HiTiredImJ
Standard Bore
- Joined
- May 18, 2015
- Messages
- 6
- Ride
- 2005 Rocket III
Hi everyone... quick background on my story.
A bit over a year ago, after a failed attempt to get Lasik (they were really scummy, slipping in a credit card application into the preliminary paperwork), I found myself with a bunch of cash I wasn't expecting to still have at the end of the week. My brother and I went out to go looking at expensive toys, I sat on a couple bikes, and suddenly I had to have one.
I ended up at my local Harley Davidson dealership and got sold on the idea of getting a Fat Bob. I took my MSF class and started test riding and discovered I couldn't deal with the mediocre handling of the huge HDs. I settled on a new 2014 Harley FXDB (Street Bob) because I'm an idiot and believed the salesman who promised they hold their value. It made it all of 5,000 miles before the ABS system decided it didn't need to function. It decided this during highway panic stop, and informed me of the fact by lighting a small trouble light on my tank mounted cluster and a sudden lack of any braking capability on the front brake rotor. With less than five months of riding under my belt, I handled it as best I could, downshifting and liberally applying the rear brake until I made it safely to a shoulder. I took it to the shop on a Tuesday, hoping it would be back in time for my weekend ride, but it wasn't in the cards. The $tealership told me it would be at least a month before they could get it fixed.
I immediately got on craigslist and found myself a 1995 Triumph Daytona 900 from a guy with a newborn. Other than some bad cupping and a flat spot on the front tire, the bike was in good shape. I rode it as hard as a cruiser rider can ride a sport bike (oh god how do I lean further than 30 degrees?) until I got my Harley back, then put it under a cover for the rest of the winter, because carburetor bikes are miserable in the cold.
After a grueling 23 hours in the saddle (I did a weekend trip down to Atlanta to visit my brother, hung out Saturday evening, and came back Sunday morning), I had found the limits of my Street Bob. I began searching for something with a little more umph than the 103 Twin Cam Harley uses as a power plant. I sat on a new R3 at a Triumph dealership and fell in love. It was going to cost me a decent downpayment, my Harley, and two years of similar payments to get on the Triumph. Hoping to find a better option, I stopped by my Harley dealership and tried out their V-RODs. When I told my salesman I was looking at Triumphs, he laughed derisively and told me they don't hold their value in resale. Brilliant, I thought, I'll buy used!
I ended up finding a 2005 Rocket III in gorgeous condition, less than 7k miles, a Corbin saddle, Corbin beetle bags, and a very aggressive stage 1 tune (I smoked a dude on a first gen Hayabusa this last weekend from ~5-85mph... but I get about 25mpg) for about the cost of the downpayment on a new Rocket.
tl;dr: Harley sucks, got a 2005 Rocket III
A bit over a year ago, after a failed attempt to get Lasik (they were really scummy, slipping in a credit card application into the preliminary paperwork), I found myself with a bunch of cash I wasn't expecting to still have at the end of the week. My brother and I went out to go looking at expensive toys, I sat on a couple bikes, and suddenly I had to have one.
I ended up at my local Harley Davidson dealership and got sold on the idea of getting a Fat Bob. I took my MSF class and started test riding and discovered I couldn't deal with the mediocre handling of the huge HDs. I settled on a new 2014 Harley FXDB (Street Bob) because I'm an idiot and believed the salesman who promised they hold their value. It made it all of 5,000 miles before the ABS system decided it didn't need to function. It decided this during highway panic stop, and informed me of the fact by lighting a small trouble light on my tank mounted cluster and a sudden lack of any braking capability on the front brake rotor. With less than five months of riding under my belt, I handled it as best I could, downshifting and liberally applying the rear brake until I made it safely to a shoulder. I took it to the shop on a Tuesday, hoping it would be back in time for my weekend ride, but it wasn't in the cards. The $tealership told me it would be at least a month before they could get it fixed.
I immediately got on craigslist and found myself a 1995 Triumph Daytona 900 from a guy with a newborn. Other than some bad cupping and a flat spot on the front tire, the bike was in good shape. I rode it as hard as a cruiser rider can ride a sport bike (oh god how do I lean further than 30 degrees?) until I got my Harley back, then put it under a cover for the rest of the winter, because carburetor bikes are miserable in the cold.
After a grueling 23 hours in the saddle (I did a weekend trip down to Atlanta to visit my brother, hung out Saturday evening, and came back Sunday morning), I had found the limits of my Street Bob. I began searching for something with a little more umph than the 103 Twin Cam Harley uses as a power plant. I sat on a new R3 at a Triumph dealership and fell in love. It was going to cost me a decent downpayment, my Harley, and two years of similar payments to get on the Triumph. Hoping to find a better option, I stopped by my Harley dealership and tried out their V-RODs. When I told my salesman I was looking at Triumphs, he laughed derisively and told me they don't hold their value in resale. Brilliant, I thought, I'll buy used!
I ended up finding a 2005 Rocket III in gorgeous condition, less than 7k miles, a Corbin saddle, Corbin beetle bags, and a very aggressive stage 1 tune (I smoked a dude on a first gen Hayabusa this last weekend from ~5-85mph... but I get about 25mpg) for about the cost of the downpayment on a new Rocket.
tl;dr: Harley sucks, got a 2005 Rocket III
