OK then, I posted a few days ago in the "Newbie Member" section and stated how I've had the new bike sittin in the garage for two weeks waiting for the weather to break here in IL so that I might take my new 08 FXSTI SE2 out for her maiden voyage. DONE (only about 60 miles)....All I can say is HOLY CRAP!!! I am so stoked right now after riding it that I'm worried now that my 06 RK might become the next bastard child...hehe not really...still will have to take the wife out ocasionally for posterity rides. Weather here was like 62 but felt like 72 on your back...perfect with just a light jacket. I had traded in my 03 FXSTSI for the SE2. I bought the SE2 without ever having ridden a Screamin Eagle...ever. We've all seen millions of bikes and admired the uniqueness and personal touches that owners like to tack on to personalize their bikes, I mention this to bring to light the idea of how when I first saw the FX SE2, it was like devine intervention...a light lit up inside me and I just knew at that moment that this was a bike that I must have. Rarely do I get this instantanious feeling like I must have, usually I mull over major purchases for days and weeks just to make sure it's what I really want or need.
Yesterday was the first really nice day after such a loooong grey winter. A friend called who I respect as a major gearhead (its always nice to ride with guys who really know how to wrench) and asked if I wanted to take a quick jaunt up to one of the local Harley dealers. This was it...the moment of truth, time to face the music and see if I would some how be able to rationalize the momentous $$$ just spent for basically a toy. So I started out with a cautious respectful reservation for the new more powerful than I've ever ridden....bike betwix my legs. Well it only took about a block before I felt comfortable and in tune with the throttle response..eww nice. With every minute and every mile, my glee kept getting hightened. Like I said earlier I just knew this bike was for me...It fits me like a glove, I'm only 5'9" so initially I loved the lower seat hieght.
The power and oh, the rumble...completely awesome...now I get it. This bike handles AWESOME. Tighter than chit. Lets face it, it's the largest engine on possibly the smallest of Harley frames, yet it is completly right and tight. It is impossible not to feel like you are merely another componant on the bike and fitted exactly inside the engineering specs.
So anyway we cruised around and then met up with some other buddies at the dealership. After that little saurey we headed back towards home. Now let me say that, the two guys I was ridin home with are both "power bike" guys. One rides a BD Pro Sport and the other rides a couple of power builts....beefed up fat boy and a home built custom with a 126" somethin in it. You could guess that in the past I've always watched as these two would jump off the line at stop lights....and I would always say to myself, I don't need to have a fast bike, I'm just out here enjoying the sun and the comraderie.....well then naturally at one point I needed to let these guys know that I had arrived. So at every light, I was enjoying the sound and feel of my new modestly mean machine....tempting fate, at some point I'd have to try to beat them out of the gate. My two buddies though were intent to keep me in my place and let me know that just cause I had a new SE, that wasn't gonna change the fact tat I'd still be watchin there backs at every stop & go. Hey, I still got got no problem with that, you know some guys are just so testosterone induced...Anyway at one point we all shoot out of the gate fast & loud...Yikes, sure enough in the rearview we see a statie do a u turn and hit the cherrys....crapper...we all get pulled over....of course I should mention how earlier in the day after seeing some guy pulled over I mentioned to my buddy how thats a chitty way to start the riding season...LOL....Any way aparrently 2 out of 3 of us were doin around 75 in a 45, I maintained that I knew we were loud but geez I sure don't think we were goin that fast... but since the copper couldn't isolate which of the 2 out of 3 of us exactly was doin the 75....he decided with it being like "opening day" to let us all off with a warning.....very cool I must say. So this little getaway naturally had us all gleefully bliss with the fact that we had all escaped monitary misfortune...and we now had a little opening day tale of crime and passion to bolster our egos....LOL
The 08 FX SE2 is decidedly AWESOME...82 miles on the Odometer...no oil leak...hehe. We'll see if I still have a license come October....
RAZZ77
P.S. don't get me wrong here...we ride cautiously and respectfully 99.9% of the time, but oh that 0.1%......has me singin Kid Rock...You never met a MF quite like me......
Enjoy!
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Topic: First Ride & First of the season (Read 1654 times)