The Perfect Bike.

Blog #7

For me, finding the perfect bike was an unavoidable journey that took me through four bikes before I knew what I really wanted.

After not riding for many years, I bought a used Suzuki Boulevard. There must be a million of them on the road. I had no idea what I wanted or how I’d ride, but that Boulevard got me back in the game.
After about a year I knew I wanted a Harley Davidson. As David Middendorf, wise motorcycle sage and Nazarene pastor, said, “Buying a Harley is a decision of the heart, not the head.”

I went back to the used bike dealership and ended up buying a 2010 Ultra Classic. If I had any idea what I was looking at, I would have seen the tell-tell signs that the bike had been wrecked at one time, and patched back together. I took my first long rides with Pete on this bike, but as I got to know the bike I noticed how some things were bent. I had to use JP Weld at one point to keep the trunk from coming apart. After dropping the bike myself a few times and having a horrible mishap backing it out of our little toy hauler travel trailer, I traded up.

I bought a 2016 black HD Ultra Limited. I loved that bike and rode it out west with Pete a couple times. I’ll always be partial to Harley’s black bikes. But, it developed a knock deep in the motor. That is the great risk in buying used bikes without any warranty. Close to $15,000 for a motorcycle and it develops a knock in the motor. Of course, the other great risk in buying a used bike is that you have no idea how well or poorly it was taken care of by previous owners.

By this time I knew I was going to ride long distances as long as the Lord willed it. Jeff Varney, the sales manager at Farrow North Harley Davidson at the time called me. He said he noticed they were working on my 2016, hadn’t found the problem yet, but if I came in he would make me a deal on a new bike that I couldn’t refuse. How could I pass that up?
If you ride Harleys you know, the dealership is extremely limited in what they can do on the price of a new bike. They can wheel and deal on used bikes all day, but they don’t have much wiggle room on new bikes. What Jeff could do was give me a great trade-in deal on my used bike, even as it lay disassembled on the service floor, and he could give me great prices on add-on’s and maintenance. He actually gave me what I paid for the 2016 almost two years earlier.

I took the deal and came home with a beautiful, new 2020 Ultra Limited. I rode that bike on a couple long distance trips before I saw the 2021 Road Glide on the showroom floor at Farrow East Harley Davidson. By now Jeff Varney was the general manager at Farrow East and he made me a great deal. I also bought the extended warranty. I have went full circle on this, but if I am going to spend a lot of money on a bike and spend even more money customizing it the way I want, I need a warranty. The 2016 Ultra Limited taught me that.

If you ever stumble upon a motorcycle forum or Facebook page you will find Harley riders talking trash about HD dealerships like they are the anti-Christ. It’s just a thing with Harley riders, “thou shalt never speak well of Harley Davidson or of any dealership.” But I have to say, Jeff Varney and Farrow Harley Davidson have been good to me. They helped me figure out and find the bike for me and I remain very happy with the Road Glide. It is extremely smooth and handles the wind better than any other bike I’ve owned. The longer your rides, the more important that becomes. If you just ride to the tasty freeze on Saturday or if the bike stays in the garage at the hint of a light rain, that’s not so important.

Pete now rides an Indian Pursuit Elite, same style as the HD Road Glide Limited with the faring attached to the frame instead of the front forks. That Indian is a powerful machine and it looks great, but until Indian Motorcycles can establish the dealership network across the country that HD has, I’m sticking with Harley. After all, they are still machines and capable of breaking. Pete would say other wise. He maintains that Indians are built so much better than Harleys that they don’t require a dealership in every town. I have come to know that Indian riders sometimes tell tall tales. Time will tell. (Time will also tell whether or not Pete reads to the end.)