Freebird

The dealer where I bought mine has a decent sized group riding out. I would like to go but just can't take off on another trip right now. Would be fun I think.

Yea, and now I don't even want to borrow Mike's things.

For us, it is about 710 miles. So two easy days for us. I'm really looking forward to it.

I would love to be there just to see them.

Weekend after labor day or the next week...doesn't matter to me. The route doesn't matter either but it just needs to be a route that we can make some good time on. I assume that we will do a round trip for this one? If not, we will be riding BACK 1500 miles also. That makes for a fairly tiring weekend. Some type of circle type trip would be nice if we could figure it out.

I'm not sure that you need to do it on the '86 though.

I'm in. Let's pick a time and do it. How about it Eddie? Weekends are certainly best for me.

I've had both and never really had an issue with either one. My Road Glide has a frame mounted fairing though as did my last Harley, the FXRD. They do seem to be a bit more stable when getting blasted with the turbulence of a big truck or something but it was really not an issue on the RSV either.

I mailed all my paperwork on Monday morning. Now it's a matter of just waiting for 60 to 90 days for them to confirm it. I ended up right at 1078 miles and almost exactly 18 hours. I understand that they may change the mileage but I think it will be very close to that. It was pretty much a straight shot so not much room for error. The Road Glide speedometer is almost dead on with my GPS...maybe 1 MPH off. Mapping program also agreed with the mileage.

We aren't that far apart. Eddie wants to do one too. Lets just make it happen.

Eddie, I'll let you know as soon as I get some new bars and get these off. Most other Road Glide riders love these bars, they just don't exactly do it for me.

Thanks to Flyinfool for this great tech article. Testing for a Battery not Charging. 1. Start by fully charging the battery. A. Charge at a low rate of about 2 Amps for at least 12 hours. B. A faster charge will put in a quick surface charge not the deep charge that is needed. 2. Clean all of the charging circuit connections. A. This includes, positive and negative battery terminals, the frame and engine grounds, starter motor connection, solenoid connections, Regulator / Rectifier (RR) connector, Main fuse connections, and Stator connector. 3. With the bike running at over 2,000 RPM check the voltage across the battery terminals. See note below. A. The voltage should be between 13.5 and 14.5 volts DC. B. If the voltage is less than 13.5 go to step 4. C. If the voltage is more than 14.5 replace the RR and start step 3 over. 4. Test the battery A. With the battery fully charged have it load tested. a. Many stores that sell batteries will do this for free. B. If battery is good reinstall and go to step 5 C. If battery is bad, replace and go back to step 3 5. Test the rectifier diodes, (Unfortunately there is no easy test for the regulator) A. Disconnect all wires from the RR. B. Set your ohm meter to either diode test (preferred) or its scale closest to 2K ohms. C. Connect the black meter lead to the black wire of the RR. D. Test each of the 3 white wires with the red lead of the meter. a. They should each show continuity (low resistance) E. Connect the red meter lead to the black wire of the RR. F. Test each of the 3 white leads with the black meter lead. a. They should each show no connection. G. Connect the black meter lead to the red wire of the RR. H. Test each of the 3 white wires with the red lead of the meter. a. They should each show no connection I. Connect the red meter lead to the red wire of the RR. J. Test each of the 3 white leads with the black meter lead. a. They should each show continuity. K. If all of the tests in C. thru J. pass go to step 6 L. If any of the test in C. thru J. fail replace RR 6. Test the stator. (All stator tests are with the stator unplugged from the RR.) A. Set ohm meter to its highest scale. B. Check from each of the 3 stator wires to ground. a. The reading should all be open. b. If the reading is a low number then the windings are shorted to ground. Stator is bad. C. Set ohm meter to its lowest scale. D. Check the resistance between each pair of white wires, ie 1-2, 2-3, 3-1. a. The readings should be 0.36 to 0.48 ohms at 68°F (20°C) b. The readings should all be very close to the same. c. Readings outside of the range indicate a bad stator. 1. This test is not always a 100% indicator of a bad stator since many less expensive meters are not sensitive enough to measure this small of a resistance accurately. E. WARNING – The following test has dangerous voltage present on the 3 stator leads. Do not touch them. You will get a shock. a. Do not let the stator leads touch each other or you will have a bad stator. F. Set your meter to a scale to read more than 100volts AC. G. Start the engine and hold at above 2,000 RPM. H. Measure the voltage of each pair of white wires., ie. 1-2, 2-3, 3-1. a. The voltage should be over 50 volts AC and could be over 100VAC. Depending on exact RPM b. Each of the 3 wire pairs should show close to the same voltage. I. If one or more pairs of wires show a low voltage and/or the resistance test from D. shows a difference, then the stator is bad. NOTE Run test 3 with as many things turned off as possible and again with as many things turned on as possible. If the voltage is low only with everything on, you might just have too much electrical stuff for the system to power. But it could still be a marginally performing stator and/or RR. By Jeff Borowski August 15, 2013

No, I had left early because I had a doctor's appointment in Cleveland right after lunch. I was actually at my appointment when I missed his first call.

