A Tale of Two Harleys
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09-16-2012, 07:30 PM
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A Tale of Two Harleys
If you just want the facts about my ride, you can ignore the rambling narrative that appears below by skipping down a few paragraphs. Otherwise...
The story of my Cross Bones begins with a Sportster.
A little over three and a half years ago, the idea of me owning a Harley--and really any motorcycle, for that matter--was as foreign an idea to me as using the metric system or driving on the left side of the road. I come from a family without motorcycles, as horrifying as that may seem to you. To my knowledge, none of my extended family had ever owned a bike and I had never ridden on one. However, I was 21 years old and about to graduate from college in a few months. I knew that all kinds of newfound freedom awaited me--as well as a job that would provide me with a paycheck! To this day I cannot tell you what caused me to wander onto the HD website one weeknight in March. I know that I was bored and killing some time, but what caused me to research something as unfamiliar as motorcycles, I do not know. But what I can tell you is that as soon as I laid eyes on the Iron 883 (in Black Denim, of course), I was hopelessly and totally in love.
If you recall, the Iron was one the new, mid-year models from 2009 and Harley had just started shipping them a few weeks prior. In fact, dealers were having a hard time keeping the Black Denim models on their showroom floors. (I even heard of some dealers taking the Irons they had in silver and having them re-painted black!) Luckily, I found one, and at a dealer close to home and at a good price. I admit that buying a brand-new HD without ever having so much as sat on a motorcycle may have been a slightly reckless decision. How was I even sure that I would enjoy riding?
However, a voice inside my head gently reassured me that riding a motorcycle would be awesome. (I later found out that that voice was correct.) So within a few weeks, I received my motorcycle learner’s permit and reserved a slot for myself in a MSF Basic Rider’s Course. Since I was still away at school, I had to live my last couple of months there in anticipation. I am actually not sure if I was more excited about graduating, or getting home to take delivery of my Harley!
But finally that day came. I graduated and commissioned into the Army and said goodbye to my alma mater. A few days later, coincidentally on my birthday, I finally met my new Iron and took her home from the dealership--in the back of a pickup truck. (Remember, I had still never ridden a motorcycle at this point!) So then I got to sit in my driveway for a few days, just starring at this metal, rubber, and leather thing of beauty, waiting for my MSF course to start. It was torturous.
At the safety course, I had my fair share of troubles. I had never learned to drive stick, so learning to shift on a little Honda 250 saw a good amount of stalling, cursing, and perhaps a little embarrassment. The friction zone was something entirely new to me, but quickly overcome! By the end of my first 5-hour session, I had it down pretty well--and was thoroughly enthralled with the prospect of riding my bike as soon as I got home. And ride I did! I started slow, in my old high school parking lot, and built up from there. In my first month of ownership, I put over 1000 miles on that Iron, riding the back roads of rural Pennsylvania. I knew that I would never be without a motorcycle in my life from that point on, and I was convinced that I would never get rid of the object of my infatuation, the Iron 883.
But life has a funny way of changing your plans, as I am sure all of you know.
Two years after graduating, it was finally my turn to deploy to Iraq in support of Operation New Dawn. I had been through my advanced training, integrated into my unit, and entrusted with a platoon of airborne Troopers. I was ready to go. As far as my bike, I had made a few modifications to her up to that point, but not much. Forward controls, a passenger setup, a blacked-out exhaust with slip-on mufflers, and a relocated speedo. But the thought of my Iron up on blocks for what could be a 12-month stint did not sit well with me. A Harley is meant to be ridden, year-round if possible. I couldn’t do that to her, but the thought of selling her was just as unpleasant to me. Fortuitously, a solution presented itself. My younger brother, two years behind me, had just graduated and, like his older brother, was looking for a great bike to start out on. What better choice than my Sporty?! Everyone wins--I am able to let go of my first bike, since it was staying in the family, and he gets a great deal! (A little bit too good of a deal, in hindsight!) So the deal was made, the keys handed over, and I hopped on a plane for Southwest Asia.
