My New Harley Davidson

My 2011 Harley Davidson FLSTSE2  CVO Softail Convertible

Firstly, I should mention I just sold a fantastic Honda that I put over 20K miles on. And in several cases, especially new riders, I’d suggest the exact bike I had as being possibly the best possible bike you can buy.  For me though, I always wanted a Harley, even when I put down the check for that Honda a decade ago, this is what I really wanted to ride.

Well, I’m there. Old dudes, 40 year midlife crisis, however you want to look at it,  I have the exact bike I want. It was custom made for me, it literally had my name on the front forks as it went down the line and passed off to the team that put most of the detail stuff on by hand.  (That’s how the Harley CVO line works, you have to special order them and a huge chunk of the bike is hand built because they’re so different than the regular lines. My bike is basically a softail, but totally decked out.)

In terms of general design, and even bike design, it’s a work of art. And once it’s actually running in motorcycle mode, it’s just flat bad ass. I’ve gotta say more than that right? You probably aren’t looking for bad ass, you probably want the details from a real owner.

The Compliments

Stability : It feels so incredibly stable. Maybe it’s the wide tires, or how low the weight is on the bike, but the fact that it’s literally twice as big as my last engine seems to not matter. I swear it’s easier to handle on the road, and even at stop signs. It’s just all around comfortable with respect to stability. I must admit I was a little freaked out about jumping from 750CC’s to 1800+, but you really wouldn’t even know the difference. Hell, even when a passenger climbs on it’s easier. Any motorcyclist will tell you that the entire time from when a passenger throws a leg over all the way until they are sitting solidly on the seat is spooky.

Braking : Braking is unreal. The braking system, even though the bike is so much heavier is just amazing. You’d think it’d be difficult to stop such a heavy bike. But, it has full hydrolic /disk brakes in front in back. Man Harley nailed brakes.

Acceleration : It’s a freakin’ rocket — no joke.  It jumps like a race bike, and I bet five bucks I could take down most sport bikes right off the block if I was into that but I’m not. Still, any rider will tell you acceleration keeps you safe when people are trying to run you over. For this bike, it’s like turning on a fire hose, and that definitely adds to the safety factor.

Starting : It starts way better in the cold than I would expect it to. There’s no choke either. I don’t know how the engine designers pulled that off.

The paint : Man, I really debated just buying a different bike just because the paint was blue and I believe all motorcycles should be black. When it’s right in front of you though, that deep blue, all the chrome, holy crap it’s just stunning. And it’s such a deep color too, layered. Kind of like how some foods have a rich flavor you have to taste for a few extra seconds, the paint has a rich appearance. It must be 20+ coats to get it to look like that.

The detail : It’s hard to believe the amount of detail in this bike… Every bolt, carefully placed. Leather and chrome work are unbelievable.. Every color contrast carefully considered. I can’t say enough about all the detail in this bike. Sure all most all Harleys are pretty nice, but you really have to look at this particular bike. And that brings me to what I marvel at the most..

The metal — and the craftsmanship :  You should see the metal pieces on this bike. The craftsmanship is unbelievable. Clips, housings, whatever. It’s all solid as a rock, all the joints and fittings fit together to make it like one big block of steel. Everything fits together so cleanly, nothing out of place. And it’s all metal. No plastic, none.

Design Flaws
I’m technical, I think about design a lot. So, let me rant a bit — the rants don’t come close to the compliments, like maybe 5% rant, 95% compliment, but the rants need to be said.

1. No power in the front, you’ve gotta be &*%$#@ kidding me. The top of the line CVO with a built in MP3 playing system speakers and all, and no charger, plug, adapter, or anything.. HUGE design oversight and it’s going to be a solid 500+ bones to fix. People like me who can afford this bike are full of gadgetry, and my iPhone battery won’t last for the full length of a ride. Neither will a GPS. I’m so miffed I think Harley should go on a road show and fix it for every FLSTSE2 owner in the country.

2. Levers and things are angled for big dudes and I’m only big on the inside. I guess I have smaller fingers compared to the other riders of this bike line. I try to explain it with this diagram, at least the front controls. Look at the picture, it’s roughly how I pull the clutch and the break, basically with one finger because of the angle.  The picture on the right is what I think they should have been. What’s it like to pull at that angle? Think of squeezing a softer racquetball with just your thumb and index finger, and at the base of that lever. It’s not long before it hurts like a SOB. I tried really hard to find a different angle lever — like what’s on the right. But both systems are hydrolic so there aren’t many options. And as a climber and a swing dancer, I probably have some pretty strong fingers. The angle makes those levers just kind of stick out too far.  All that detail and that’s what they came up with?

3. The hydraulic clutch is really difficult to work with in stop and go traffic. I’ve released the clutch and stalled the bike about 6 times already. With that, I have to say the other side. After the bike is moving — ahh man that hydrolic system is a dream. But, I ride in NYC. Straight up — lemme ride the clutch a little easier on the stop and go next time please.

4. The gas gauge itself kind of sticks. That may be related to the cold, like the bike needs to warm up for it to start showing what it needs. It’s also kind of hard to see the gas gauge, I have to lean forward to see it. It’s nice to have a gas gauge by the way, I’m really sick of waiting for my odometer to hit 100 miles before I fill her up… but still it’s kinda hard to see. And if you ride, you know you have to constantly monitor your fuel. (range on a typical motorcycle is about 100 miles I’d guess.)

6. To see if the bike has the turn signal on, you have to take your eyes off the road, there’s no other way. It really makes me think twice about using them before I click them. If there WASN’T  a system to shut them off it’d be different. You’d simply turn on the signal, execute the turn, and then manually flip it off. But, there is an accelerometer, so sometimes the signal shuts itself off. Basically, every time you flip it on, you have to look to see if the accelerometer shut it off or not. I foresee many future miles with a random blinking light coming from the back of my bike.

7. The passenger seat strap. There’s always a little strap on a motorcycle passenger seat that allows the passenger to hold on to something other than the driver. It’s kind of loose on my bike, but it’s loose because of the way the seat is shaped in a bit of a V. So it slips, kind of rides forward. Kind of like how roll up a shirt sleeve and it just eventually messy-like floats down. It creates a noticible imperfection in the lines and I can’t help but notice it. Actually, I’m becoming a little neurotic about it, but I have a little OCD.  Still.. Custom leather seats with all forms of alligator skin stuff, detail to the nines, and they didn’t think about that strap riding forward?

The Real Experience

Riding this bike is fun, seriously. Riding my last bike was like eating because you need to eat or you’ll die. Riding this bike is like enjoying every smell of your favorite 5 course Italian restaurant. Same time spent on two wheels, but a totally different experience.

It’s a work of art and people appreciate it. Sure, there’s a little pride when people stop cold in their tracks and talk about your bike to you and trust me that will happen all the time.. But it’s just so freakin’ awesome that you can’t help but agree with them. I don’t know how others will handle these situations, but it really makes me want to let people stop and look at it. It’s almost like riding a legacy, like how you respect an old soldier by listening to his stories, with this bike you want to share it with people to respect all the people who created it. My wife says it’s just a bike. Many, myself included would say she’s nuts. I know it’s all about money, jobs, sales, commerce, brands, all of that.. But when you throw your leg over the saddle of this bike it all seems to go away.