To get a bike to the point I won’t have to worry about it breaking down on me much if at all, since working on it in the ‘garage’ and/or on the side of the road is *very* difficult for me physically and monetarily. Don’t really care about how it looks, I *need* it to run well and go damn near forever. These are also the reasons I went back to carb’d bikes. Had an ’09 FXD that was nothing but trouble and hated anything to do from then on with computer controlled bikes.
Being disabled with a messed up back from a work accident back in 2000, I found that sitting on a bike hurts me far less than sitting in a vehicle, so having thought I’d never get to be on a bike again after the accident and then finding I *could* sit a sled, I went and got me a bike. Also, since I now had to survive on a tiny disability check, the bike has been the only transportation I own and it’s great on gas at 45 mpg!
Two years ago this Mother’s Day 2024, a car T-boned me while I was on my 1998 FXD Super Glide, which I’d also taken a year or two to get to where I wanted it. It totaled the bike and gave me a compound fracture of both calf bones (I now have a metal rod from the knee to the ankle in the bigger of the two bones and metal braces screwed to both sides of the ankle and knee), a punctured lung, all ribs on left side broken…half helmet unscratched.
When I finally got the insurance settlement, I was barely able to afford a new bike. When I found the one I wanted and could afford, I proceeded to take all the parts off the FXD I had accumulated and put them on the FLSTC – everything is aftermarket – EV13 cam, S&S Quikee Pushrods, lifters, metal breather valve gear, Timken cam bearing, S&S ‘E’ carb w/air cleaner, grips, cam position sensor, I changed every light bulb on the bike – literally all of them – to LED, I was able to use most of the LED bulbs I had in the FXD on the FLSTC – including the panel bulbs. The headlight and passing lamps are LED but not off the FXD, of course. V&H Big Shots Long full exhaust (though I wish I had gone with the true duals!). The stock saddlebags on FLST’s are garbage and can barely hold a six-pack, so, I pulled those off and went straight to the place I’ve used since 2011 – Leatherworks.com – and got them to make me a set of ‘bags…now I can put *6* six-packs in each bag. I had to replace the speedometer as the original was finally doing what most of the evo-aged bikes do – the LCD mileage indicator was getting dark in places and it wouldn’t light up to show my mileage until it got over 50 degrees – and for those who know Heritage’s, they have no gas gauge, so one has to learn to go by the mileage they’ve gone to know when to fill up with gas. New Michelin Commander II tires front and rear (I’ve had fantastic mileage from these tires on my FXD’s and they do extremely well on wet and other conditions). I’m going to ditch the spoked rims, as I just getting too old and my back just can’t handle messing with inner tubes and then the tires when replacing them, so, I got a front and rear rim from a ’95 Fatboy (the solid aluminum both), and just waiting for a time I have no doctor appointments for three or four days to take the tires off the spoked rims and put them on the Fatboy rims so I also don’t have to worry so much with blowouts while travelling – non-tube tires can be repaired on the side of the road. The tall sissy bar I had gotten for my ’98 FXD, and I got *extremely* lucky and found the brass Harley Eagle insert – for less than $30! – one now can’t be had for less than $180 (yes, brass…it even turns green and I have to use a toothbrush and vinegar to clean it and then wax the hell out of it so it’ll last another 7 or 8 months before I have to do it again)!
I had to rent a car to drive with my OL from west TN to Durham, NC to pick up the bike, as trying to get it transported here was going to cost too much and take no less than three weeks to get here. Riding the bike home with the OL following, it rained the whole time, but luckily it never got below 50F, and I came prepared with all my leathers, so being used to riding in even the coldest of winter, this was an easy ride. I hate windshields though, and somewhere near the border on the NC side still, I stopped at a Lowes, bought a wrench, and took the windshield off and placed it leaning against the wall of the store for whomever knew what it was and wanted it and rode off.
That I had several friends spread around the country that I’ve known for 10+ years help me out financially or with parts while trying to get back on my feet after the wreck with my bike and life matters. That I did/do *ALL* the work on my own, including whenever I have to change tires, and sometimes having to have the patience to save up for months to be able to get a part I wanted and needed that I knew would be ‘better’ than what was on the bike already.
The guys say ‘Nice bike’. The women say ‘Nice bike, I like the color.’, apparently the violet pearl isn’t seen much and does something to women, heh. I personally hate the color, but it’s all I could afford and find for the price.
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