So now I have a feel for Harleys, I have started doing the sums and considering the option.
I am now certain that I want a ‘touring capable’ Harley and that no other make will do. I have narrowed my choices down to a bike from either the Dyna range or the Softail range. I would prefer the Softail, but this is a more expensive range.
I started out looking at £10,000 maximum and for sure, I could get a reasonable secondhand bike that is a couple of years old with anywhere from a few thousand to twenty thousand miles on it. Harleys hold their value amazingly well, certainly compared to car and even to other makes of motorbike.
One is then drawn into the ‘for a few hundred more I could get…..’ inflationary cycle. Now before I know it, I am starting to think about £15,000 as my absolute ceiling with a preferred price of £12,000 - £13,000.
This means that I could probably afford a new Dyna Switchback, with a decent two-up saddle and sissy bar. This has the attraction of being new and has the new, bigger engine and better cooling etc.
Or, I could get a perfectly good and even better looking Softail Classic for about the same price or maybe a bit less, with all the goodies. The drop-dead gorgeous classic looks, windshield, King and Queen seat with sissy bar, leather saddle bags etc. OK, a year or two old and a few thousand on the clock, but so what.
Well at least my thinking has now narrowed my choices down. I think my next step is maybe to go to the Harley dealership again in, say late-November and take trial rides on each bike and see how each feels. If they are both good, then I will speak to the dealership and tell them what I am thinking and ask them for the best deal on both types of bikes, given that I can buy in a matter of days / weeks in what is after all the ‘off-season’ for bike sales, when traditionally, sellers are keen to cut a deal.
Whichever bike I judge the deal to be best on will probably be the one that I buy. If they are not in the mood to drop prices, I will try another dealer. If no dealer is in the mood to drop prices and offer me a premium deal on an off-season sale, then I may as well wait it out until next spring and join the crowd of spring buyers, but I suspect that I should be able to cut a decent deal for a December or January sale.
That of course leaves me with the problem of where and how to store the bike over the winter. I already have some ideas and options, but I will also perhaps discuss this with the dealer, perhaps I could buy it and store it on their premises over the winter.
That’s my thinking. I feel happier now that I have narrowed it down to two or three Harley models.
While I already have a full set of bike clothing, it is modestly priced stuff and not really suitable for hot summer biking. It will do for now and for the spring, but by next summer, I will need better quality stuff and intercoms etc.
So I have already made a trip to both Harley and Hein Gericke. There is a huge temptation to buy Harley branded stuff, but the only thing I may look at would be a Leather Jacket. Having said that, I saw an excellent leather jacket at Hein Gericke which was treated with a UV reflective finish that cannot be seen, it looks in all respects like a normal leather jacket. Good provision for body armour and excellent ventilation, it is rated as being excellent for summer touring and for winter.
I have also pretty much decided on a convertible full-face / open-face helmet from Nolan with a build-in eye shade and optional hood. I will have this fitted with a double set of Bluetooth intercom / bike-to-bike kit. I will also go for Kevlar jeans / cargo pants for ‘hot day’ biking and keep my cheap Shelltex padded trousers for rain or cold weather. I do need a decent pair of glove, but I am happy with my cheap Shelltex boots.
The of course there is the preparation and expense of owning, parking and storing the bike. As I don’t have a garage I am already working on plan A, B and C, which I may have to kick into high gear if I buy a bike in the off-season. My Plan A is to take part of a wall down so I can get access to my small ‘kitchen garden’ from the driveway, then to build a ‘bike tent’ in there. There are a few types available to choose from. For winter storage, I would additionally carry out the various ‘winter storage’ tasks I have seen recommended, AND put the bike inside a large bike ‘vac-bag’ with water absorption crystals inside – real belt and braces stuff. So additional expenses there for a bike tent, a bike stand, wall removal etc.
I will have to afford insurance of course which I expect to be a bit steep given I am a novice biker with a big and expensive bike and with probably a high excess.
It is all go and it is all money, but it will certainly keep me busy and I do love a project, but wouldn’t life be soooooo much easier with a dry garage (that is my plan C)!
I wonder if anyone actually stores their bike in their house over winter (I’ll bet a few people do you know)? I am not seriously thinking about it myself, but with a bike as gorgeous as the Harley, you could pass it off as modern art sculpture!!
