Family Trip To Kansas City Made Even Better By Riding My Harley There And Back

It had been a while since the family had gone anywhere together, so my wife decided that it would be a great idea to have the family drive down to Kansas City, rent three family rooms at Great Wolf Lodge and enjoy four days both there and at Worlds of Fun.

Of course, the first thing that popped into my head when she brought this idea up to me was:

Oh, hey. I could ride my new Harley down there.

Now, I wanted to ride the Harley because it would be fun, because I hadn't been on a real "long ride" before and because I wanted to see how a Harley-Davidson touring class bike really "toured."

I didn't want to ride the bike because a nearly 3-hour trip with a 5-year-old, a 3-year-old and a 8-month-old in a confined vehicle would be crazy. That wasn't on my mind at all.

I swear.

So I brought the idea up with the woman in charge, and somehow, my awesome wife agreed to let me ride the Harley down to Kansas City, following them the entire way.

On the morning of our trip, our entire party loaded up 4 vehicles with 9 people and luggage - a Durango, a mid-sized sedan, a Honda CRV and my 2009 Road King Classic. Everything went smoothly, which was a surprise in a way and wasn't a surprise in another way - my wife's a master of organization.

To say that I was looking forward to this ride was an understatement. I've never taken a long trip on a motorcycle, the longest being about an hour ride from Tecumseh to Omaha on my father-in-law's Honda Shadow Aero.

Since we started out at 9:20 on a Sunday morning, the traffic was light. That, combined with the great weather, put me in a damn good mood and I settled into the saddle of my 2009 Road King Classic for a good long ride.

I will admit that after about an hour of riding, I started to get a little sore.

After a few minutes more, I wanted to pull over for a bit.

I just couldn't get comfortable! I'd move around on the seat a bit, trying to adjust the pressure points for comfort's sake - but nothing worked for long. I tried standing on the footrests, lifting my legs, resting them on the engine guards. At most, I'd have 5 minutes of comfortable riding before I had to move again.

I think that if I had gone and picked up some decent highway footrests, I would have been a lot more comfortable on the ride down.

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My Week Of Riding From The 11th To The 17th Of July

Saturday was a good day to ride the Harley. A little overcast but with nothing falling from the sky, it was the kind of weather that makes for interesting scenery as you chug along. I took the bike to Owen and Logan's t-ball game, following behind the wife as she drove the Durango. She did not want me to do this, but she had no choice, as I am the man.

Here's the bike as it sat in the driveway, waiting for the wife to come home:

Once I got home, it was time to get ready for work.

The weather in Omaha is...mercurial.

It changes, often quickly.

Quick changes in the weather can make my ride home not fun, so that's why I check the weather before I go. If there's a significant chance for rain on my ride home, I'll take the car.

No rain in the forecast for Saturday, so I took the bike.

There was rain in the forecast for Sunday, so I took the car, despite the fact that Sunday nights are the best day for riding home. Nobody on the road, nobody out drinking on a Sunday night, perfect riding conditions.

And, of course, it didn't rain like the weatherguys said it would.

So, despite the fact that there was a slight chance of rain in the forecast for Monday, I took the bike to work.

After I got home, I noticed that my new bike was creeping towards a nice, round number. A milestone, if you will.

I didn't get a chance to ride to work that next day, and I took off Wednesday, so I just rode the bike over to my mom's house on Thursday, following the wife as she carted the kids in the Durango.

When I got there, I got there.

Just got my first bill from the Harley credit guys, and I can say with all my heart that the 2009 Road King Classic I bought was worth every penny. I'm loving each day I get to ride it.

Added A Sissy Bar And Backrest To My Road King Classic

After taking my wife and my mother for a ride on the back of my 2009 Road King Classic on the 3rd of July, we all realized that two-up riding is fun.

For those of us who are in the drivers seat - me - it's more fun.

For those of us who are trying to stay on the passenger pillion without slipping off the back - my mother, wife and anyone else who happened to jump on - it's not as much fun so much as a terrifying.

I'd imagine that slipping off the back of a motorcycle that's going about 40-50 miles per hour would be very bad.

So the consensus is that passengers would feel much more secure riding if they either had something to hold onto, or if they had some kind of backrest that would keep them from flying off the back of the bike when it got moving. I, on the other hand, did not want to have something permanently bolted to my bike. I like the looks of the solo seat too much.

To that end, the wife and I drove over to Dillon Harley here in Omaha to see what we could buy to address the problem satisfactorily.

After talking with Dan Von Seggern at the Dillon Brothers Harley parts counter and explaining to him what we needed, Dan pointed us to part numbers 52627-09 and 52886-98c.

