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Hey, I may have to show this post to my wife so she can see that there are others who trade/swap bikes like me! I do almost all of my dealing with private sellers though, as here in AZ, we don't have to pay any Sales Tax on private party transactions, but if there is a Dealer involved, then it's 7.8 - 8.5% Sales Tax, and that adds up in a hurry!
If only I had the patience and time to spare, I could obviously have saved some $$ bypassing the dealership.
I have enjoyed everyone of the bikes but just can't seem to find the "one". But the Heritage should still be in my garage and one day, maybe it will.
In the meantime, the Pan America is a blast and opens different doors.
Stay safe and good luck with the wife! When I broke it to my wife that I traded for the Pan America, her response was "Am I supposed to be surprised? I need your help in the basement"!!! End of story.
Swapped out the 17.5 OEM half-black windshield for a Freedom Shields 19 with light grey tint and no blacked out bottom half.
The quality is definitely top notch and Im very happy with it so far.
Swapped out the 17.5 OEM half-black windshield for a Freedom Shields 19 with light grey tint and no blacked out bottom half.
The quality is definitely top notch and Im very happy with it so far.
I have a 19 and my wife has a 21. We both have 114s with the black trim including the black lower on the windshield. I think it looks good and I have gotten used to it. I am kinda cheap so I probably won't change it for an all-clear. Three things I have noticed. First, the clear seems to look better and more appropriate on an all-chrome bike. I appears Harley has picked up on that concept on the 23 models where bottom-black remains only on the black-trim bikes.
Second and more functionality (less cosmetic) is that the black bottom has forced me to look further down the road and not just right in front of me. That is actually the way we're supposed to ride - which is good. However if you coming up on an object in the road or especially an animal; not seeing that area for the last-second move, can be bad.
Lastly and similar to #2, it the navigation in parking lots. It, of course, would be nice to see everything when parking or getting through tight spaces. For example your garage - especially when you are sharing the space with friends; squeezing them all in.
All in all, that windshield seems to have forces me to be a more proactive thinker. However being able to see things close-up when I need to is a drag. Just my personal take.
Just throwing in an opinion - I bought a new 2018 Heritage, after a year or so, thought I wanted a Road King, traded, 4 WEEKS LATER, traded for a 2019 114 Heritage and believed I would never look back. It cost me in $$ but I was just in the search game whole hog! Traded for a 2021 Street Glide and for about 6 months, thought it was the forever bike. Nope - just traded for a 2022 Pan America and believe this could be "the one". However; my 2019 Heritage is still on the "previously owned" floor and I really want it back as a second bike. This is all hindsight and a little too much spontaneous history that cost me a silly amount of $$ in trade in costs. Still married, too! The Heritage is a fantastic all around cruiser, curve ripping (floor board scraping) pleasure to ride in almost any challenge but dirt and gravel. They say "full circle is inevitable" and if it is, I will be glad to come back around! BTW, I put on average about 14,000 mile per year on both of the Heritage models - never an issue one!
I was never a "Harley guy" before I got my first Heritage. I now not only believe they build a great motorcycle for everyone, they build the best US made bikes period. Rumors about those Chinese collaborations could pan out but we have the ability to stick with the American icon motorcycle and help H-D increase their open minded development.
I step off my soapbox.
Stay safe whatever H-D y'all ride!
We all make decisions which make sense at the time. I had an 02 Wide Glide and found it was quite uncomfortable after about 80 miles and especially on long trips. Plus, I think smaller, older bikes like that look silly with saddle bags, so having no storage except for a small roll bag and the net I carry was certainly a factor. When my wife purchased her 21 Heritage, I actually used her saddlebags for storage on a few rides. That didn't go over well LOL
So, for various reasons I purchased a 19 Heritage. Like her I also purchased from a dealer a few hours away and doing a trade was not really an option. Truth be told, it was a snowy day in February. This actually worked to my advantage as I kept the WG as a daily rider, bar-hopper. It has that old-school twin cam sound and vibration. That bike is loaded with chrome also so it is a totally different animal. The Heritage is a black trim which I mixing in chrome here and there. A work in progress as they say. But I like having a black bike as something different than what I was used to.
