Well, after 7 years of lusting after the same bike, I finally pulled the trigger last month.
I first ran into this bike in 2001 while in Milwaukee for a dog show with my wife. Our hotel was next to a Harley dealer and I dropped in to see what was new. Sitting on the show floor was this red bike with a tan seat. I fell in love immediately! Didn't know a wide glide from a wide load and had no idea what a CVO was. Over the past 7 years I have watched these beauties on the web both on ebay and other bike selling sites. 6 years ago I gave my wife a 5 year warning that I was going to buy a Harley and finally last month, the stars aligned and I found this bike in the Chicago area.
The first owner had it for 950 miles and put $5k in the motor. It's now a Screaming Eagle 95 with a very nice cam.
The second owner had it for 3,300 miles and added chrome almost everywhere.
I've had it for a month and changed the bars, tires, pipes (too loud) and added another boatload of chrome (do they sell chrome tires?).
Fulfilled a 27 year dream 2 weeks ago and rode (yes rode) to Rapid City for bike week. Stayed with a great friend and was joined by another great friend from Denver who trailered his bike in. We rode the hills and walked the streets and I enjoyed one of the best weeks of my life. Still wearing an ear-to ear-grin! Put on 2,100 miles in 7 days including two 600 mile days to and from the hills.
The bike ran flawlessly! I was prepared for some type of failure but other than a moment of pilot error where I laid the bike down in a parking lot after turning without momentum, everything performed perfectly.
I've lurked on this site for a few weeks and have already learned a lot. My intention is to ride the heck out of this bike and develop it into an adequate touring machine as well as a real looker.
Look forward to interacting with you other zealots. I can already tell passions run high for these machines.
My first t-shirt purchase has "Harley Davidson - life begins when you own one" on the front. Not too far off the mark although it should probably read "Harley Davidson - life begins when it owns you"
I'll post some more pics later but wanted to get on the board before going for a long ride today.
Here's the link to the continuing saga of this bike:http:
http://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index.php?topic=27725.420