52627-09 is a Harley-Davidson brand detachable, standard-sized sissy bar that fits Harley's touring motorcycles, such as my 2009 Road King Classic.

52886-98c is a Harley-Davidson brand smooth passenger backrest pad that conveniently comes with the hardware required to bolt onto the detachable sissy bar mentioned above.

If you order the 52886-98c smooth passenger backrest pad from here, be aware that it will not look like the picture shown on Amazon. It will look like it does in the pictures shown below:

Once I put together the detachable sissy bar and passenger backrest combo, a process which took all of 5 minutes with an appropriately-sized allen wrench, I took it outside to my bike and put it on.

Fortunately, when I ordered my bike, I had them put on the Harley-Davidson 4-Point Docking Hardware Kit - which is part number 54205-09, for your convenience should you decide to order it for yourself.

I would highly recommend getting that kit when you order your bike, however, as it makes attaching and detaching hardware designed for it incredibly easy, even if you have no actual mechanical aptitude yourself.

Here are pictures of the end result:

The seating for the passenger was now, according to my wife and my mother, comfortable.

Even babies like it.

Since the whole setup is designed for the passenger on your motorcycle to keep their balance and not feel like they're going to fall off every time you accelerate off a green light, I put it to the test with my mother, who volunteered to be a crash test dummy.

After taking mom for a quick spin around the block, she pronounced the new passenger seating to be "just about perfect," with the only thing missing being a cupholder of some kind.

The cupholder thing will not happen. She will have to deal.

Here's the mileage of the ride we took, before and after:

If you decide to buy this setup for your own bike, take care to pay attention to the installation instructions. You connect the black front brackets on the sissy bar to the black bracket holders located to the immediate inside position of your rear shocks. Once you locate these (picture/other side), which can be a bit difficult if you haven't had your saddlebags off, installation is a snap.

Taking it all off takes less than 2 minutes. Putting it all on takes less than 4.

Overall, I would say that the detachable sissy bar and passenger backrest combo is a worthwhile purchase for anyone with a Road King or Road King Classic that plans on taking anyone for a ride.

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Riding To Work From July 5th To The 7th

We had a beautiful week for riding motorcycles here in Omaha, so I took advantage of it as often as possible.

I missed riding to work on the 4th of July due to the fact that it was a holiday weekend and I figured there'd be more than the usual amount of idiots on the road - especially when I was riding home at 11:20 at night. So the first time I rode this week was the 5th - Sunday.

Awesome day. Sky was clear, not too hot, not a lot of traffic. I took my time and enjoyed it.

The ride home was especially nice. Almost nobody on the road, so I could relax and enjoy the ride more without having to match speeds with traffic.

Same riding atmosphere for Monday the 6th of July - a little more traffic, but that meant I could change lanes a bit more. The Road King Classic is riding like a Cadillac. It doesn't have much in the way of lean, but it's as stable as anything I've ever ridden.

I was a bit more rushed on the 7th. I intended to try out my other helmet - a 3/4 Harley Davidson Jet II helmet that I'd bought a while back from Holstein's Harley.

After I was all suited up and ready to go, I put on the Jet II and rode to work.

A few things I liked about the Jet II:

• It feels like it would protect better if the bike goes down
• It cuts down wind noise
• The face shield protects against bugs and rocks
• It would be great in the rain

Yeah, it feels more solid than the 1/2 helmet that I have. Right after I got on the interstate, I was hit by a small rock or a large bug - right in the face. If I hadn't had the faceshield, it might have hurt a bit. As it was, I just saw it, it hit, and then it was gone. No harm, no foul.

The wind noise was very different while I had the Jet II on. I hit 75 miles per hour without even blinking twice, and it felt like I was moving along at about 40 miles per hour. About a 30 mile per hour difference there.

A few things I didn't like about the Harley Davidson Jet II:

• It cuts my hearing down by at least 60-70 percent
• You can't feel the ride as much

Wearing the Jet II made me feel like I had a pair of earmuffs over my ears, it cut down the noise so much. It wouldn't be so bad if there were maybe...earholes...or something. Like a football helmet. My wife says that would look really, really silly, but she has a white and turquoise half-helmet that looks like it came out of a Barbie catalog, so what does she know?

After riding with the Jet 2 helmet, I didn't think it cut down my vision at all, but I did feel like I wasn't part of the ride. There was a definite disconnect between me and the road that I didn't like at all.

I'll be sticking with the half-helmet in the future, unless the rain is coming down.

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First Week With My New Harley Absolutely Rocked

After riding my 2009 Road King Classic into work for a week, I have come to the conclusion that it's the best way to get to work I can think of. I've actually been looking forward to going to work, because I get to ride the bike there.

