Its finally here! I picked it up this morning and brought her home. This is my first bike ever and I'm jazzed. I get my full "M" endorsement on 23 January, but have learner's permit, will ride!
1450cc's of air-cooled, fuel injected, v-twin goodness!! Some pics. We all like pics.
All strapped up and ready to go home. Three straps and she didn't move an inch.
Here she is gettin all salty behind my truck. Now I "have" to spend a few hours in the garage cleaning her up!
And home, about to go for her first ride in my name. Was a touch dicey. The guy had just changed out the triple tree so the alignment is a little tweaked plus one 500m section of my road is just about solid ice, but I did fine!
Thanks folks! I can already tell I'm going to like this bike. Talk about easy to work on.
Got it into the garage and starting going over a few things.
Momma says this is why I don't have nice things...
I tried to figure out how to disconnect the turn signals and hand control wires, but couldn't find them buried in the loom. So I pulled out the POS Power Commander III (up for sale soon) and tidied the front wires up a little bit. Much gooder.
She had sporty shocks on her so those had to come off and stock Dyna shocks put back on.
The guy was also not running rear turn signals so I had to install those. He also forgot to include the little standoff chrome jimmer jammer (technical term) so I had to get a little creative. I'll figure out how to clean up the wires later, but this works cleanly for now.
A lot of cleaning, some more wiring - he cut the fuel gauge wire when he removed the tank, dumb ass - a little de-stickering, and popped the old man's air cleaner cover back on. And it started up after having everything ripped apart!!
So I've been a Harley owner for all of 12 hours now and I think I'm on a good start! More to follow as I keep working on stuff. I can't help myself and will constantly be messing with this bike.
LOL - I had to call 3-4 times as I was taking things apart. Questions like, "Is this bike metric or standard?" since the first couple bolts were either 1/2" or 13mm. And a few other questions as well. I'll get the hang of this bike yet!
Hahah! I forced my wife to come out into the "cold" - it is North Carolina after all - to snap a couple. I couldn't get her into the garage to show all the little tweaks though because I spilled gas all over the place like 8 times when I was getting the tank off. She has something against gas fumes, to me it just made working on the bike a little more interesting....
Those little balance hoses need quick release fittings like the main feed has!
If anyone checks and knows, my throttle and idle cable elbows are loose up at the bars. Loose as in I can rotate them as far as the physical cable length will let me. Is this normal or might this be a result of homeboy laying it down?
Congrats on the new bike, it looks pretty sharp. I thought it sat low in the pics but I see you changed the shocks out. Why did you put stock shocks on it? I put Progressives on the rear of my Low Rider and they are so much better than the stock ones. What kind of pipes are those and do they sound good? I have Vance & Hines Bigshots on mine and they sound great.
Interface and the way they tune seems crude to me. I've been tuning turbo-charged Hondas for a few years now and I don't trust anything that uses TPS to make fuel adjustments. Without wideband O2 feedback to see what your changes to the maps are doing to your AFRs, its really just guesswork. There are too many variables in temperature, barometric pressure and everything else to rely on a one-size/condition fits all tune. I'm a control freak. I want closed loop tuning off O2 feedback and the PC III USB does not do that.
And just got back from my virgin ride to get some oil filters and swing by the dealership for....well, nothing, just wanted to go there. It is one cold mother out there! While its a balmy 43° out, jeans, no windshield and a half helmet don't do much to keep a body warm!
Good idea on the boxes arriving explanation! I believe if your throttle elbow and brake cable elbow are loose the cables are not adhust correctly. but then I may be wrong. The way HD changes **** very year it's hard to keep up with what's supposed to work how!
It aint frigging cold until your eyelids freeze in position from your eyes watering do to the wind; the snot running out of your nose freezes on your mustache and your fingers freeze to the handlebars and somebody has to break the ice to pry them off when you stop!
BUT.......... you still keep riding!
Yeah, I have a bit of compulsion where I can't help tearing things apart once I get my hands on them. Its getting better because they are starting to still work once I put them back together! All those extra leftover parts are just sprung weight that I no longer have to worry about.....
Nice bike! Just a tip....always ride with a pair of boots! Not sneakers! I could never take my 2010 FXDC out on salted roads! Never! That is why I am getting an enclosed trailer this spring.....
LOL - don't worry that was just a ride around the block. I have my old field corcorans - that have seen many miles with a ruck on my back - that I use when I ride. Most comfortable pair of boots I have ever owned.
Nice bike! Just a tip....always ride with a pair of boots! Not sneakers! I could never take my 2010 FXDC out on salted roads! Never! That is why I am getting an enclosed trailer this spring.....
Was checking the alignment of the forks and handlebars on my bike as I don't trust the original owner's work. Here's my high-tech method:
That done, I moved on to a little fluid change. Pulled the oil plug out, felt a little odd... moved on to the transmission. Went inside to let things drain and check fluid capacities (no owner's manual) and then came back out to plug things up and add a little greasy stuff.
Mothertruckin oil plug is stripped out. Hooray. Now I get to fix that tomorrow first thing instead of going riding.
So much for the fix and the coast. She pissed out about 3/4 of quart between the gas station and back. We'll see if JB Weld works, if not then its on to Heli-Coil and if that doesn't work I'll pull the pan and re-tap a new hole.
might want to reconsider that. when you get to the stage where you decide to tune it,shoot me a PM.I will give you a call and we can discuss better options. your ECM will be fine. no need to upgrade to one that will allow closed loop.
Since I couldn't ride the bike today while the epoxy sets on my new drain plug fix I decided to polish her up and take a couple photos. Chrome may not get you home, but it sure takes a shine.
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