My story. I saw my first banana at the international motorcycle show in seattle on Jan ’05. I looked at it for a VERY long time. I walked away sayin’ to myself “maybe someday but not now”. It was off my mind for quite awhile after that. I’ll back up a bit now. I rode bikes as a teenager all the time. I sold my last one, a Yamaha Maxim, when I went into the service vowing to not own another until it could be a Harley. The years went on and there was never enough $ to fulfill that desire. I never stopped turning my head every time I heard one though. Finally 20 years later the urge hit me. In Feb ’04 I became the proud owner of a ‘04 FXDL. My thoughts were that I was only going to be riding 2-3k a year and just on the nice weekends and around town. That year I put 20k on that bike.
This brings me back to where I started. The main reason I was even considering a bagger was the envy I had for my buddies being able to lock there bags and grab a night bag and head into the motel rooms on our trips. Me? Unload everything cuz I can’t lock it up only to reload in the morning. And you know how it is being a guy. Everything is a frickin’ competition (myself included). Who can gas up faster? Who can pass faster? Whocan take that corner faster? Who can pack up and get ready to go faster? Not me when it came to that arena. At least the guys I hang out with. The next envy was the stereo and believe it or not the cigarette lighter. But that windshield? I am not that old right? Yes, no, yes, no yes, no.
So, one day in april (before this summers rides) I decided to start looking for a bagger. The std. ultra just didn’t do it for me. I was gearing up for a std. Electra and fixin’ it up. When I did the #’s to the way I would want it I was near 30k. That’s when I realized an SE was the answer. Oh yea!! That yellow one! My hunt started. Damn they were all spoken for on the west cost except one in Salt Lake City for 40k!! Thanks to the Internet a 2 week hunt rewarded me with one in Little Rock Arkansas. Getting it to Seattle was a different story. MoCo was going to take too long. I had to get it here faster. I wanted to break it in before an annual ride we make to Cali.
Right down to the wire. I picked up my bike at 6pm, took it home and loaded my gear by 8pm, kissed the wife goodbye and was on the road by 9pm headed for the party in the Redwoods! I rode that bike until 4am in the morning. The 500 break in was killin’ me. I just wanted to gun it all night. I was King that night even if was totally stock right now it just felt a bit surreal riding my new SEEG on a cloudless night with a stereo, cigarette lighter and locking bags. When I woke up the next morning and hit the road the sun shined on it for the first time. Seeing all that metal flake that I never realized was there one thought came to my mind. I just bought a Bass boat!!!
It’s been 2.5 years now and 61k fun filled miles!!! Memories created that will never be forgotten!
