in the saddle of a Dyna again!

So my motorcycle journey has taken me all over the place. First bike was a 2002 Sportster 883 I got in 2002 used.



Then to a '99 FXD which I rode from Lansing, MI to Sturgis, SD in 2003 then back to Lansing through Canada north of Lake Superior. As well with a tour of Tennessee going around the entire state including a few runs up and down the tail of the dragon.



Then I moved over to a 2002 FXSTB which I loved but didn't rack many miles up on.



I got the itch for a sport bike and ended up selling the Night Train for my first brand new from the dealership floor Buell XB12S. I had that bike for 2 years and 8 thousand miles. Really enjoyed the bike but working at my second Harley dealership I got the bug for another Harley.

No pics loaded. Only had clip on bars on it and a race kit, stock otherwise. Oh all my bikes but my new super glide have been black.

I bought my second brand new bike from the dealership I worked at trading in my Lightning for a 2006 XL883R which before I even had 500 miles on had a 1200 cc kit, intake, exhaust, front chin fairing, and bug guard and looked like a genuine cafe racer.



Nice looking bike but I had $2000 into the motor and was still unimpressed with the power coming off of the Buell XB12S.

I had the bike for 2 months exactly, and put 5 thousand miles on it and made my last purchase for a while, and my last new bike purchase. I traded it in for a 2006 Buell XB12X with bags.



Lots of mods on this one:

Drummer Exhaust
Race ECM
Cut Air Box
Zero Gravity Windscreen
Zumo 550 GPS
Drummer quiet insert
Aprilia Tuono Mirrors (Not Pictured)
Painted the inserts graphite grey (Not Pictured)
and probably a few other things

I have had that bike for the last 4 years and have only racked up 16k miles on it (4 moves in the last 4 years so not much riding). But I love it and am keeping it for a long time (the fact that it isn't worth anything is helping that decision)).

Finally, sold the Corvette and had some money to spend so I decided to get a cruiser bike again. Considered a Road king, but I'm just too young for a touring bike... thought about a softail but the Heritage's are too expensive and would scrape and make hard contact way too much and I'm not a huge fan of forward controls only.

Then I thought... I loved my super glide. Should have kept it, could have ridden it anywhere. So let's go with that.

Purchased a 2007 FXD with about 5k miles on it.

Taking delivery of it tomorrow, can't wait!

Already ordered a bunch of parts for it including.

Stage 1 kit
Vance and hines pro-pipe BP
narrow signal mounts
lay back plate
detachable windshield
new handlebars (stock '05 bars)
Adjustable Highway Pegs
Chrome Master Cylinder Cover (the one on it the black is pealing)

I don't know what I am going to do about tuning. Going to call a buddy and get his input, he's a dynojet trained tuner for Harley's and tuned my Dad's '04 with a 95 inch kit and 204 cams to 86rwhp and 104ft-lbs of rear wheel torque.

Here are the pics before I grab the bike!















I have no experience with the new drive train, I worked at the Harley dealerships as a service writer in '04 and '06 so just before the closed loop systems came in. This will be my first ride on a 6-speed bike I owned and first ride on a 6-speed harley, first ride on the new fuel injection system, first ride on the 96 inch motor, and like said above, first bike I ever owned that wasn't black .

Will post a write up on my opinions tomorrow after I put a couple hundred miles on the bone stock bike.

 

glad ur back! have fun ride safe

 

That's a lot of bikes!! Good luck and welcome back!!

 

Thanks for bringing that up JaronB.

Let me clarify.

'02 Sportster
'99 Super Glide
'02 Night Train

Were all my "Dad's other bikes" he never rode and I always did.

The '04 Buell XB12S was the first bike I purchased. I've paid and been the owner for all of them since. Yeah, my Dad got me into bikes.

Well he split the last 900 miles of the Sturgis trip with me as we swapped bikes a few times (he was on a '99 Electra Glide). We did from Deluth, MN to Lansing, MI north of superior through Canada in one day and that was at the end of our 3000 mile trip. But that's about all he rode the three above mentioned bikes.

 

Welcome back to the family.

 

I couldnt imagine a 3000 mile ride on a night train. I rode my Rocker 1100 miles and paid for it for 3 days.

 

welcome back bud! i went to MSU for a while in lancing! great school!

 

I did the trip on the super glide. The pic of me in the badlands with the cooler on the back was on our way to Sturgis.

