| Author | Message | ||
     Mikej |
Finally got my 2-up cruiser, rode it home last night, 1991 FLTCU. A few little things to work on over the winter, but it works for what I got it for. Will probably swap out the handlebars and probably get a windscreen that's slightly lower, but other than fixing a few relatively minor things and doing corrective maintenance that will be about it. Haven't decided if I want to fit a trailer hitch onto it yet. 60,000 miles or so on the odometer, and it handles way different than either the M2 or S2, plus I cook in my helmet and jacket on it which is why I'll be getting a shorter screen. Anyway, here's the pics:    I thought we had a similar thread on the site here but I couldn't find it with a quick search, so post your's here if you've got them. | ||
| Chainsaw |
Good for you! I know a few guys with them puppies and they all love 'em. I'm gonna demo one next month just to see what all the fuss is about. Hope yours treats you well.  | ||
| Mikej |
Thanks. Needed something my wife was comfortable riding on with me. It's an original owner trade-in. I've been looking for something like this for several years. Should be good for years to come. | ||
| Swampy |
Look at the front brake rotor covers! Get the flat black out! Thats the bike I'm missing in my garage. Good on you, my wife has been bugging me about getting one of those. | ||
| Road_thing |
Here's one of me and the Road Pig.  You're gonna love it, Mike... rt | ||
| Rich |
Nice bike, Mike. I know you'll enjoy it.  | ||
| Prof_stack |
Hey, that backrest for the driver is going to get you really spoiled. It really makes the long ride much better. Well done! | ||
| Mikej |
The backrest did get in the way a little this morning with my small backpack. I could have thrown the backpack into the trunk box but I guess some habits are hard to let go of. Those front rotor covers hide what appears to be dual solid disks, no way to use a disk lock so I threw the NYC chain and lock into the trunk for now. Rich, Nice line of bikes you have there, probably close to what I'll eventually end up with. RT, Is that a trailer hitch on your bike? If so how do you like it? And that pic of your bike in the roadside ditch grass that you post sometimes is making me keep an eye open around here for a similar photo op. Maybe I'll just take one down by the harbor instead. Prof_Stack, Thanks. Have you been posting any pics lately? I really like some of the Seattle shots you've posted in the past. | ||
| Rich |
Mike, I pulled a trailer for a couple years, when my wife and I traveled more. Coast to coast. We did a lot of camping then, and the more stuff you have with you, the more fun it is, at least to me. It took a little of the bike feeling away, but after a while it was OK. All I had to do was remember it was there. My only ohshit moment was when riding in the Rockies, I really had to adjust my braking. I enjoy my small collection of bikes. It's hard to think about which one has to go, in order to get a 1125. | ||
| Jackbequick |
Nice looking ride Mike. I'm still confused about the need for footboards and fairings so I'm going to give the Dyna another year or two. It has been in the 80's to 90's here a lot lately and I love riding it with the windshield off and little or no wind shielding around the legs and torso. I think I'd like give something like Thang's a try as an intermediate step before I move on to something with fairings. Tom, the road pig is a basic FLH model is it not? Is the windshield quick detachable? Jack | ||
| Mikej |
The fairing/windshield does block a lot of wind so I'm looking at a slightly lower windshield or some sort of cooling vents to direct more airflow to me in the summertime. My fullface helmet and perforated Vanson jacket are like sweat boxes without the airflow of the Buells. But when the temps start to drop, or if I get into a rain storm, or hit a big bunch of bugs, then the windshield and fairing will be nice. The floorboards are just comfortable for cruising. Footpegs are nice, floorboards are just a different deal. Dyna's and FXR's were on my watch list as well as a basic RoadKing, came close on one or two locally, but this deal I couldn't pass up. Tested the electric cruise control last night and it works nice, comparable to cruise control in a car (sort of). Found out the radio has a weather radio function/frequencies built into it which is nice. And my wife doesn't poke me in the ribs to tell me to slow down on this bike so I know she's a lot more comfortable and feels more secure on it. | ||
