Touring Bike (not the pedal kind...)

[Fryowa]

Do any of you guys ride?

If you're here from the other thread you know the gist, but if not...I'm going to be buying a low-miles used Harley in the spring. I've always in the past had cruisers but I want to get into a bagger for longer rides and a passenger probably 20% of my rides. Right now I'm leaning Street Glide with a tour pack that I can take off when I'm by myself, but I've also had a few friends try to steer me the softail route, specifically a Heritage Classic. Not a touring frame, but it does have bags and a removeable windshield for town-hopping shorter rides. Seen quite a few vids where people and their spouses have done longer trips on a softail and say they like it and don't have comfort issues.

Then there's also people who tell me if I'm going to be doing any 2-up riding I will hate it unless I go to a touring frame (Road King, Street Glide, or Road Glide). I don't not like the Road King, but I'm definitely not a fan of the Road Glide fairing. It looks like a GoldWing to me and I can't get over it. So if I did go the touring route, it'd be a Street Glide.

But I also wouldn't mind a little bit lighter and twistier bike like a softail at times if it's just me.

There ya have it...any opinions or recs are greatly appreciated.

 

[Grady]

Sorry I can't help with recs -- sounds like you're gonna have a lot of fun no matter which model you decide on. Good for you.
But you asked about bikes...I've only owned 2 in my 67 years of life:
* As soon as I got my driver's license in 1974 I bought a 1968 300cc Yamaha street bike for $400. Two years later when I was away on vacation my older brother visiting from the West Coast -- who had never driven a motorcycle in his life -- WITHOUT MY PERMISSION got it out of the shop and was in a car accident with it in downtown Waterloo on the way home from the shop. Idiot! I got it working again and rode it a couple more years but it's now sitting in an old shed at the home farm and hasn't been ridden in almost 50 years.
* Back in 1995, a few years after my 1st heart attack at age 35, I was feeling like I needed a little adventure in my life and bought a 1986 Honda Magna 700. God, that thing was fast. Each year I still get it started up and ride it a handful of times -- it's got 40,000 miles on it, but MAN, even tho it's almost 40 years old that thing gets up and GOES. I'd love to time it 0-60 sometime. Cherry red, looks like new. Cool bike. My two sons are already arguing over who gets it when I die.
Funny story: after I bought the Magna I was going to get a motorcycle license, so went up to the nearby school parking lot to make sure I could ace the driving test. I'd marked out the required course on the blacktop, but no matter how many times I tried I couldn't complete the route successfully. So I called up the local DOT office, thinking they must have the course wrong or something. They asked me what type of bike I was using, and when I told them the Magna, the person immediately replied, "Oh yeah, that bike has a semi-chopped front, it's impossible to complete the course with that model."

 

[Fryowa]

Sorry I can't help with recs -- sounds like you're gonna have a lot of fun no matter which model you decide on. Good for you.
But you asked about bikes...I've only owned 2 in my 67 years of life:
* As soon as I got my driver's license in 1974 I bought a 1968 300cc Yamaha street bike for $400. Two years later when I was away on vacation my older brother visiting from the West Coast -- who had never driven a motorcycle in his life -- WITHOUT MY PERMISSION got it out of the shop and was in a car accident with it in downtown Waterloo on the way home from the shop. Idiot! I got it working again and rode it a couple more years but it's now sitting in an old shed at the home farm and hasn't been ridden in almost 50 years.
* Back in 1995, a few years after my 1st heart attack at age 35, I was feeling like I needed a little adventure in my life and bought a 1986 Honda Magna 700. God, that thing was fast. Each year I still get it started up and ride it a handful of times -- it's got 40,000 miles on it, but MAN, even tho it's almost 40 years old that thing gets up and GOES. I'd love to time it 0-60 sometime. Cherry red, looks like new. Cool bike. My two sons are already arguing over who gets it when I die.
Funny story: after I bought the Magna I was going to get a motorcycle license, so went up to the nearby school parking lot to make sure I could ace the driving test. I'd marked out the required course on the blacktop, but no matter how many times I tried I couldn't complete the route successfully. So I called up the local DOT office, thinking they must have the course wrong or something. They asked me what type of bike I was using, and when I told them the Magna, the person immediately replied, "Oh yeah, that bike has a semi-chopped front, it's impossible to complete the course with that model."

Great stories, thanks for sharing

Nowadays I'd recommend the MSF basic rider course for people who want to get their license. It's 2 days long, with 5 hours classroom and 10 hours on the motorcycle. It's geared at people who've never even sat on a motorcycle before, but honestly there's self-taught people I knopw who've been riding for 30 years who could benefit a lot from it. The first day you start with ultra basic stuff like the controls, learning to let the clutch out, ride a straight line, shift, take a corner, etc. Then you move onto cone drills, emergency stopping, swerving safely,...that kinda thing. It's a great course and not so easy that everyone passes the riding portion. When I took it two people failed the final riding portion and one lady got what they call "counseled out" after the first day, she had no business being on a motorcycle and dumped it a couple times during the class. Basically the instructors pulled her aside and told here they didn't think this was the thing for her, encouraged her to hire someone private for more instruction and come back after that. Maybe saved her life.

In Iowa when you pass the MSF course you get a waiver for the DOT skills test, so all you have to do is show up at the courthouse and pass the written test which is kind of nice. When I took it they provided the motorcycles or you could bring your own, one of the guys I mentioned above who failed brought what I thought was way too big of a bike and couldn't get the slow U-turns down.