I'm even beginning to get tire of hearing what I'm about to say. I rode Goldwings for 32 years. I took a break from Goldwing after trading in my 1994 GL1500SE Goldwing for an '03 Ultra Classic. I knew absolutely nothing about Harley's much less owned or rode one. The Ultra Classic was a beautiful bike and in many ways I liked it better than most of the Goldwings I've owned. Unfortunately it had a problem when it stopped running at 4:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning in the Texas panhandle on the way to Golden Colorado. When I finally got it to the nearest dealer, they read the code, said they didn't know what the code was but they cleared it, replaced the accessory fuse and sent me on my way. What the hell does the engine running have to do with the accessory circuit on a Harley? The service department said, "we only work on them we don't design them." That's when I knew I was in trouble. When I finally got home, I sold the Ultra Classic and bought a new GL1800 Goldwing. I finally decided to give it another try when I bought my current bike and Road King Classic. I still haven't heard anyone explain what happen that killed the engine with the cruise set, audio system on that blew the accessory fuse then stopped running.

 

Fuse probably got tired, It happens!

 

Interesting.

Wonder how many "old timers" made it through the AMF days mad as a hornet or vice versa and kept on riding the American iron?

My story parallels Dane's.

 

Bought my first bike in '01: Shadow Spirit 750

Wasn't fast enough so I went the sport route: Suzuki SV 650S...too stupid to keep the front wheel on the ground.

Got a VTX 1300C when they came out in '04. Really wanted a Street Glide but couldn't spend the $$ so I turned the X into one the best I could.

Finally got the money and nerve to drop $20Kish on a bike and here I am.
Never going back

Here is my attempt at a Street Glide with a Honda...

 

after 20+ years of riding metric i bought my first Harley. financial difficulties forced me to sell it. I soon after bought a suzuki 1400 to "hold me over until I could afford another Harley". I hated that bike. Not because it was not a Harley but because it was a POS. It sat on the side of my house for a while until I finally sold it. A year later I bought another Harley. Beeen riding Harleys every since and have no intention of owning anything else.

 

I rode metrics for years. Dirt, sport and street. One day my wife comes to me nd says she wants to learn to ride. Off to the vacant Costco parking lot on a Sunday evening we go, on my Yamaha 750 Maxim. She tools around the lot for an hour or so and I knew sh was hooked. Some ad luck financially forced me to sell the bike. Next spring wifey says she wants to ride. say sure, but I'm buying a Harley because I'm not sure if I want to ride anymore, an if you decide your not nto it, I'm not willing to throw away 5 grand on a metric i we sell it. So I bought a 03 883 sporty for her. She still ridesthe crap out of that thing, ad doesn't want anything else. I on the other hand decided in order to keep up with her I best be gettin me a Ultra Glide.

 

25 year odyssey for me. My big plans when I graduated from college was to ditch my starter bike (CB550) and get a Harley. Well, couldn't afford it. Bought a couple metrics. One was an '86 Shadow 750. Had this scary death wobble going around sweepers. I thought that's just the way a cruiser handled versus shorter wheelbase bikes.

6 years after graduating college I bought my first Harley. A brand new '96 Springer FXSTS. I did what many folks did then - waited 18 months for my name to move up the list for the bike. I had sold my Shadow a few months prior. I took that Springer out and by God that Shadow was a pig! The Springer ate up corners! Loved that bike, loved my HD dealer.

3 years later I sold it so I could quit my job and take another in hopes of saving my marriage - reduce the stress of a job I hated. 2 years and 2 jobs later I was ready for another bike.

Wanted another Springer, thought maybe a custom pro-street. Ended up getting impatient and bought a new '03 VTX1800. Really liked that bike. It had 2 things that my Springer was missing - tire scorching hp and torque. But it just lacked character. I like my toys to be unique, have personality...the phrase "if I have to explain, you wouldn't understand" fits in here. Sold that bike in '05.

I again found myself trying to figure out how to buy a pro-street custom and then I stumbled into the new Victory dealership virtually across the street from my house. I fell in love with this orange hammer. A brand new '06. I loved that bike every bit as much as I loved my Springer. It too had scorching hp and torque, but it also had that character and personality I wanted.

Unfortunately my marriage finally came to an end and the ex stole that Hammer from out of my garage. Good riddance! I sat around for a year and a half trying to decide what my next bike was going to be and healing (if you know what I mean). I finally decided the pro-street was out of the question because I wanted to continue taking long road trips and possibly add a couple more this year - the victory hammer was pretty much a poor man's pro-street and sucked on those trips I took with her.

So what to get? I've only outright loved my Harley and my Victory, so I knew it was one of those two bikes. I wanted something to travel on. My girlfriend wanted something that was comfortable. She loved Road King's, so I looked at a couple of those. I stumbled on this Road Glide that had ton's of extra work done to it - one owner. The owner was having some tough financial times and needed to let his baby go. My girl friend took one look, put her arms around me and told me to buy it. Enough for me, I purchased it 1 week before Christmas (my birthday). I figured it was a great present to myself!

Now, how to get that pro-street? hmmm.

 

In 1977 fresh out of college and never having ridden a m/c,
I bought a 750/4 Honda and rode the snot out of it for 4 years.
Sold it in 1981 to pay off some IOU's......
Jump ahead to 1997......had a wild notion I wanted to get back into
the riding scene, found a sweet 1984 Goldwing with 10k miles on it.
Rode this for the summer and decided I wanted a newer/bigger bike.
Just so happened late winter of 1998 I noticed an advertisement
on tv for the Honda Valkyrie........Decided right then and there
I was buying one of them broad-chested bulldog Valkyries.
April of 1999 I rode the blk/silver Valkyrie out of the showroom and
never looked back.
Jump ahead to Feb 2007..........decided it was time for a new bike
as the '99 Valk had close to 100k miles on her.
Never having sat on a HD before in my life, I shopped 3 different dealers
within 120 miles of my house and ordered a 2008 pewter pearl R/G.
2 short riding seasons and 25k miles later I love this bike.......

*actually the R/G was a birthday gift to my wife for her 50th birthday*...
I'm just the lucky SOB that gets to sit up-front on this landshark and
enjoy the scenery.

 

Thanks guys! Excellent reading the roads in life ya'll have traveled. Figured the '60's Triumph crowd would have chimed in by now? No?

 

I ordered a 2010 Victory Cross Country - it's supposed to compete with the Street Glide. Put a $1,000 down on it. 3 weeks went by and I kept thinking, "it'll never sound like a Harley", I'm not sure I'll be happy with it", "what if I don't like it and want to sell it - will the resale value be as good as Harley", "what about quality, fit and finish" and on and on and on and on!!!

So, after driving myself nuts during that 3 week period, I went to the Victory dealer and asked him to cancel the order and give me my deposit back. Thank God he was an understanding sole - he gave me the money back. 3 days later I high-tailed it for the H-D dealer and bought a 2010 Road King - a motorcycle that I knew I'd be happy with.

I almost jumped ship - but in the end, I didn't.