“Hello, my name is Edge.”
“Hi Edge.”
“I bought a bagger.” No one in the support group can meet my eyes, they all look away. Some gasp. This is a group that thought they had heard everything.
If you run a chopper rally for twenty years and you buy a bagger, you’re going to take some sh%!t. Oh, and I have. I knew what to expect from my “friends” before I bought an all black Electra Glide.
Even my mom commented, “June is a big Pride month. Pride this and pride that but this might be more than we can handle. Your dad never had a windshield on his motorcycle. I don’t know what has happened to you. I think your new friends are a bad influence, and why do they wear yellow T-shirts?”
At the 20th Anniversary Smoke Out, a proper chopper rally, I was on stage and the chopper riding Kathe Russell seized the microphone and publicly announced that I have an Electra Glide now. A mixed reaction of cheers and jeers erupted from the surprised crowd. Then my crew of friends brought up a pinstriped rocking chair for me. I have been outed.
So, I am just going to address this head-on. My motorcycle life had become somewhat predictable. The same rallies year after year. The same type of bikes. In my travels I came across a great H-D Dealership in Delbarton, WV called Mountain State H-D and I knew they would work with me. All kidding aside I did struggle a bit with the idea of buying a bagger but in the end, I did it.
It’s been years since I sat out in the living room looking at parts catalogs after everyone else was in bed. I have been going to some different type of motorcycle events now. My enthusiasm for riding has been energized and everything is new for me again.
Still being honest here, however. I do not remember a single time in the last thirty years that I saw a bagger, Street Glide, Road Glide, Indian or whatever that I said to myself… “Now that’s a great looking bike.” I’m still not there quite yet but now I am paying a lot more attention to how people customize these bikes.
My attraction is still more utilitarian at this point. I chose a 2019 (and ½) Electra Glide Standard manly because it has less electronic stuff on it. It’s pretty stripped down and I like that. I would have probably chosen a color other than black for the first time in my life but that wasn’t an option. I feel like I am crossing over to the dark side, by getting a bagger, so black is probably more appropriate anyway.
If I could just ride this bike stock for 5,000 miles. I would but some things just don’t fit me. A few changes had to be addressed quickly.
For me, the best money you can spent on motorcycles is to get a comfortable seat. I could fill a rail car with all the seats I tried over the years before I found Mustang. I am a huge fan of Mustang seats. They last forever and they are the most comfortable seats made. I briefly considered that the stock H-D “wasn’t horrible,” until I tried a friend’s ride and I knew this bike would also need a Mustang saddle. This saddle makes an already comfortable bike divine. I am long legged and I picked a “Super Touring” which moves me back a bit. It also has a better angle for my lower back. It’s a sublime improvement.
The stock windshield was short and directed wind straight into my face. So, I spent about 30 days of trying various windshields. I’m pretty tall so the windshield needs to be pretty tall. I felt like I just could not find the right one. There was one brand I liked a lot but in the tallest version it tended to vibrate on the sides. The wind deflection worked well but I decided the vibration along the edges was going to bug me too much.
Finally, a friend in the industry told me about what he thinks are the best windshield on the market, right now, and I gave Clearview Shields, www.clearviewshields.com (800) 798-6089 a try.
Their marketing model is direct sales, which in this instance is a big plus. They ship you a windshield and you can put it in your bike in about 7 minutes. As long as you leave the protective wrapper on the windshield you can exchange it for a higher or lower model to dial your bike in specifically to you. It is very convenient. I went with a five-inch wider windshield which to me looks much better than stock.
So that’s it for now. I want to do a stage II engine upgrade, but I’m going to use S&S parts and I’m not ready to void the warranty just yet. I’ll see y’all at the Willie’s Tropical Tattoo Bike show in Daytona, October 17th. I’ll be checking out the cool bikes, but I’m riding a bagger down there. My how times change.