| Road_thing |
Mike: No hitch, just the HD chrome emblem.  Jack: It's a standard Road King, '96 model. Windshield pulls off without tools in about 5 seconds. This has been the most reliable bike I've ever owned. Closing in on 80,000 miles and so far, other than tires, brake pads and a clutch cable, all I've replaced has been the clutch and the belt/pulleys. The only bike-stopping issue I've ever had on the Pig came earlier this year after the belt/pulley replacement--the "mechanic" who did the job (not me, this time) didn't put Loctite on the bolts that hold the transmission pulley retaining plate on, and it loosened up enough to let the pulley move out on the shaft and strip the splines. In Kyle, Texas, 2 hours from the Ranchito. In 100 degree heat/95% humidity. And right in front of a liquor store with a nice shady front porch and a delightful young lady behind the counter who kept me company while I waited for Little_Thing to bring the pickup.  Life is good. rt | ||
| Jackbequick |
Thanks for the details Tom. Sad thing about the bad work and bad luck on that. I'm thoroughly convinced I can do just about anything short of a major overhaul for mine. This winter will probably be time for a new belt (50,000+) and I'll do the swingarm bushings and stuff while I'm there. I just put a set of Metzler ME 880 Marathon tires on my Dyna today. Well, yesterday and today. What A Wonderful Thing These Are! All the "hunting" and "wandering" that came and went with running patches/and cracks is gone. The ME 880's have a very neutral feel as you go from heeled over to vertical and I'm spending a lot less time thinking about where I want the bike to go. I started chasing the cracks and stuff and it was just like it was on rails, not the slightest quiver. My FXD came with the more or less standard Harley branded Dunlop D401/D402 combo. Those were nearing the ends of their useful lives and I suspected I would be happier with something different. The ME 880's have a more rounded shape and there are no sipes parallel to direction of travel like there were on the Dunlops. They look more like the tires used on sports/cruisers. For my Dyna I used: Front: 100/90 - 19 Rear: 130/90 - 16 The front was a slight increase in size over the 90/90-19 that was on it, I did have to remove the nuts on the fender bolts to get the tire past them. Small price to pay for the extra rubber and good feeling. I paid about $100 more for the Metzlers than the best deal I could have gotten on another set of the same Dunlops. But I'm pretty much going to avoid Dunlops from here out based on my experience with them on the M2 and now on the Dyna. I hope to get a couple of years out of these, maybe 10,000 miles or so. Anyone else running these? Or have any feedback on them or other tires for Geezer Glides and Cruisers? It is too hot to enjoy a ride here today, I'm going to get out of here early in the morning and get to work on getting these guys deglazed and see if I can get rid of a little of the "porcupine" look. Jack | ||
| Leftcoastal |
I've been using ME 880's on my 94 RoadKing for 3 or 4 sets now. They do not have the longevity that the Dunlops are known for, but the handling difference is well worth the payoff. If I was running the OEM tires, they would have had to scrape my mangled a$$ off of Angeles Crest years ago. The Metzlers are so much better than the Dunlops (handling-wise) that there is really no comparison. They do get kinda 'funny' on the freeway rain grooves when worn, though - the rear tire on the 'King was letting me know it's time for a new one... | ||
| Jackbequick |
Do you think you are getting 10,000 or so out of them? I got my bike used and don't know what the mileage was on the tires. I put almost 4,000 on them in the year I've had it. The Dunlops were rated at 9/32" groove depth new for measuring wear, I had about 2/32" left on the front and 3/32" on the back. But the back was noticeably flattened in the center and the front starting to show some scalloping and flat spots. I think your "funny on the rain grooves" is what I was feeling on mine. I was spending way too much time "experiencing things" and wondering where the bike was going to go. Nice endorsement for Dunlop. "Lousy tires but they last forever..." Jack | ||
| Nevrenuf |