I'm not seeing any such links and there is nothing installed here that would cause that to happen.

I often see these comments about the HD costing 10,000 more than other touring bikes but don't understand the math. I paid about 23,049.00 for my new Road Glide. On top of that, they included 1,000 worth of accessories and a riders backrest. So actual cost of just the bike was closer to 21,500.00. What other full dress touring bikes can you buy for 10,000.00 less than that? That means that you can buy a brand new RSV, Goldwing, Victory, whatever for 13,000.00? hmmmmmmm............... Now I'm not arguing that the Harley is a better value. You are going to lose money on any bike that you buy new and sell used. I'm simply saying that the numbers often posted are just not exactly right.

Yes, it's not water cooled as we know it. Only the heads are cooled. Also, as already known, no Road Glide this year. I understand that there will be a new Road Glide perhaps in 2015. Also, the standard Electra Glide Classic and the Electra Glide Ultra still have the same air cooled engine. You have to go with the Electra Glide Ultra Plus to get the new engine. That puts it in the 30,000.00 range after taxes and etc. They did add some other nice features. The Infotainment system sounds nice and includes bluetooth. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. I personally wouldn't touch one for a couple of years though.

Not sure what the problem is. Mine stay as I have them checked. It very likely has something to do with your security/cookie settings.

A HARLEY????? What the heck.....a HARLEY?????? Wow...the nerve of some people.

OK...there has still been a lot of discussion about the 2014 International Rally. Kentucky was the early leader in the polls but the facility was just not going to work out. Brake Pad had already done a lot of work with the folks in Guntersville, AL so we are going to go with that one. Now there have been some complaints about heat and etc. in AL that time of the year. Yes, it may be warm but it will not be too bad. Average highs that time of the year are about 90 degrees and often cooler than that. It will be a nice time and a beautiful area to ride. So it is official. See you all in Guntersville.

You told me that before. I should have listened to you. Now I'll end up changing them again. Come on Eddie, I don't want to leave TODAY...in fact...I'm getting ready to go out of town this morning on a business trip. I'm ready to go again though. Let's do a bunnburner.

First let me say that they are both OK. I got a call from Kevin last Thursday. I was at the Cleveland Clinic at the time having my 6 month follow up so wasn't able to answer the phone. He left a message saying that he and his wife were in Ohio and asked about stopping by. I called him as soon as I got out of the clinic. I asked how he was doing and he said not very well. About 10 minutes after he left me the message, he and his wife were forced off the road by a car entering the highway near Youngstown, OH. They were in traffic with nowhere to get out of the way. From what I understand, he moved as far to the shoulder as possible but then hit some tar snakes or something and they went down. He was at the hospital when I talked to him that first time. He was bruised but OK. His wife was still in X-Ray and he was waiting to see how she was. Turns out, she suffered no broken bones and they are both scraped and bruised but no serious injuries. I've not seen pictures but apparently the bike and trailer were totally destroyed. I talked to Kevin again later in the evening and learned that they were being discharged from the hospital and were going to get a hotel room for the night. I offered to drive to Youngstown or have Eileen drive to Youngstown and pick them up and bring there here to recuperate for a couple of days but Kevin said that they would have to rent a car to get home anyway so they would just get a room for the night and then rent a car on Friday. His wife had to be back at work on Monday so they had to get on the road. They did stop by the house on Saturday morning and visited and had coffee with Eileen. She said that they were doing OK and she really enjoyed their visit. So hopefully Kevin will check in here soon and explain what happened better than I have. I am just thankful that it wasn't worse than it was. Eileen tells me that she DID send then on the road with a quart of my Apple Pie so hopefully they will get home in time to relax and enjoy that.

Well I'm home. Got home around 4:30. Rained until around Lexington, KY but stayed cloudy. Then just before getting to Cincinnati, the sun came out fit the first time in two days and WOW, it felt GOOD. Total mileage was right at 2115. Not bad for a three day weekend.

Somebody sent me an email about installing the water temperature gauge on the RSV. I thought it was a PM notification and deleted it. Was going to reply when I read it in my PM Inbox. Apparently it was an email and not a PM. Now I don't know who sent it. Please contact me again or post your question again here. Sorry about that.

Well, today will be the final leg of my little ride. When I woke up in Gainsville yesterday, it was raining. It never stopped raining for over 500 miles. Didn't make very good time and had expected to be closer to home today but I still have about 500 miles to go. Oh well....don't mind that but sure hope the rain slows down just a bit. Decided against swinging by Vogel because of the weather. Back to work tomorrow.

Much better than stock but still not sure that they have enough pullback. They will have to do for now but I'm still not 100% pleased with them.