Hello all, I put a greeting in bit ago, but thought I would have a ride on the bike first before I started to chime in on the forum. So I purchased the
bike back in January thinking it was a light winter.... Well I live in MA, and you can see by the pic there is still plenty of snow in the woods etc.
Anyway I finally had the bike delivered on 3/19 and have been waiting for any day that looked decent. So I finally made it out on the road on 3/31
and did an initial 50 mile shake down ride. The roads are still far from primo, but I could not take another day of staring at this beauty in my garage!!
So just a quick note on what I came from; I traded/sold my 2012 V-Rod Muscle, 2012 GSX-R 1000, and 2008 Suzuki B-King 1340. I mention this as I am coming
from some pretty high HP aggressive bikes onto this CVO, so I really did not know what to expect. I rode a Street Glide 103 and liked it well enough, so
I took the plunge on this CVO without a test ride.
I have a few mods on the bike right now: V&H Power Duals, V&H High Outputs, V&H Fuel Pak 3, and some Kuryakyn highway pegs.
The quick report: I freak'n LOVE this bike!!
The longer report:
I did not know what to expect, I just thought the bike was soo gorgeous that if it was halfway decent, I would live with it. So first, the
V&H set up worked perfectly -- highly recommend. The bike had quite a bit of low end grunt. The sound is awesome without being
too obnoxious or loud. My V-Rod had a V&H Comp header pipe and you could not hear yourself think. Back to the CVO.. My biggest
surprise came with the first real turn on the road...this thing can handle! I could not believe it, it just tipped in and held the line.
I am not going to compare the CVO to one of my race bikes, but I like the handling better then the V-Rod already. The wheelbase
is much more reasonable and it does not have that crazy 240 tire, so it can really turn nice. I did not go too crazy, the roads are still
far from being ideal. Combine the road condition plus I am just breaking in the bike, so I went pretty easy. Other things I really liked,
the torque on the motor. This bike really pulls nice down low and it just pushes you down the road in the nicest way. I also thought
the brakes were fantastic. It took me very little time to start feeling very confident with the bike. As mentioned I am just on break in,
but I did hit the highway, this is where I thought the bike really shines IMHO. Completely stable and just seemed to really want to
keep going well past the speed limit. I could not believe how light the bike felt once I started moving.
I brought the pre-load down on the rear shocks as I am 6' and 160lbs that seem to work just fine. All the while when I was riding I was
thinking this is one classy ass ride, I am so glad I pulled the trigger! Really the only minor issues I had, I have read here before on the forum,
I thought the bars were not optimized for rider comfort, more of a style thing. Not too bad for me, but I could see getting some Todd's Cycle
10 inch Strip Bars down the road. I thought the seat was a bit stiff, but I have the feeling it will break in more in time. I tried out the windshield
today, and did notice a difference with the door open. I definitely got the blast of my chest, but I am a little tall I think to get the full benefits.
If it was not in the 40's today, I don't think it would have mattered. I like riding the bike sans fairing anyway.
I think this will sum up my thoughts: I rode the bike wanting to do a quick shake down. I did a 25 mile loop and was heading back to my house,
as I was a bit under dressed and was getting a pretty good chill... As I came back to my house, I hit the gas and just kept going down the rode
and did another 25 miles. If it was not so damn cold out, I think I would have been out all day long. I have not had such a special feeling on a
motorcycle in a very very long time. I can now understand all the love these bikes get on this forum!
Best,
Plexed
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Topic: Maiden Voyage 2014 FLHRSE (Read 3205 times)