 i'm not ashamed to say i own one. i'll be taking it up to chattanooga with me to be with his other brother's and sister tomorrow. cruisers are great fot the long haul but every thing i've heard from uly owner's is that theyre not bad either. maybe one day. | ||
| Prof_stack |
Touring cruisers are great for the long haul. The rubber mounted Harleys really get you down the road in comfort. Plus, they are rolling time machines that will never look quirky or old, unlike their riders!  | ||
| Cityxslicker |
This is as close as I get to baggin and geezer glide. Actually this saved me from having to purchase an electra glide. Thanks Caribou  | ||
| Kano832003 |
The new bike. 2004 Harley-Davidson Road King Police Edition. -Barge  | ||
| Mikej |
I checked last night and mine has the D402F/D402 combo on it. They look fairly new so the previous owner recently put them on, or the shop did just prior to putting it out for sale. I'm reading up on the True-Track/Ride-Str8/Sta-Bo upgrades over on the v-twinforums pages to see if that will firm up the handling, but with 65,000 miles on the bike I figure the previous owner managed to keep it between the ditches somehow. Yesterday I found out the rear brake pedal doesn't activate the brake lights, but the front brake does, so I've added that to the list of stuff to tinker with. It is nice to have the room to carry stuff, and a full face helmet fits in the rack box just fine. The side bags could use a little redesign upgrade but I'm not going to be bolting on any KLR boonie boxes to it. | ||
| Jackbequick |
Mikej, I had my back wheel off in the course of getting the new tires on. I was looking at where and the way the brake pressure switch is mounted on my FXD and that might be worth checking first. It is on the brake line behind the master cylinder and in place that exposes it and the two female slide on terminals that connect to the switch to a lot of dirt and possible damage from rocks and stuff. I bought a CenterStand work stand and it has turned out to be great for working on the Dyna. Should work as well on a Road King. Well made and strong too. You can raise front or rear and use if from either side of the bike. I was able to put the bike on the CenterStand and remove both wheels when I did my tires. I used a floor jack under the front engine mount to raise the front and remove the front wheel first. Then I lowered the front down onto some wood blocks until the forks were only 2-3" off the floor and that gave me plenty of room to get the rear wheel out. I had one of the CenterStand work stands for my M2 and was happy with that so I got the Dyna one. They make work stands for Buell tubers, XB's, and Blasts. Jack | ||
| Mikej |
Turned out the rear brake light switch issue was simply one of those spadelug connectors had fallen off, pushed it back on and all is better now. I hadn't even thought of looking at the Centerstand option even though I have one for the Buells. When I first read your post I was picturing in my mind how to use the Buell one under the floorboard mounts, then I clicked the link and that makes more sense now. These beasts are just a little bit bigger and heavier than the Buells so they take a little more caution when tilting them over and moving them around. Heel walking it out of the garage the other morning I started to slip a little on some loose rock-dirt on the pavement and almost lost it, at least not too many people are up and about at 5am. | ||
| Road_thing |
+1 on the Centerstand. It's great. rt | ||
| Jackbequick |
I've fallen over in the garage twice now. Foot slipped on sandy footprint and it just went away. I saved most of that one. On the second I got a pant leg tangled on a foot peg as I was putting my foot down and then there was nothing to take the weight. On that one, my leg got trapped and it was a bit of a hassle to get out and get it back up. No damage on either one. On the last one the wheels were about horizontal and stayed there a while as I got myself out. On that one, there was some easily cleaned up and replaced oil leakage from the oil tank or gear box. I straddle the bike whenever moving it, not beside it. Jack | ||
| Mikej |
Rode the black Buell in to work today. After riding the bagger for a few weeks now the M2 felt like a mini-bike, felt like it weighs about the same as a bicycle, nearly threw it over lifting it off the sidestand in the garage this morning, took about 15 miles before it felt like a "normal" bike again. Funny stuff the way we get used to something. |
