Let me introduce myself..I'm Rick from Rhode Island. Sometime in late March, the techs in York will begin assembling my new '16 Ruby Red and Palladium Silver CVO Road Glide Ultra. I'm psyched. It'll be my third bike.
I've been riding for about twelve years.
In 2004, after passing an MSF course on a beat-up Honda Nighthawk 250 and earning my motorcycle endorsement, I raced down to the local Harley dealer and bought an '04 Heritage Softail Classic. Fantastic first bike...great retro look, flawless mechanically and easy to ride. A year later, I managed to drop it on a HOG group ride in '05 going around a curve in rural eastern Connecticut. It was entirely my fault....as a rookie, I didn't give it enough lean nor enough throttle to make it safely through the curve. Besides a bruised ego and $800 in cosmetic damage, I was fine. But I learned a lot. My riding skills slowly improved over the years as I rode throughout New England and along the East Coast.
In 2011, I shipped the Heritage out to my sister's house in California, flew out to pick it up and rode it home to Rhode Island via the Sierra, the Tetons, Yellowstone, Sturgis, Minnesota and Canada. It was the first of five consecutive trips to Sturgis. I'm now a proud Sturgis Rally addict.

In 2013, I traded in the Heritage for a '13 Ultra Limited and promptly rode it out to the rally in South Dakota, where I bought a color-matched Bushtec trailer from the factory reps at the rally. I already have 14,000 miles on the trailer...the combo of the Ultra Limited and a loaded-down trailer handles surprisingly smoothly. Two summers ago, my wife and I rode through the Rockies towing the trailer laden down with camping gear. We rode up and down 12,000 Independence Pass and through Rocky Mountain National Park without any difficulty or hosing the transmission.

Assuming my new CVO Road Glide arrives on schedule in April, we'll have plenty of time to break it in and get it serviced before this summer's Sturgis trip.
Keep the shiny side up,
Rick
Barrington, RI
'13 Ultra Limited
'16 CVO Road Glide Ultra (on order)