Well It's Official...

We're now an all Harley family.  Last night we traded in my 2007 Suzuki Boulevard M50 for a 2005 Harley Davidson Softail. A few months ago I told my husband that by next riding season I wanted to have the Sportster and him to have a bigger bike for the times when we want to ride together. Somehow "just looking" turned into me being on the phone with the insurance company getting the bike insurance switched over to a new bike. I knew that when we found the right bike it would all work out so this must be the right one.

I tried to convince my husband that the apes were too high on the Sportster so I needed to ride the Softail home.  Of course, he wouldn't go for it, but I'm sure I'll end up at least taking it around the block one day.  If he tries to tell me that the handlebars are too high I'm going to remind him about the night I rode all the way home with apes with no problem. I'm sure I'll hear about how it's a bigger bike than what I'm used to and it sits different with the apes and well...I'm sure I'll figure out a way to convince him to let me ride it.

There are several discussions in motorcycle forums that I've read about riding with apes. I can say from personal experience that it does make the bike easier to handle. My only gripe is that they were so high that it felt like the blood from my hands settled in my elbows. There's no way I could comfortably ride like that all the time.  As you can see from the picture above, my husband is switching out our handlebars. 

I'm thinking about taking off the sissy bar and getting a different paint job.  Before we left to "go look" I asked the painter at the shop where my husband works if he was going to paint it for me if we ended up with a new bike and he said he would.  From what I've heard he's awesome so I'm hoping to end up with a really tricked out paint job. 

It's hard to tell from the picture, but for now I have foot pegs with heel rests.  I was trying to decide the whole way home if I liked them or not and I've decided that I don't.  It's probably because it's like anything else, it takes getting used to, but it was really hard for me to tell where my foot was in relation to the brake so I don't want them.  His bike has so many little custom accessories on it like Arlen Ness extension brackets, I was surprised that he's got plain jane pegs. So he's going to replace them with my passenger pegs and put my foot pegs on his. 

The only thing I'm going to hate giving up is the Maltese cross air cleaner that's on my bike right now, but he had eyeballed that one a long time ago and came across one at a really good price.  I've got my eye on a Roland Sands air cleaner. I know it's probably wishful thinking that I'll come across one at a good deal so my second choice is a round one with fins that will match my derby cover. 

For now, well, without the handlebars, this is what it looks like. It won't happen overnight, but I'm now in the process of making it mine.