Harley-Davidson Road Glide

This is my ride, the Harley-Davidson FLTRI Road Glide.

People react differently to Harleys – they either love 'em or hate 'em. I admit, I used to be in the latter category. Prior to purchasing my Road Glide, BMW held my interest, mostly due to their legendary reliability.

But, in the late 1990's and early 2000's, things in the motorcycle world shifted. BMW decided to reinvent themselves as an upper-end boutique shop. Along with that seemed to come a new attitude, and the internet was filled with previously unheard of problems and a German attitude towards customer service. Who says the Nazi party is dead? At the same time, the Harley Twin Cam engine was establishing itself as a major step forward in both reliability and durability from the Evolution, which was pretty good in it's own right.

After getting ignored about ten times to often and fighting with their service department, when it came time to replace my BMW GS, I decided to see what all this Harley hullabaloo was about. I am a big guy and I like to do long miles and travel on my bikes. Harley has a few distinctly different lines, but I knew I wanted one of their touring models. These models are often called “baggers” because of their factory hard saddlebags (properly termed “panniers,” but get an American to use that word.)

I had done an Iron Butt Association ride on an Electra Glide and found that I really enjoyed the strum of the American V-twin motor on those long, dusty, desert byways. H-D has three basic tourers – the Electra Glide that uses a “bat wing” fairing mounted to the handlebars, the Road King that uses a simple windshield mounted to the handlebars, and the Road Glide that uses a fairing mounted right o the frame. I'd found Electra Glides to get a loose at the higher speeds - which makes sense when you think you have barn door strapped right to the forks. In theory, the Road Glide wouldn't have those problems. In fact, the frame mounted fairing not only put the wind pressure right to th frame, it actually would help protect the top of the forks and the handlebars from buffeting wind.

Also, the touring models have an extra heavy duty frame and transmission meant for wracking up the miles. What you trade off in light weight and handling, you make up for in load capacity and longevity. If I want to go fast, I'll take a car. When I want to experience the road, I'll take a bike. The bagger trade off was more than worth it to me.

So, I went out in search of a sierra red Road Glide, found it, bought it, and now I'm a Harley die-hard like so many other people. I don't like the “lifestyle” when it's all about black leather fringe and bar hopping. I love these bikes despite the lifestyle that so many others buy into. The bikes are solid and built with a level of durability that no one else matches. The components are of the highest quality and Japanese and even BMW items seem downright flimsy and hobbled together after being used to the way a Harley is built. They are slow, they are over priced, but they have fixed their reliability issues long ago.

And, now we come back to that element of riding that is so essential and yet so inexplicable, that certain something about going down the road on a bike that speaks to you that is the essence of what motorcycling is. For me, the Big Twin Harleys have it like no other bike around. They are raw and surly, elemental and American, and if anything made of chrome can be spiritual, it's a Harley-Davidson.