My point is, I am cheap and my wife thought I was crazy having two bikes. But I knew the bike was worth only a few thousand dollars on a trade or even a straight sale. Honestly I didn't want to be bothered with either. And after reading these posts for a few years, having multiple bikes is not no unusual.
Swapped out the 17.5 OEM half-black windshield for a Freedom Shields 19 with light grey tint and no blacked out bottom half.
The quality is definitely top notch and Im very happy with it so far.
That looks really good. Nice work. I'm not a fan of that blacked out windshield.
That looks really good. Nice work. I'm not a fan of that blacked out windshield.
CB5150, please don't get me wrong. I think yours looks great. In fact I like the clean look and, in a way, I am hoping the black lower will soon run it's course.
But when we purchase a bike, we get what we get. Some of us, spend the money straight out and replace pipes or handlebars before we ride it away. Some of us just take it as it sits in the showroom and think about it for a few months. Save some money ('cuz it doesn't f*ing grow on trees!) to scheme and plan out the next upgrade. Grips, cam, seat, etc. It's all in priority order. Again, I am cheap. So I suppose I could have spent the money for lights and a front bar since my previous owner decided to place the turn signal on the drag bars (which had to go) and trash the lights. Luckily the dealer had a great solution by mounting the turn signals on the fork during the bar swap.
This is certainly not the bike of my dreams, but I am learning to like the way things are slowly coming together. Besides, as I said, my wife has a 21 and we cannotbe riding together with "twin bikes" We did that the weekend I had a 21 rental for weekend rally. With my stock pipes and the same bike as hers (except for the color) is was an awful experience.
Here's my view on the blacked out lower half windshields...
I'm no historian, but I believe there is nothing new about them. The lower half of windshields have been either fully or partially obscured since the beginning of time. Commonly seen on vintage civilian, police and military bikes.
Of course, it's all a matter of personal taste. But to me, the blacked out lower half adds to the vintage look. I prefer it.
As to the functional impact... I believe it has absolutely none. I can't think of any occasion where I would ever need to see anything in the area that it obscures. Windshield bags and electronics already partially obscure it. I don't ever really look through the windshield during most riding. I look over it. Even during slow speed maneuvering, head and eyes need to be looking where one wants the bike to go. Watch a police rodeo. Most of those guys are running with batwing fairings. Not having visibility in that area doesn't seem to impair them at all.
^^^ Interesting insights. Again, I do agree, we should be looking through or even over the windshield (depending on the height) in most of the time. I have gotten to know my front end quite well on the road and in my garage and rarely have a serious need to look down in a parking lot. In fact the only time I could really use a lower clear view it is at Ocean City when we're head to toe with 8 or 9 bikes in the garage for the weekend
That looks really good. Nice work. I'm not a fan of that blacked out windshield.
Same here. I'm fortunate that my 21, being the all chrome version, came with the all clear screen. If it had come with the blacked out lower half. i'd be looking to change it out.
I like both of them, as it is said above, on the chrome Heritage it looks better with the clear one and on the blacked out one, it gives it a little military look that I like...
here is a pic of mine...
Harley-Davidson Fat Boy Becomes a Dark, Decepticon-Inspired Custom
Slideshow: Killer Custom's latest build relies on styling changes rather than performance upgrades, giving the cruiser an entirely different personality.
7 Surprising Harley-Davidson Products that Are Not Motorcycles
Slideshow: The bar-and-shield logo shows up on far more than motorcycles, some of the company's most unexpected products have nothing to do with riding.
Slideshow: From the troubled AMF years to modern misfires, these bikes earned reputations for reliability issues, questionable engineering, or disappointing performance.
Crazy Bunderbike Build Looks Amazing, But Is It Impossible to Ride?
Slideshow: The Swiss custom shop has taken a Harley Softail and stretched it into something so long and low that it looks closer to a rolling sculpture than a conventional motorcycle.
Engraved Rebellion: Inside Bundnerbike's Glam Rock II
Slideshow: A standard cruiser becomes an intricate metal canvas in the hands of a Swiss custom house known for pushing Harley-Davidson platforms far beyond their factory brief.