But a true rider never really stops thinking about motorcycles, do they?
My plan, if you could call it that, was to remain motorcycle-less for the duration of my deployment. I would be able to save up some of that sweet combat pay and I wouldn’t own a bike that was slowly depreciating in a garage somewhere. Now, I had already begun thinking about what my next Harley would be before I even left the US. I knew that I would get something bigger. I was ready for a more powerful bike and, frankly, as much as I loved my Iron, I was tired of being accused of owning a “girl’s bike.” So I decided to get a Softail. I perused the web and toured the dealers; then I found my new love. The first time I laid eyes on a Springer in person, a Cross Bones, I knew that was it for me--one ring to rule them all, there can be only one Highlander, End of Line. The classic styling of those exposed springs, the hard-tail look of the hidden rear suspension, it all spoke to me. Heck, I even test-drove a used XBones a few weeks before I left the country, just to get a feel for it. I liked it and decided that I would purchase one brand-new upon my return--all I had to do was stay safe and do my job, and I’d be home before I knew it.
But the great and wondrous MoCo had different plans.
Less than a month into my summer stay in the Anbar Desert, I learned here on HDForums (via my erratic, dialup-speed internet connection) that the FLSTSB, the Cross Bones, would be discontinued and struck from the 2012 model lineup! A tragedy, for sure--a very large wrench in the works. I had a decision to make: wait, and hope that a new Springer would appear in the 2012 lineup; purchase a used Cross Bones when I redeployed; or be truly daring in a motorcycle purchase, yet again, and buy a new one while I was overseas. The answer, hopefully, is already obvious to you--I chose the lattermost!
This was no small matter. The Exchange New Car Sales program, which provides deployed service members with fantastic deals on new vehicles, and which Harley-Davidson is a member of, had already expended their stock of XBones, save for a California-equipped model (yuck). So in my free time between patrols, training, and mission planing, I suffered through painfully slow internet searches and international phone calls to dealers, trying to find any remaining Cross Bones still on the dealer’s floors at the end of the model year. And then I struck gold with Dean’s Harley-Davidson of Sellersville, PA. They had a new 2011 Cross Bones in Black Denim and they were less than two hours from my hometown. Not only did they give me a price that was better that the Exchange program, but they also agreed to store my bike for me, free of charge, until I returned from my deployment, whenever that might have been. Add in some dealer cash and a willingness to work with me through an unusual circumstance, and you have a dealer that is at the tippy-top in my book. Mad props to them and to my salesman, Greg Sassaman, as well!
So, no sh*t, there I was, a few thousand miles and many months away from home, and the proud owner of a brand new Softail--and I thought the two months of waiting to take delivery of my Iron in college was bad! What to do now? Customize! For the next six months, in what time I could manage to find, I carefully combed the forums, manufacturer websites, and photographs to determine exactly what kind of Springer I wanted to turn my XBones in to. Eventually, I formed an image, a dream--my goal--of what I wanted to do. It was audacious. (To me, anyway.) It went well beyond anything I had ever done before. My first purchase? A service manuel, which I had delivered to me in Iraq, so that I could better understand the mechanics and the process of what I wanted to do. (By the way, a service manual is absolutely the BEST $60 you will ever spend if you want to do any of your own work to a bike.) I had plenty of time to kill, so I would spend days or even weeks researching, comparing, and selecting, one at a time, individual parts for the Bones--which air cleaner, exhaust system, foot pegs...you get the idea. I sometimes passed the time by calculating which aftermarket part I was “buying” with my pay for a given day!
Many months passed this way. While it was frustrating that all I could do was plan for, and not ride, my new bike, I am very grateful for it, in a way. It gave me something to think about; to take my mind off of my daily realities from time-to-time. It gave me something to look forward to, to come home to. And it came faster than any of us could have hoped for. Late in 2011, the decision was made that the US military would not stay in Iraq past the new year; suddenly, it was our job to completely close-out the entire theater in the few remaining months we had--we’d be home by Christmas, they said. And indeed, we were. The last few months were busy, to say the least, but in the end I came home to a very nice Xmas gift!
