George....
LOL I began this message yesterday afternoon.....and then I decided we needed a "HISTORY OF THE FXR" for anyone whom finds themselves interested in the FXR2's FXR3's or FXR4's and so went into research mode so this post will be a bit late.....anyway....it sounds like you have perhaps "secured" an FXR of some year and model so I will enjoy learning with others what it is you have decided upon, from your reflections above it already sounds WONDEFUL....so hopefully CONGRATULATIONS will be in order soon!!!!

So here is the post I was going to send yesterday lol:
Once you own an FXR "framed" bike....none of that will matter as to what is motivating you to be interested in the bike....but what will "sustain" your enthusiasm for the bike will in fact be the ride and how it performs....
We are a "funny" society....we are quite often motivated by what I call, "the fear of loss" instead of the "aquisition of gain" meaning that often times people tend to "collect" things which they feel are in short supply because then they have something someone else wishes they had....instead of embracing something for exactly as it is....
When "enthusiasts" of a motor company can honestly say....the very best of a certain model isn't the most recent version...then the motor company is headed in the wrong direction...which could be said for the twin cam version of HD's but not particularly for the "evo" version of bikes....if you took the very very best riders and put them on any of the HD framed bikes of your choice and put them up against an FXR....nothing would be able to keep up with the FXR and I am talking about "cornering" and riding in real life situations....such as the mountains....sure, there will always be "faster" bikes, but who cares if one is faster....the legal limit is 75.....every bike will do that....but how you get there in "comfort" or in "fun" will be defined by how the bike handles...so as we sit here on the "day" of the presentation of the "newest" models for 2009 and when you look at the CVO presentations....what do you see.....simply more "bling" for guys who are willing to spend upwards of $30,000 or more for a roadglide etc...and here we sit talking about our CVO's which are priced today at between $10,000 to $14,000 and can be taken on a tour as comfortably as any CVO touring bike for any rider 5' 11" or shorter....
Yes, George your memory is serving you correctly about the discontinuing of the FXR frame as it has been reported.....but at the end of the day, as I just said above....what will bring a "smile" to your face isn't that the Motor Company quit building the frame it's what that "frame" will do out on the road when you twist the throttle...whether it's a black vinyl coated throttle and idle cable or whether one chooses that it should be a braided stainless steel throttle and idle cable....needless to say it will however be a cable and not a "fly by wire" set up....some things are simply gimmicks along the path way of life....
Perhaps HD's purchase of MV Augusta will infuse the Company's progression to change...although changing to what would be my question.....
If HD was capturing the imagination of the market place they would build a smaller framed bike specifically for the 4' 11" woman to 5' 5" as one of the largest segments of those purchasing bikes is the "woman" rider....think about it....how many women will be introduced in the next 24 months to riding a Scooter only to discover motorcycling and that their "scooter" isn't enough for them.....if I were a stock holder I would be SCREAMING for some attention to this particular rider....So how many are sitting there wondering when HD will sell out to the "Scooter" market....and create one?
So what's my point.....my point is....on the day of the newest bikes being offered for HD in 2009, I see once again nothing that leaves me drooling for something different than what I already have....but then again...is that really all that bad....thankfully back in 1982 the team of engineers who created the FXR which in my opinion stands above all others.....
As I sat here writing this, I thought you know what @ this site/forum we really should have a "thread" that deals with the HISTORY OF THE FXR which will help to orient people about how the emergence of the CVO began as well as how the FXR came into being.....so I will link it to this thread as well when I finish it....
Here is the link to look at:
http://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index.php?topic=25417.0;allLook forward to hearing about your new FXR!
Regards,
Tim