Big Boy Bikes

Working and music kind of took over my life for the next 10 years, but in 2003 I was at it again. In rolled the 2001 American Iron Horse Ranger. 1800 cc's of pure bliss... A beautifully scary piece of machinery that I probably had no business riding after such a long hiatus. But man, it was a beaut! It was the hay day of the chopper, and every other show on TV was about building custom motorcycles. This machine had a 107 cubic inch S&S engine, a 180 inch rear wheel, was all chrome with a custom paint job, and would turn every head within an ear shot. Fire it up, and hang on! Me and my buddy David went down to Strokers Dallas on the same day and we both bought an Iron Horse. I bought the Ranger, and he bought the Outlaw. Both similar Pro Street models, and both bad ass. Looking back, this day was the start of my modern day love of riding the streets and making it a goal to see as much of the country on two wheels as I possible can. While riding a Pro Street isn't really the most comfortable way to see the countryside, it did get you around town.. and quickly. I was hooked on the power that these larger machines could produce and the brotherhood of the biker community. Being a biker isn't what it used to be. Not everyone wears a jacket and stabs you if you look at them wrong these days. It's a community of two wheel lovers who just love the freedom of the open road. And so this new journey began until their was a small kink in my chain.

I'll spare you the details, but lets just say my new wife became unsupportive of my new found pleasure. While I asked her before I bought the bike, "would you rather us buy a bike or a boat", she chose the bike. But she quickly became resentful of me being able to ride whenever I pleased. She "thought" she should be able to ride whenever she wanted too as well. From then on, every time I rode I first had to deal with her. There is a lot more to this story, most of which is very negative, but let's just say it was not worth fighting over. So reluctlently, I agreed to sell the bike in 2004 and buy us both dirt bikes (AGAIN) and teach her to ride. There was no sense on putting her on a street bike that would likely end up with her demise. So I thought, teach her to ride on the dirt, see how coordinated she is and how well she takes to the hobby and go from there. Well let's just say, my intuition was right.

The two bikes were A 2002 Kawasaki KX 250 for me, and a 2004 Suzuki DRZ 125 for her. We spent the next year riding the trails and hills at local parks around D/FW, and it was a good experience for us. But like I thought, it didn't really stick with her and she lost interest fairly quickly. Her bike sat up for the last year and collected dust. Well, that was all I needed. After only a year without the Iron Horse, I bought my first Harley Davidson in 2005.
Probably not the best move, but I just showed up with it one day. I didn't say, "hunny I'm going to buy another bike, is that okay"? I just started shopping one day and decided on a very nice 2003 model HD Road King Classic. Boy it was smooth. Much more comfortable than the Iron Horse, but not quite as exhilarating. At this point, I was looking for comfort in my riding experience, and the windshield and handling of the HD was a big plus. And it didn't leave you shitting your pants when you hit the throttle.
It was perfect at the time, and it was my first taste of the Harley Davidson experience. My wife quickly simmered down and I wasn't in the dog house for too long. Plus, this bike was much more comfortable for her to ride on too. It has a big ol' back seat which I think was a good selling point. The Iron Horse was not comfortable for the passenger at all, only having a stick on seat that was about an inch thick to rest her ass on. So, the Road King was it for the next 3 and half years. We kept the dirt bikes too, but ended up trading them for a new Polaris 4 Wheeler in 2008. At this point, we had no interest in riding the dirt bikes any longer and my hands couldn't handle the abuse you take riding dirt bikes due to my arthritis. After about 20 minutes of wheelies and whoop-t-doos, by hands would just swell up and lose strength. At age 39 my dirt bike days were finally over.
Phillip, another good friend of mine had recently bought a Harley Davidson Heritage Classic and started riding with me and David. I didn't do too much touring during the Road King days, and the riding was limited to Texas. My buddy David still had his Iron Horse but we were both starting to notice all the new bikes, especially the Harley Davidson Street Glide.
We decided to start looking again, and within about a month, David buys a 2006 HD Street Glide. It's a great looking machine with custom paint and 2 into 1 exhaust that screams down the road. I knew the day he showed up at my office with it that I had to have one. So, here I go again. I found a very nice 2006 HD Street Glide at HD of Dallas. It was tricked out like an Ultra Classic with a tour pack and lot's of extras. While that was nice, I didn't want an Ultra Classic, so I bought it just for the extras and stripped it back down to look like a regular Street Glide. I then commenced to customize it in my own fashion with a Maltese Cross theme, extra chrome, 21 inch front wheel, lowering kit and other extras. Pretty soon, it was just the way I wanted it.
Let the touring begin...