So as discussed with Steve at HD Cheltenham, I went back in on Saturday to talk buying bikes. He said that I was in luck, as they now had four secondhand Heritage Classics. We discussed budgets and he showed me how much a small loan to top up from my maximum price would be to buy a new one – hmmm…food for thought…..
I looked around the secondhand ones. One was a 2003 model, right price, nice paint, but no – too old, so discount that one immediately.
Then the two frontrunners, a silver 2011 ex-demonstrator with the old engine and a metallic white 2012 spec ex-demonstrator. Both at the very top end of my budget, and the 2012 one above the top end. Both were standard fit (i.e. no extras). I was really excited by the bikes themselves, but not the colours, neither of which I particularly liked nor did I think they did the bikes justice. The black or maroon colour schemes were much more in keeping with the retro styling of the bike.
Then there was the fourth bike. A secondhand 2009 model with only 1800 miles on the clock (genuine mileage). I was a bit put off by the ‘2009’ thing but had a look anyway. Well the price was still steep, but £1000 under my maximum. The bike itself was beautiful! It had a great custom paint job, a mix of off white and blue done up in a style similar to a US ‘police cruiser’ bike, all it needed as a shiny gold badge and blue lights!
My Harley Softail Heritage Classic - a beauty!
It was beautifully and tastefully accessorised with authentic HD accessories. So a great MP3 sound system, replacement foot boards and passenger pegs, rear luggage rack, leg bars, HD badge chrome engine cover, flush fitting tank caps etc.
As for condition? It was in pristine condition, you would hardly know it wasn’t new, it had been well loved!
My Harley
As I was looking at it, a regular HD customer came over and said he knew the owner, the bike had only come in yesterday as the owner had to move to Dubai for five years and it was a very reluctant sale. He said he was certain the bike would last the weekend without being sold. I had already made my mind up anyway and told Steve I wanted the bike and wasn’t going to try to haggle.
I paid for it there and then. The drawback is that it had a custom licence plate which to owner wanted to keep. So the logbooks had already gone off to the DVLC to have a normal licence plate put back on. Bottom line is that it would not be available for collection for two weeks. But this wasn’t really an issue. So that’s it, I now have the bike of my dreams!
So if you see a ‘police cruiser’ colour scheme Harley doing the rounds in the Cheltenham area, give me a wave!