Of course, when I'm there I can think of nothing but when I get to leave and ride home...

I filled up the gas tank on Sunday the 28th of June. Love the flush-mounted gas caps, especially since the fuel level is nicely presented in blue LED's on the left. When I stopped for gas, I had to take a few pictures. And yes, the iPhone camera sucks and blurred most of my pictures, so here is the best one:

From what I can tell, people seem to like the bike as much as I do. Quotes from co-workers went along a pretty constant line:

• That's a sweet-ass bike.
• I've so got to get a motorcycle, man.
• I love the color of your new bike.
• The vote is unanimous. That's a nice bike, but it's far too nice for you.

Problems?

When I originally came home at night, I had to get off the motorcycle and use the keypad to open the garage door, then start up the bike again and wheel it inside. Since the motorcycle is a bit loud, there's a good chance I'll be waking up the baby - at which point the wife will go to sleep and make me stay up with the baby.

I need some easy way to open the garage door while I'm approaching the house. I'm open to ideas. Until I figure something out, I'll keep the car's garage door opener in my jacket pocket. I just feel around for the button through my jacket and press it.
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My First Ride To Work

Rode into work on Saturday.

I'd already ridden for about an hour that morning.

I made a quick stop to check out the new Dillon Yamaha/Honda/Suzuki/Kawasaki dealership that opened up today right next to the Dillon Brothers Harley-Davidson dealership.

I quickly realized a few things:

• Don't let your shirt hang open while you ride. Button it up. Sucks at highway speeds to have your shirt blowing around.
• Secure saddlebags before you go.
• I need the Detachable Solo Luggage Rack ASAP.
• If you have the Harley Profile Sunglasses/Goggles, don't forget to bring the case containing the clear lenses for the ride home at 11 at night.

Great ride home. Lots of fun. I went the long way, via surface streets and took my time.

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A 2009 Road King Classic Is Now Mine

I couldn't sleep very well Thursday night, knowing that at noon, I'd be taking possession of my brand-new 2009 Road King Classic.

So, it wasn't quite Christmas eve, but as the long hours stretched out it sure felt like it was.

I finally got some sleep, only to find myself waking up at dawn. I looked at the clock and immediately found myself thinking back to the past yearly ritual of enduring the last day of school and how it felt to watch the clock slowly mark out the passage of time. I told myself that I'd better find something to do or I'd drive myself nuts.

For a while I kept myself busy by working on a few projects and got a few things done.

I remembered that I needed to shop for some motorcycle insurance, so I looked on the Internet for some of the more-recommended motorcycle insurance companies. I called GEICO and after talking with the insurance agent for a while, signed up for motorcycle insurance through GEICO for $736 a year, which would drop to about $360 for renewal next year. I was told the amount would drop once I got a year of riding under my belt.

At the time, I didn't care about what anything cost. I just wanted to get everything done and make sure that I had no hitches when it came time to pick up the motorcycle. I was pretty much the perfect customer for anyone selling...anything.

Well, after wasting time doing this and that, the time finally came for me to head over to the dealership to finish everything. My wife dropped me off, and after making sure that I'd be OK, that the bike was OK, that everything was fine - she took the kids and headed home.

Jason Davis, using one of the 2009 Road King Classics on the floor, went over the entire bike with me, explaining each feature on the motorcycle and some general maintenance tips that'd come in handy. The guy knows his stuff and had an answer for every question I had.

Once I was in the finance office with Mark, everything went smoothly. Mark even managed to save me a bit of money. I mentioned what my insurance cost was and Mark let me know that I could save some money with a 15 minute phone call to their own insurance group. He dialed, I talked, and 15 minutes later I had a policy that was half the price as what I'd paid GEICO.

5 minutes later, I cancelled my GEICO coverage. They were nice about it, although it'll take 10-15 days to get that premium back onto my credit card.

I wrote my check, signed my name and shook everyone's hand as they handed me the keys to my new baby, who I will call, "Wheelface."

After Jason loaded 3 huge boxes of parts into my parent's Highlander, I climbed onto my new ride and took off for a little ride before heading home and showing it off to everyone. My two boys both wanted a picture with the new motorcycle as well.

Buying A Motorcycle In Omaha?

If you're in the market for a new or used Harley-Davidson or Buell, I highly recommend you give Jason Davis a call, or shoot him an e-mail. Jason kept me in the loop throughout the entire Harley-buying process, explained things to my satisfaction and helped get the ball rolling again when it had stopped briefly in the service department.

If you stop into Dillon Harley sometime, let whoever you talk to know you read about my experiences with Jason Davis and with Dillon Brothers Harley-Davidson in general.

Let me know what they say.

I'm off to ride.
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