. Everything that happened between the accident and getting to the hospital was a blur since I was in some major pain and no pain meds until I got to the hospital.

I did have to go to traffic court to testify against her and she did lose her license, I believe permanently.

Hope we're not discouraging the OP from enjoying his new Harley, whether to ride or not is a personal decision, I always missed it but just couldn't convince myself to continue riding.

Congratulations. I hope you have many years of enjoyment. Ride safe.
Jake

Nice ride. Be safe and enjoy it.