'17 Black Shark, Bye Bye Street Glide and Good Riddance
Yesterday began like any other day. Sunday morning coffee run, except this time my neighbor wanted to ride along because he wanted to see the new '17 bikes. So after the coffee we ride to the dealership. Little backstory, I traded my Slim in for a '16 Street Glide a few months ago. When I did I test rode a RG, but it being my "first" touring bike and the fact that it was the Black Gold Special something or other I convinced myself the Street Glide was the way to go. Admittedly, I didn't give the SG a thorough test ride. If I had, I would not have bought it. At 5'6", the SG was giving me absolute hell at highway speed. I could not wear a hat, which isn't that big of a deal, but I also could barely wear glasses. I say barely because if I wanted to, I could literally make them come off while cruising at speed. TERRIBLE TERRIBLE ergonomics!! Went on a poker run Saturday to support the local SPCA and was literally disgusted with the bike in every way, BUT STILL had no intention of trading up. I just started running through the list mentally of things I knew I was going to have to do in order to make the bike ride worthy for ME. Shocks, stock are absolute $h!t. Handlebars, stock bars gave me an intense burn between my shoulder blades after about 30 minutes. Windscreen, to cut the air up top. Ugly @$$ fangs or plastic wing-glass type contraptions to cut the air from the bottom. Which brings me back to Sunday after my coffee run at the dealership and I swing my leg over the '17 shark special and I knew, this was the bike. After the deal was done I jump on the Interstate and promptly work through the gears. My wind issue...what wind issue? It is G*O*N*E. The handlebars, perfect. The shifting, solid. The braking, evenly distributed. My SG would flat put you on your @$$ if you were not precise with the front brake usage. The torque is there and is definitely noticeable. Let me tell ya, I was grinning from ear to ear when I left the dealership. Spent all last night in the garage staring at the damned thing. I am by no means suggesting that my experiences with the SG are common, normal, standard; they were my experiences alone. If you are happy with yours GREAT!!! Now I am happy with MINE. THIS is THE bike!!!
09-12-2016, 07:25 AM
'17 Black Shark, Bye Bye Street Glide and Good Riddance
