Test rode the FXDFSE...
Thread Starter
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Tourer
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 465
Likes: 1
From: Long Beach, CA
Test rode the FXDFSE...
Brock, Scott, and Kevin came over early Saturday morning - 7am. Plan was for us to go to the International Motorcycle Show in Long Beach, early enough so that we could sign up for a few test rides. But Brock was overdue on an oil change, so we took care of his bike early, before the show was open.
The J&S Jack makes light work of an oil change..
Cindy tries to convince Scott that he'd have a hard time keeping up with her
A few of us test rode bikes at the show - my primary objective was to test ride the new XR1200 - seeing as I have a deposit on one. This year, different from last, H-D weren't providing escorted test rides - this proved to be both good and bad. 'Good' because you could do pretty much what ever you were comfortable with on the bike and 'bad' because people weren't taking notice of the route markers, and getting themselves lost, which threw the schedules out.
So, while I was waiting around for my turn on the XR1200 (some guy had been out on it for over an hour, I decided to take a FXDFSE for a run
Maybe I as too busy paying attention to the route markers, or watching for LEO's in my mirrors, but I didn't notice 'that much' difference in performance. The bars were comfortable and I did manage to redline it once or twice - but forgot it had a tach, so I didn't check where it redlined. The other thing I immediately noticed was how 'soft' the front end was - but then again, I'm comparing that to my recent front end upgrades, so it's not surprising.
I did also eventually get to ride the XR1200 - and I won't comment much other than to say, I'm even more impatient to get mine now than I was before. Cindy also took the bike for a spin and gave it the thumbs up
We had a great day at the show - If you want to see pictures I have some posted on my site (http://www.rhinowerx.com/) - good company, great weather, and a day that revolved around motorcycles - it doesn't get much better than that
Cheers,
-Jack
The J&S Jack makes light work of an oil change..
Cindy tries to convince Scott that he'd have a hard time keeping up with her
A few of us test rode bikes at the show - my primary objective was to test ride the new XR1200 - seeing as I have a deposit on one. This year, different from last, H-D weren't providing escorted test rides - this proved to be both good and bad. 'Good' because you could do pretty much what ever you were comfortable with on the bike and 'bad' because people weren't taking notice of the route markers, and getting themselves lost, which threw the schedules out.
So, while I was waiting around for my turn on the XR1200 (some guy had been out on it for over an hour, I decided to take a FXDFSE for a run
Maybe I as too busy paying attention to the route markers, or watching for LEO's in my mirrors, but I didn't notice 'that much' difference in performance. The bars were comfortable and I did manage to redline it once or twice - but forgot it had a tach, so I didn't check where it redlined. The other thing I immediately noticed was how 'soft' the front end was - but then again, I'm comparing that to my recent front end upgrades, so it's not surprising.
I did also eventually get to ride the XR1200 - and I won't comment much other than to say, I'm even more impatient to get mine now than I was before. Cindy also took the bike for a spin and gave it the thumbs up
We had a great day at the show - If you want to see pictures I have some posted on my site (http://www.rhinowerx.com/) - good company, great weather, and a day that revolved around motorcycles - it doesn't get much better than that
Cheers,
-Jack
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 4,968
Likes: 34
From: West Palm Beach, Florida
Dang!! I'm so jealous! I love that XR1200 man. Its such a cool bike. That lean angle is insane. Can't wait to see more and more people riding them. Would love to see what kind of mods can be done to that thing. Looks like you guys had a good time. Who's night rod special is that? Have you ever ridden it? That is my favorite bike in the harley line up. I'll definitely own one some day. Well thanks for sharing, and cool pics man!
Thread Starter
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Tourer
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 465
Likes: 1
From: Long Beach, CA
The Night Rod is Kevin's bike, and I could have sworn he said he'd let me ride it
When we were at the show, there was a vendor there who had a Night Rod on display that had a blower mounted that was concealed under the A/C cover - Kevin showed a lot of interest in that setup
On the way home, as we were riding back to my house, Kevin let it rip and peeled the back wheel from the light through two or three gear changes - man, I had a grin on my face from ear-to-ear - it was way cool, seeing all the smoke of the back tyre, and with those thunder headers, it sounded awesome...
Truly was an awesome day
When we were at the show, there was a vendor there who had a Night Rod on display that had a blower mounted that was concealed under the A/C cover - Kevin showed a lot of interest in that setup
On the way home, as we were riding back to my house, Kevin let it rip and peeled the back wheel from the light through two or three gear changes - man, I had a grin on my face from ear-to-ear - it was way cool, seeing all the smoke of the back tyre, and with those thunder headers, it sounded awesome...
Truly was an awesome day
Road Master
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 1,197
Likes: 0
From: The wild, wild, west.
Great write up of an awesome day. Unbelievable to me (I've never test ridden any bike before) that the test ride was totally unsupervised. As Jack said, there were markers to guide the route, but I saw none. The Street Glide I test rode had 11 miles on it when I started, and 28 when I brought it back! Up the street, on to the 710 north, and from then, meandering around a bit, and finally found my may back. It's like Jack says "they're like Toyota's, everyone has one", and I agree, but I can still see my fat *** on one some day. The show was great, Jack is the uber host, and it was a fantastic day indeed. Followed it up this morning with another early and short trip to Long Beach Veteran's stadium for the harley something or other swap meet. What an outlet for the guys with projects. Jack's project black out, what a hot bike! Scott's big jugged bob screams like a banshee and actually gives Kevin's Night Rod a run for the money off the line because as Jack said, the Rod smokes it tyre and he runs it bouncing off the rev limiter often. Follow it all up with some beers and lotsa laughs (mostly at my expense, wtf!) and a great day it was.
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