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[porkypig]

Continued from part I..........
Washing the windshield/fairing was a bit of a challenge because it is smaller, lighter, and balanced differently than the full sized windshield and thereby needs more care when handling by itself.  If it slips out of your hand when washing or blowing dry, your paintjob will be toast.  Hosing down the rider and passenger seats chose to be more difficult than the Heritage seats because these just seem to be made in a more fragile manner than the Heritage.  Water can and will get inside the fabric more easily than my old bike and is a little more difficult to blow out and get dry.  The trunk and support bracket is also more difficult to handle as it is wider, etc.  Probably the toughest thing to work with is the saddlebags.  They are not balanced as well as Heritage seats and are more difficult to handle when washing because of that.  Ended up with water inside the bags from places that shouldn't allow water in but seem to.  Again, drying them is a bit more difficult because they just seem to be balanced differently.  I usually bring the leather items inside the house to dry overnight and allow the bike to stay out in the garage overnight so all the battery compartment will be dry as well.  This is certainly a bike that we don't want subjected to rust any more than necessary. 
So, when it is all washed and towel dried at the end, it shines like a new dime.  About 2 hours for me so I shaved off about an hour (largely due to the Air Force Blaster).  I am very happy with the bike and all but some of the nuances of its very different design are going to take a little bit of getting used to for me.  But I have plenty of time for that.  Anybody have any special challenges they have come up against that they care to share with the rest of us in this area??  Things to be careful of, ways to overcome them, etc??     Porky

[Grizzly]

What!  No pictures of this "clean machine"?


 

[porkypig]

ah, man, give a guy a break on the pics thing.....!  You've ridden all over our glorious nation, and most of Canada and you don't know what a clean Harley SE looks like?? You need to ride less and wash more..........    
And please tell me what do you have against Arkansas???

[Grizzly]

Yeah, I know what you mean... But all I have to do to see a super clean & polished SE is walk out to my garage!

But I never get tired of looking at others.

I really don't know how I ever missed Arkansas in my travels?  Just the way the roads have led me I guess.

 

However, I am determined to knock it off hopefully this year, with Newfoundland next year and with any luck will make it to Alaska and the Northwest Territories & Yukon the following year.  I pride myself that I have done all these locations on MY Harley, but doubt I'll ever ship it to Hawaii to ride there.

So many roads to travel with so little time.

[porkypig]

Well, Grizz, I'll certainly hand it to you.  Quite a lot of riding to get to the point you have.  I put 57,000 miles on my Heritage and hope to put many more on this one.  You have seen a lot of country and no doubts that it has been with a good safety record.  Cheers to you!  And you will get to Hawaii one way or another.  I'm sure of it.  Pork
And I will get a pic up here before long...............   

[Grizzly]

Hey Pork,

No doubt about it, I've been very fortunate having the opportunity to do that much riding across both of our beautiful countries with various friends, and most of it with my favourite riding buddy - my wife... Who incidentally has logged almost as many miles as I on her former Low Rider for six years and her Ultra for the past four years.  She's a real trooper and sometimes hard to keep up with.  I'm very proud of this 5'3", 110 lb riding buddy of mine and consider myself the luckiest guy in the world!

With the amount of miles we've put on, we've both been blessed to do it all safely (well, with the exception of me hitting a deer in north Michigan a few years back, and again blessed to be here speaking of it) and without any flats or breakdowns, which of course is a testament to regularly servicing these wonderful Harleys that we all love to ride and the good Lord looking over us.

You've certainly rode the heck out of your Heritage and I wish you many, many more happy miles on your new ride.

Take care & ride safe,
Grizzly

 

[porkypig]

Grizz, I mention Arkansas only because it is where the main headquarters is for CMA which is who I ride with.  And interesting, to see your spiritual connection, a bit ironic that it is pretty much the only state at least in the lower 48 you have not been to.  Hatfield, Ark is the main town.  Look it up.  I have ridden up into B.C, Alberta, and up to Saskatchen about 5 years ago.  12 hundred miles one way in just about 24 hours driving all through the night stopping only for a short catnap in a business's front lawn, etc. for a few moments.  Laid on a park bench one morning for about 1/2 hour under that giant hockey stick in Medicine Hat, Al, I believe.  Got eaten alive by mosquitoes or would probably still be snoozing there.  Great country.  And i believe you about maintaining these great machines and the fact that they are arguably the finest motorcycles in the world!!
I will be in Sturgis again this year, helping in the hospitals, do you ever get down there?    And to keep with the spirit of this article, I have washed my bike many times along the way.    ha!