"An Itch I Needed To Scratch!"

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Dec 30, 2016 | 10:30 AM

K9F

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Road Master

Joined: Dec 2016

Posts: 1,051

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From: Bournemouth United Kingdom

Please excuse the longevity of this introduction. I am a Brit and live on the south coast of England. At 55 years of age and having spent 32 years in the Royal Air Force I have had the pleasure of visiting your land numerous times, meeting some fantastic people and serving alongside your military in several campaigns in dry and arid conditions. I am also relatively new to Harley-Davidson ownership, please stick with it and read on.....

Riding a motorcycle through necessity in pouring rain and often in temperatures of minus 6 degrees Celsius in the early 2000s killed my interest in motorcycling. I retained the bike a 1995 Triumph Daytona and sought solace in the fact it was 'always there if I needed it.' It sat there for nine years without being ridden. A severe prolapsed disk resulted in me biting the bullet and finally getting shot of the Triumph. The void it left was huge and after three months I decided it was time to consider purchasing another. I was also a Land Rover Defender owner and with such a vehicle and the heritage and camaraderie it had to offer as well as the extras I was leaning towards a Harley-Davidson for similar reasoning.
Not being physically able to drive the Defender for two months once healed sufficiently I found myself last December heading out and driving to the local Harley dealership. An ex demonstration 2016 Forty-Eight was sat outside black, Stage 1 with Vance and Hines Short-Shots, just over 1000 miles on the clock and with a nice price. On enquiring I was duly informed it was already sold. A few hours later the phone rang the perspective buyer had backed out and the deal was struck with me. I have always had either sports or sportster style motorcycles but my licence losing days are over, the reactions are also not as quick as they were.

Initial impressions were that I should have made the switch from a motorcycle I didn't ride to one I would many moons ago. Harking back to when I was five or six years of age and used to place playing cards with a clothes peg in my rear spokes of my bicycle it had taken me about 47 years but with the short-shots I was exactly where I want to be with regards to noise.

Roll on 12 months...I have loved and embraced the Harley-Davidson marque but recently with all my kids hankering after riding pillion and perhaps me travelling further afield I found myself yearning for a little more room and perhaps a bigger lump? I saw a CVO Pro Street Breakout in the dealership and after due reflection wondered exactly how I was going to achieve getting one? I sold my Land Rover
(this was a prerequisite) and asked about a trade in of the 48 as placing another deposit on a Harley-Davidson without informing my partner was not going to be a viable option.

The deed was done.....A CVO Pro Street Breakout in scorched apple and starfireblack.

Whilst it may not be to everyone's taste, with the myriad of nice extras readily available, that I have found is one of the beauties of Harley-Davidson ownership, you can evolve it and make it into exactly how you want it. Mine included a Screaming Eagle Stage 1 with Vance and Hines two into two black big radius pipes, a side-mounted numberplate, and a three year servicing plan thrown in. It was an ‘eye-watering’ price but probably the last chance of dropping so much cash this lifetime round anyway on a new vehicle which is ultimately just for pleasure.

Thank you for reading. I'll stick some photos of the 48 and the new CVO that replaced her in an ensuing post once I have figured out how to do so.