First Ride 2013

March 30th, 2013 and I got out for my first ride on the new Harley Davidson Street Glide!  I usually wait until the end of April each year due to the road conditions...potholes, frost heaves, loose gravel, etc. Yesterday was a nice sunny day with a temperature of 9C (48F) and the anticipation of riding my new motorcycle was just too great to pass on!  I dug out my leathers/warm riding gear and I was off!

I adjusted the mirrors, completed a quick safety check, tuned in the stereo and fired her up!

Odometer reading - 1Km (0.6 miles)

I pulled out of the yard and I have to tell you that I had a big grin on my face, a grin that lasted awhile!  Overall, my goal for the first ride was to get used to the Street Glide.  It's the heaviest bike that I have owned and I wanted to test her out at both low city speeds and faster highway cruising!  The first thing that I have to say is that the ride is very comfortable.  There is very little engine vibration at riding speeds, the only vibration is at idle and that's just a Harley thing.  I took a quick ride through city streets to get a feel for the bike; so far, so good!  The only challenge that I ran into was with the turn signals; the turn signal switches are separate, not combined like every other motorcycle I have owned.  The left turn signal is on the left side of the handle bar and the right turn signal on the right side...this is going to take some getting used too!  I was pleased to find out that the turn signals are self-cancelling, something the dealer did not tell me.

Turn signal locations

After a quick ride through city streets, I hit the highway for a ride along the beautiful Saint John River.  The Street Glide exceeded my expectations on the highway, comfortable and very easy to handle.  Everything on the bike feels good, from the seat to the riding position, to the acceleration and the braking and the overall handling of the machine!  The "Bat Wing" fairing provides good protection from the wind and cold and the stereo sounds great at highway speeds!  I made a few stops to get some pics! (Click on pics for a full view)

King's Landing (Note: loose gravel)

Mactaquac Headpond

Just a cool picture!

Para-Skiers on the Headpond

Overall, I have to say that I am thrilled with the new ride!  It was nice to hit the road and feel the open air and even better on a new machine!  Odometer now reads 180Km and I look forward to the rest of the riding season!

 

First ride!

Ride safe and keep your right hand cranked!