I took delivery of my Cross Bones just a couple days before Christmas. And since it was frigid and a nearly two-hour drive away, once again my new bike got carted home in the back of a pickup truck! But no matter--almost immediately, I had it up on a jack and stripped down in my parent’s basement garage. For most of my holiday leave, and my post-deployment leave the following month, that is where I could be found in a pair of coveralls, listening to oldies and classic rock, and ripping parts off of and throwing new ones back on to my XBones.
I love how she turned out--to me, all of the planning, waiting, work, and costs are completely worth the finished product. I am proud that I was able to do all of this myself. She rides like a dream and her 96 cubic inch V-twin is certainly a powerful upgrade to the 883 that I “grew up” on! I hope you enjoy looking at her here as much as I do on a daily basis--and that I didn’t lose any of you to the Z-monster while attempting to make your way through my rambling chronicle. Thanks, and ride safe!
-Hooah09
Harley-Davison Parts:
Aftermarket Parts and Custom Work:
Here is one with the passenger system installed:
The story of my Cross Bones begins with a Sportster.
A little over three and a half years ago, the idea of me owning a Harley--and really any motorcycle, for that matter--was as foreign an idea to me as using the metric system or driving on the left side of the road. I come from a family without motorcycles, as horrifying as that may seem to you. To my knowledge, none of my extended family had ever owned a bike and I had never ridden on one. However, I was 21 years old and about to graduate from college in a few months. I knew that all kinds of newfound freedom awaited me--as well as a job that would provide me with a paycheck! To this day I cannot tell you what caused me to wander onto the HD website one weeknight in March. I know that I was bored and killing some time, but what caused me to research something as unfamiliar as motorcycles, I do not know. But what I can tell you is that as soon as I laid eyes on the Iron 883 (in Black Denim, of course), I was hopelessly and totally in love.
If you recall, the Iron was one the new, mid-year models from 2009 and Harley had just started shipping them a few weeks prior. In fact, dealers were having a hard time keeping the Black Denim models on their showroom floors. (I even heard of some dealers taking the Irons they had in silver and having them re-painted black!) Luckily, I found one, and at a dealer close to home and at a good price. I admit that buying a brand-new HD without ever having so much as sat on a motorcycle may have been a slightly reckless decision. How was I even sure that I would enjoy riding?
However, a voice inside my head gently reassured me that riding a motorcycle would be awesome. (I later found out that that voice was correct.) So within a few weeks, I received my motorcycle learner’s permit and reserved a slot for myself in a MSF Basic Rider’s Course. Since I was still away at school, I had to live my last couple of months there in anticipation. I am actually not sure if I was more excited about graduating, or getting home to take delivery of my Harley!
But finally that day came. I graduated and commissioned into the Army and said goodbye to my alma mater. A few days later, coincidentally on my birthday, I finally met my new Iron and took her home from the dealership--in the back of a pickup truck. (Remember, I had still never ridden a motorcycle at this point!) So then I got to sit in my driveway for a few days, just starring at this metal, rubber, and leather thing of beauty, waiting for my MSF course to start. It was torturous.
At the safety course, I had my fair share of troubles. I had never learned to drive stick, so learning to shift on a little Honda 250 saw a good amount of stalling, cursing, and perhaps a little embarrassment. The friction zone was something entirely new to me, but quickly overcome! By the end of my first 5-hour session, I had it down pretty well--and was thoroughly enthralled with the prospect of riding my bike as soon as I got home. And ride I did! I started slow, in my old high school parking lot, and built up from there. In my first month of ownership, I put over 1000 miles on that Iron, riding the back roads of rural Pennsylvania. I knew that I would never be without a motorcycle in my life from that point on, and I was convinced that I would never get rid of the object of my infatuation, the Iron 883.
But life has a funny way of changing your plans, as I am sure all of you know.
