Well, yesterday was the day that I got my wife to drive me to the dealer so I could pick up and ride my V-Rod home. I used to ride 20 years ago and last december a friend with a Buell and a sportster offered to take a spin. That was it, I was hooked again. I had set out to buy a Road King but I was seduced by the V-Rod. Anyway, I got to the dealer around 5:30 pm, they close at 8:00. This was Thursday and it was geeting real chilly here in the northeast. Buy the time I got out of there it was pushing 7:00 pm and I had an 80 mile ride home. There was a threat of rain at any time and once it started it was going to be here for the next 4 to 5 days. So I pulled out of the dealers lot and my first stop was to fill up with fuel. It was a Sunocostation and I filled up with 94 Premium. Then I had my first amature moment, when the gas tank was full it splashed some gas back and it ran down the left side of the bike. Yeah, I felt really stupid. I am open to any feedback that will prevent this from happening ever again. It seems a bit difficult to knowwhen it is near the top. Well my cruise home was all interstate and it was now about 47 degrees and gettiing dark. Good thing that I bought a new jacket, gloves and a long sleevedHD shirt before I left. Things where ok until I was crusing around 65 - 70, that is when 47 started to feel like 27. But I was determined and happy about getting my new ride home. onceI started to get comfortable with the feel of the bike I decided to feel what that high rpm powerband was all about. This thing went from 60 to 90 in an instant, I could not beleive thepower that was at hand andI was not even fully utilizing it. WOW, I can not wait for somewarm sunny weather. I used about 3/4 of my fuel getting home, I will be stopping for gas often with this small tank.

I have to problems that I will need to resolve before I get into any kind of aesthetic or performance mods.

1) I noticed that when cruising at lower rpms ( 2500 to 4000) that there seems to be a little bit of mild power surgeing when I was not leaning into the throttle. This would happen when I was not accellerating nor decellerating but when I was just maintaing a slower cruise speed. I fixed this by downshifting and cruising in a lower gear at higher rpms. Though I do not believe that this should happen. The V-Rod would sound great on a thickly settled side road when not being aggresive.

2) The rear view mirrors have gotto go. What where the thinking? All I could see was my elbows. I had to release my left hand and lean to the right in order to see behind me. This was not cool. I can not stand not knowing where all vehicles are in relation to me. This will be my very firstmod. I know that othersmust have found great solutions to this and I want to hear them all.

I am 5'10" and about 200 lbs. The stock seat was ok, but I may want a sundowner in the future. I need to find someone in my area with one on their V-Rod so that I cansit onit.

The first thing my wife said was that it did not look like a Harley. "It needs those two lights on each side of the headlight". I just laughed and agreed that I like that classic look also.Has anybody ever tried toinstall a set of softail nacelle lights on a V-Rod? I played around in Photoshop a little and added these lights and I have to say that it did bring that classic look to the V-Rod without fairings and windshields.

Another small thing that I noticed is that when cruising at 80 - 90 mph my feet wanted to lift right of the pegs. I am only asize 10.5 but I could imagine if I had 12 or 13's.

Well today was all rain and itlooks like we got a few days of this so I am going to do a lot of research regarding these issues. Thanks a lot for all your input and to all the members of this forum as well as 1130cc.com. I am screen name Hi-Def over at 113