After 45 years of riding Honda I've finally made it to an HD.
Had a test ride on a Gold/Black XL1200T yesterday and loved it, I have to admit not as much as my Honda CTX1300 but that is a very heavy old bike and I've dropped it multiple times trying to move it around and twice injured my leg at very low speed spills, once on very soggy wet grass when I lost the back end and again trying to mount a sidewalk.
I really liked the Harley 'Thumpity Thumpity' engine, sounds great when ticking over at traffic lights. Like the look of it, the riders seat feels really comfortable and the windshield does the trick with stopping the wind, although I might get a small extension for the top of it but I'll see how I get on with riding around.

Didn't like the mirrors, far too short so I'll have to see if there are some with longer stems. Certainly not a show stopper.
Vibration was there when accelerating but the vibration is Harley vibration and smoothed out when I got up to 5th gear and cruising at 70mph. I test rode a Suzuki VL800 a couple of weeks back and the vibration was awful, left my hands and feet tingling!

I'll post now and then when I do stuff, picking it up Monday 24 June and looking forward to many miles biking about.

P.S. my YouTube channel is djrose007 by the way. https://www.youtube.com/user/007djro...=dd&shelf_id=0

 

Awesome bike!!! Enjoy. Like your YT channel too!

 

Well done . I'm new to HD too . Thumpity thumpity !

 

Congrats - nice looking bike. Just checking - I trust that bit of oil spot on the tarmac below the rear left hand side crankcase was from another bike parked there earlier!
FYI - that decorative “willie g skull” cover is called the derby cover in the states but in the UK we might call it the clutch cover. Anyhow, when that is unscrewed off there is a large o-ring seal that can be a tricky to keep in it’s correct place when screwing the cover back on....many folk think it’s seated perfectly only to find it hasn’t later.
So, when you pick your bike up after presumably the dealer’s little pre-sales service you can simply wipe your bare finger tips or a white tissue under the bottom edge where the chrome cover meets up with the engine casing. It should be “bone dry” as when seal is correctly in place a bone dry seal is easily achievable.

 

No, it's ok, thats just water from when they give it a quick wash for my test ride. It'll get a proper valet and service before they hand it over.

 

Ok that’s great - just looking out for ya prior to cash handover!

 

Nice, saddlebags and a windshield. Seat looks comfy too.

 

Mine looked alot like that when I got mine in December.....it's a great bike....hope you enjoy it....this is mine after a few little mods

 

Storm; that looks very cool. Different tastes but here’s mine a Forty Eight: one with black exhaust shields on and one them removed. Currently I prefer the exhaust shields off!

 

I was looking at the 48 a couple of years back, really liked it but I do some long journeys, long for the UK anyway. Go across to France and Belgium occassionaly and some longish ones in the UK.
The salesman told me that it is a fabulous bike to ride but "The tank is smaller than a gnats bladder"