Two years after graduating, it was finally my turn to deploy to Iraq in support of Operation New Dawn. I had been through my advanced training, integrated into my unit, and entrusted with a platoon of airborne Troopers. I was ready to go. As far as my bike, I had made a few modifications to her up to that point, but not much. Forward controls, a passenger setup, a blacked-out exhaust with slip-on mufflers, and a relocated speedo. But the thought of my Iron up on blocks for what could be a 12-month stint did not sit well with me. A Harley is meant to be ridden, year-round if possible. I couldn’t do that to her, but the thought of selling her was just as unpleasant to me. Fortuitously, a solution presented itself. My younger brother, two years behind me, had just graduated and, like his older brother, was looking for a great bike to start out on. What better choice than my Sporty?! Everyone wins--I am able to let go of my first bike, since it was staying in the family, and he gets a great deal! (A little bit too good of a deal, in hindsight!) So the deal was made, the keys handed over, and I hopped on a plane for Southwest Asia.
But a true rider never really stops thinking about motorcycles, do they?
My plan, if you could call it that, was to remain motorcycle-less for the duration of my deployment. I would be able to save up some of that sweet combat pay and I wouldn’t own a bike that was slowly depreciating in a garage somewhere. Now, I had already begun thinking about what my next Harley would be before I even left the US. I knew that I would get something bigger. I was ready for a more powerful bike and, frankly, as much as I loved my Iron, I was tired of being accused of owning a “girl’s bike.” So I decided to get a Softail. I perused the web and toured the dealers; then I found my new love. The first time I laid eyes on a Springer in person, a Cross Bones, I knew that was it for me--one ring to rule them all, there can be only one Highlander, End of Line. The classic styling of those exposed springs, the hard-tail look of the hidden rear suspension, it all spoke to me. Heck, I even test-drove a used XBones a few weeks before I left the country, just to get a feel for it. I liked it and decided that I would purchase one brand-new upon my return--all I had to do was stay safe and do my job, and I’d be home before I knew it.
But the great and wondrous MoCo had different plans.
Less than a month into my summer stay in the Anbar Desert, I learned here on HDForums (via my erratic, dialup-speed internet connection) that the FLSTSB, the Cross Bones, would be discontinued and struck from the 2012 model lineup! A tragedy, for sure--a very large wrench in the works. I had a decision to make: wait, and hope that a new Springer would appear in the 2012 lineup; purchase a used Cross Bones when I redeployed; or be truly daring in a motorcycle purchase, yet again, and buy a new one while I was overseas. The answer, hopefully, is already obvious to you--I chose the lattermost!
This was no small matter. The Exchange New Car Sales program, which provides deployed service members with fantastic deals on new vehicles, and which Harley-Davidson is a member of, had already expended their stock of XBones, save for a California-equipped model (yuck). So in my free time between patrols, training, and mission planing, I suffered through painfully slow internet searches and international phone calls to dealers, trying to find any remaining Cross Bones still on the dealer’s floors at the end of the model year. And then I struck gold with Dean’s Harley-Davidson of Sellersville, PA. They had a new 2011 Cross Bones in Black Denim and they were less than two hours from my hometown. Not only did they give me a price that was better that the Exchange program, but they also agreed to store my bike for me, free of charge, until I returned from my deployment, whenever that might have been. Add in some dealer cash and a willingness to work with me through an unusual circumstance, and you have a dealer that is at the tippy-top in my book. Mad props to them and to my salesman, Greg Sassaman, as well!
So, no sh*t, there I was, a few thousand miles and many months away from home, and the proud owner of a brand new Softail--and I thought the two months of waiting to take delivery of my Iron in college was bad! What to do now? Customize! For the next six months, in what time I could manage to find, I carefully combed the forums, manufacturer websites, and photographs to determine exactly what kind of Springer I wanted to turn my XBones in to. Eventually, I formed an image, a dream--my goal--of what I wanted to do. It was audacious. (To me, anyway.) It went well beyond anything I had ever done before. My first purchase? A service manuel, which I had delivered to me in Iraq, so that I could better understand the mechanics and the process of what I wanted to do. (By the way, a service manual is absolutely the BEST $60 you will ever spend if you want to do any of your own work to a bike.) I had plenty of time to kill, so I would spend days or even weeks researching, comparing, and selecting, one at a time, individual parts for the Bones--which air cleaner, exhaust system, foot pegs...you get the idea. I sometimes passed the time by calculating which aftermarket part I was “buying” with my pay for a given day!
