A cool day
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04-10-2010, 03:26 PM
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Birdsboro, PA
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A cool day
My dealership, Schaeffer's in Orwigsburg PA, had a demo ride day today. Really cool. Basically you went in and signed up to ride 2 motorcycles from a list, probably could have rode more if I wanted to. I chose the FXDWG and the XR1200. They also had a XL883N (didn't ride that since I have one), a FXDF, 2 different Electra Glides, a Road King, a V-Rod, and a Fatboy Lo. Each ride was about 1/2 hour on country back roads and hilly-twisties with the last leg on the highway to get back to the dealership. I kinda wish they would have had a heritage softail, a 1200C and a standard FXD to ride. Seems like they had the niche and upscale models instead of the basic ones.
I found the Wide Glide to be similar in power to weight ratio to my Iron, but obviously much bigger and more torque, 6th gear was nice. It had what I would consider a something in between beach bars and drag bars on it... not really to my taste, it didn't handle as well as my Iron, and the ride wasn't much smoother than my iron, but a cool and fun ride, super easy to hold up and ride.
The XR1200 is high strung, same gearing as my bike, but you can really feel the difference in acceleration! It stopped and handled way better than anything I've ever ridden. It defiantly takes some skill to ride it properly. But, I felt like a pretzel on it, and the foot controls were so small I had a hard time finding them after pulling out. I had no problem flat footing it, but shorter riders would. A fun bike, but not really for me.
I was pretty worried that I'd think less of my bike, especially after riding the Dyna, but I was wrong. i got on my bike and blasted home knowing that I was riding the right bike for me.
Moral of the story, if a dealership near you has a Demo ride, go check it out, it's a good time, you can ride a bike from every line harley has, and it's free.
They also had a 48 in the shop which was already sold. It's a neat bike, with a couple features that will show up on my iron, probably in home-made fashion. I really liked the laid-down speedo, mainly because it said MILWAUKEE, USA on it; I'm a sucker for old-style stuff like that. Not sure about that big front-end and a true peanut still looks best sitting above an Iron-head motor. Would have loved to Demo that one though!
I found the Wide Glide to be similar in power to weight ratio to my Iron, but obviously much bigger and more torque, 6th gear was nice. It had what I would consider a something in between beach bars and drag bars on it... not really to my taste, it didn't handle as well as my Iron, and the ride wasn't much smoother than my iron, but a cool and fun ride, super easy to hold up and ride.
The XR1200 is high strung, same gearing as my bike, but you can really feel the difference in acceleration! It stopped and handled way better than anything I've ever ridden. It defiantly takes some skill to ride it properly. But, I felt like a pretzel on it, and the foot controls were so small I had a hard time finding them after pulling out. I had no problem flat footing it, but shorter riders would. A fun bike, but not really for me.
I was pretty worried that I'd think less of my bike, especially after riding the Dyna, but I was wrong. i got on my bike and blasted home knowing that I was riding the right bike for me.
Moral of the story, if a dealership near you has a Demo ride, go check it out, it's a good time, you can ride a bike from every line harley has, and it's free.
They also had a 48 in the shop which was already sold. It's a neat bike, with a couple features that will show up on my iron, probably in home-made fashion. I really liked the laid-down speedo, mainly because it said MILWAUKEE, USA on it; I'm a sucker for old-style stuff like that. Not sure about that big front-end and a true peanut still looks best sitting above an Iron-head motor. Would have loved to Demo that one though!
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