Hey, GO STATE! I was born and raised in Holt, MI. Went to Eastern Michigan University. Now live in northern Virginia outside of DC.

 

Alright so ride impressions time.

First of all I sat on the bike started it, kicked it into gear and took off. Put both feet up on the mid pegs and both hips instantly started cramping at the top of the thigh.

I don't have highway pegs on it yet as the bike was 100% stock at the time. So I dragged my feet for the first two miles until the cramping went down.

That made me go "oh **** did I make a huge mistake?"

I went to the local HD dealer (.5 miles from the used HD shop I got mine from) ordered some extra keys and new bars.

I left there and instantly noticed that above 30 mph I had no clue where the engine RPM was. It had been a while since I had put serious miles on a Harley drive train so there is some re-acquaintance that needs to happen. I struggled the whole way home questioning if I was in the right gear. What I thought was the right gear on my mom's bike ('06 heritage with rush slip on's (SUPER LOUD)) felt like I was ******* this one.

The riding position I was still suspect about... until I hit the twisties. Holy cow this bike was great, flipped it through the nice back roads of Virginia and she was at home.

Oh and also, I put about 100 miles on my mom's '06 Softail Heritage over the holiday weekend and couldn't believe how much of a dog that bike was. I was scarred the super glide would be the same and I would always want to ride the Buell.

Let me just say that isn't the case. This 96 inch 6-speed drive-train on this bike is AWESOME. The bike is really quick, one of the fastest harley's I have ever ridden (only a tuned V-Rod and a fully built 95-inch high compression bike I rode once) are faster.

Twist the throttle on my mom's bike and it just get's louder. This one pulls you back in the seat and takes off. It is a lot like my Dad's but still faster, my dad has an '04 Ultra with a 95 inch kit and 204 cams doing 86hp and 104ft-lbs of torque at the wheels with a race tune.

This bike BONE STOCK could easily spank either.

Not surprisingly it already is no longer bone stock...

I have a large order in at the shop I bought mine from including:

Stage I (Installed)
Removable windshield (on order, don't think I'll use much unless it's cold)
Chrome bars for an '05 Super Glide (on order, like the low wide better than the narrow mini buck-horns)
Laid back License plate (on order)
Narrow turn signal kit (on order)
Chrome front reservoir cover (stock one is missing paint)

I went to the local HD shop and asked them what to do about tuning since I had the stage I and a V&H Pro Pipe on order (eBay).

They said HD Super Tuner, so I got one of those and have a service appointment tomorrow to get the tune (for only $70 bucks!).

I installed the stage one in about 15 minutes. Horribly easy install.

Then the pipes came at 5:30PM today. I already had the stock system completely removed and was salivating at the sign of the V&H box.

Opened it up and started to inventory the parts and what do you know. THEY SENT ME THE WRONG SET OF PIPES!

I bought the pipes on eBay from a dealer about an hour away in Maryland.

$485 bucks for Vance & Hines Pro-Pipe BP. BUT they sent me the Vance & Hines Pro-Pipe chrome which is the chrome 2 step version.

I was beyond pissed as I already had the stock stuff disassembled, race tuner in hand with appointment for tomorrow.

Called and left a message because of course they close at 4. I would have drove there to exchange tonight!

Went online did some reading. Supposedly the Pro-Pipe chrome is the newer version... sounds better supposedly... and performs better.

I was skeptical but wanted the pipes on so bad I said, "screw it, these are going on."

About 3 hours of making it really hard on myself later I had the pipes on. (should have taken me 45 minutes but of course I had to try and cut corners which cost me a ton of time).

I started it up and man... it does sound better. VERY deep tone like a thunderheader. Took it around the block and it didn't pop or anything. I am horribly pleased with this awesome mistake. Still getting used to the look of the staged muffler but the performance and sound make it 100% worth it.

If I had any faith in my ability to tell how a bike is running I would say it absolutely doesn't need the tune. But I am going to do it anyway to get it 100% right and not worry about it again.

Went for a 5 mile round trip ride for some fresh gas and was very pleased. The stock bars are even starting to grow on me.

So far, very happy with my decision. Though this bike is costing considerably more than the 8750 purchase price already. Going to maybe do a removable sissy bar for the wife even though she only wants to ride on the back of the Buell because she likes it more. Maybe I will get her to like the Harley as much... who knows.

Will post pics tomorrow after the tune!

 

Nice looking bike, enjoy!