Many months passed this way. While it was frustrating that all I could do was plan for, and not ride, my new bike, I am very grateful for it, in a way. It gave me something to think about; to take my mind off of my daily realities from time-to-time. It gave me something to look forward to, to come home to. And it came faster than any of us could have hoped for. Late in 2011, the decision was made that the US military would not stay in Iraq past the new year; suddenly, it was our job to completely close-out the entire theater in the few remaining months we had--we’d be home by Christmas, they said. And indeed, we were. The last few months were busy, to say the least, but in the end I came home to a very nice Xmas gift!
I took delivery of my Cross Bones just a couple days before Christmas. And since it was frigid and a nearly two-hour drive away, once again my new bike got carted home in the back of a pickup truck! But no matter--almost immediately, I had it up on a jack and stripped down in my parent’s basement garage. For most of my holiday leave, and my post-deployment leave the following month, that is where I could be found in a pair of coveralls, listening to oldies and classic rock, and ripping parts off of and throwing new ones back on to my XBones.
I love how she turned out--to me, all of the planning, waiting, work, and costs are completely worth the finished product. I am proud that I was able to do all of this myself. She rides like a dream and her 96 cubic inch V-twin is certainly a powerful upgrade to the 883 that I “grew up” on! I hope you enjoy looking at her here as much as I do on a daily basis--and that I didn’t lose any of you to the Z-monster while attempting to make your way through my rambling chronicle. Thanks, and ride safe!
-Hooah09
Harley-Davison Parts:
- Wrinkle black engine covers
- Forward controls replaced the foot boards
- Removed seat post/coil mount
- Relocated horn to front downtube
- Satin black brake and shifter levers
- Diamond Black small brake pedal
- Axle and swingarm bolt covers
- Shorty upper belt guard
- Combination speedometer/tachometer
- Smart Security system and alarm
- Run, turn, brake controller
- Replaced leather dash panel (panel from a Softail Slim installed)
- Passenger pegs mounting kit installed
- H-D Rocker Touring System Strut kit (for passenger seat); powder-coated Gloss Black
Aftermarket Parts and Custom Work:
- Custom-designed derby and timer covers, manufactured by Figure Machine
- Custom-designed solo tooled leather seat, by Anvil Customs
- Custom passenger pillion seat and backrest (Anvil Customs) and mounting bracket
- Anvil Customs swingarm bag
- Fabricator Kevin stainless steel seat hinge
- Birdmans 3-inch seat springs
- Flanders Wide Clubman handlebar
- Magnum Shielding Black Pearl control cables
- Motherwell Products gear shift linkage
- Shadetree Fabrications rear fender
- Shadetree Fabrication battery cover
- Exile Cycles Shotgun Monster Pipes exhaust
- Exile Cycles coil relocation kit
- Exile Cycles transmission boss cover
- Nightrider XiED AFR enricher
- Roland Sands Design Black Ops Turbine air cleaner
- Roland Sands Design headlight relocation bracket
- Joker Machine fuel tank caps (custom mounting interface made to replace the fuel gauge)
- DBI black hand control levers
- Speed Dealer knurled black footpegs, grips, and shifter peg
- Custom Dynamics LED turn signal inserts
- Custom Dynamics smoke turn signal lenses
- Custom Dynamics Magic Strobe brake light flasher
- Drag Specialties front turn signal relocation brackets
- Kuryakyn P-Clamps for rear turn signal relocation
- Figure Machine side-mount license plate bracket
- Cycle Visions In-Close license plate axle mount
Here is one with the passenger system installed:
Last edited by Hooah09; 02-24-2015 at 02:10 AM. Reason: Fix broken photo links
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09-16-2012, 10:29 PM
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