Funny how things just have a way of sorting themselves out sometimes...
1 week ago today on Father's Day, I had my first motorcycle accident in 40 years of riding. The bike sustained superficial, cosmetic damage and I ended up with a fractured ankle. I would have to say that I was damned lucky - it could have been so much worse. I had sent my seat to Alligator Bob to have the hammock seat slimmed down and was using a reach demo seat from the dealer. The seating position felt great and then this.
I was travelling westbound on a rural highway and met up with a vehicle that was eastbound on a very tight 90 degree corner. I ended up smacking into the car's rear door and kept it upright for another 50-60' until I was able to come to a complete stop and then gently laid her over on the right side engine guard. (See attached pic).
In any event, you know when you reach that point that you and the bike just aren't a good fit....well I am at the point with this bike. I'm sure that it will be great for someone and give them many years of excellent riding....just not me. I am going to get it repaired back to showroom standard and offer it up for sale. PM me if you or someone you know is interested. I am likely going to go back to riding an FLHTK.
it's been an interesting forum - you guys have offered up some good information and I appreciate it.
Take care
Soot
Soot - first, I want to say that I was really sad to read about your accident, and I wish you a speedy recovery. Looks like you were able to minimize the damage to YOU first, and the bike second. Bikes are a lot easier to fix than are people! Glad you weren't any more seriously injured - but any injury is bad.
Reading this thread got me to thinking about why one bike, such a Limited, would "fit" you, whereas another bike, like your CUSE8, would not. They are exactly the same bike - except for the seat, the 110" engine vs the 103" engine, the wheels, and all of the CVO chrome doodads.
I am 5'9" with a 30" inseam and a 33" reach. Simply finding the right seat for you would help immensely, I think. No need to sell the CVO and take the financial hit.
When I bought the Honey Badger, I made LOTS of mods - starting with the seat. You think the Hammock is bad - try riding on the thin, useless little stock pan on the FLHXSE3! I tried a Reach - no good - put me WAY too far forward and super-cramped. Luckily I didn't have an accident as you did. I returned the Reach.
Then I tried a Hammock that I bought on here - no good at ALL for me - I sat way too high, and the BSR position was way too low in relation to the rider. The neck was too wide for me too, and my boys didn't like it. I hated the Hammock. Luckily, I was able to sell it someone on here for what I paid for it.
Then I found a beautiful Corbin DualTour on here with orange and silver flame stitching. The seller couldn't sell it, I guess because of the orange flames. The look was perfect for the Honey Badger tho... so I bought it, along with rider and passenger backrests and the matching TP backrest, for $400. I got lucky... It would have cost 3 times that if I had bought it new from Corbin. I was also able to sell the stock seat and sissy bar for the same $400 to someone ELSE on here. So in effect, I was able to upgrade from suck-ass thin stock seat to a Corbin custom leather DualTour for $0.
The only problem with the DualTour is that it sucks for a BSR. The rear seat is narrow, and slopes forward - making the passenger slide forward into the rider backrest. Not good. SO, I bought a nice Mustang Super Touring Wide Vintage seat with the integrated rider back rest, along with a matching Mustang TP backrest. Good for me and perfect for a BSR... Nice and wide and comfy for both of us! Those two items new set me back about $850 tho... Yikes! Gotta keep Momma happy tho... even tho she rarely rides BSR with me... preferring to ride her nimble little Ninja 650 scooter herself.
I use the Corbin when riding solo without the TP on, and the Mustang when riding two-up with the TP. I prefer the Corbin for me on long rides because it is so firm - but the Mustang is fine for me, too.
As far as bars, that's an endless discussion. I hated the stock bars, so I went with the Wild One Chubbys 575 bars. They are MUCH better than the stock bars. That was before the WO 578 bars came out, tho. If I were replacing bars today, I might go with the 578 bars - even tho I would probably need to get longer clutch and brake lines. The 578s look and feel awesome, but I am OK with the 575s I have.
Anyway, think on it before you sell your CUSE8... It all starts with the right seat, as has been said in this thread... then, the bars. That may be all you need...
Sorry for the dissertation here. Good luck in whatever you choose to do, and always Ride Safe!
Ken
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Topic: Regret buying a 2013 CVO Ultra :-( (Read 22964 times)