Harley Dyna Glide Page 1

"Moses used to sniff the lines
Noah used to rock the boat sometimes
Mary used to get undone
Jesus rode a Harley Davidson"

Introducing my newest bike - my 60th birthday present to me..........a year early! Found in a Harley dealership with just 54 miles on the clock, it's a 2002 model year Dyna Glide Low Rider (1450 cee cee) first registered in 2004. Bought by a rich guy who owned a factory, who hadn't even passed his bike test. He took it to his factory and hid it away, where it remained unused for 5 years! It's got a few small marks where things have been dropped on it but nothing serious, apart from that it's a "new " bike. It was fitted with "Screamin' Eagle" pipes, a stage one air cleaner and Dyno Jetted from new. There's also a genuine Harley cissy bar and a "Sundowner" comfy seat - again all fitted from new. On the first ride out the engine was still very tight but its loosening up the more it's being ridden.

Not quite sure what I expected - having never ridden one before. I had an idea but whatever it was, it wasn't what I got! Imagine everything you'd absolutely hate about a bike - then multiply it by a factor of ten and you'll be somewhere near. It's quite a shock to the system after years on Jap bikes.

After ten minutes on it you begin to enjoy it - just a bit - as the deep guttural throb of the big vee twin tries to seduce you into becoming it's friend. ........After half an hour, the ice is broken and you're having a hoot - with a big stoopid grin on your face, laughing inside your helmet like the demented idiot you are for buying one of these ridiculous things in the first place! Ridden as it should be this thing is chill city - very relaxed and under-stressed.

The built quality whilst falling just short of abysmal is more mecanno set than motorcycle!. It doesn't go, it doesn't stop, the handling has all the rigidity of a wet bus ticket, yet the subtlety of a slab of granite........I shan't go on. BUT - there's something genuinely endearing about it - you can't help but love it. I think we're going to get on together just fine - only time will tell but initial signs are good. Best of all for me, the little aging legs can reach the floor no probs. One thing's for sure, whatever you ride after giving one of these things a go is going feel about as bland as a bucketful of whitewash!

Downsides? The first ride out was only a couple of hours or so - but kids wave, people stop and stare - and almost every car / bus / wagon gives way. This thing has shed loads of street presence, the kind of which you'll never find on Jap plastic, the Screamin' Eagle pipes are loud - very loud! All that's not so bad, but I made the mistake of stopping in a lay-by for an ice cream (yeah, I know - not very "hard assed biker", but I fancied a 99 ok?). People were drawn to it like a dog to a bitch on heat! Every bugger strolled over for a chat - I was captive there for almost an hour whilst every testosterone fuelled male in the vicinity put in appearance ("Cor blimmey - a REAL Harley, don't see them much now - they're all those Jap copy things these days")

Am I glad I bought it? Ask me in a fortnight!

The original air filter cover centre was damaged so I picked up this Screamin' Eagle one to replace it.
The the timer cover was painted to match and the original screws replaced with stainless steel ones

If there's one thing I hate about Harleys it's the way the number plate it mounted above the rear light unit. It may look ok in countries where their plates are quite attractive but here in the UK we must have the fugliest reg plates in the world, on the Harleys they stick out like a sore thumb. For now I've made up a bracket to lay it down a bit which improves the look slightly but eventually it will be coming off and getting mounted beneath the light when I can find a suitable alternative to the original.

There were 3 quite deep scrapes on the alloy headlight cover which I've managed to polish out,
while I was at it I cleaned up the rest of the metalwork in that area

After approx 6 weeks ownership and 700 miles I'm loving the bike, it opens up a whole new way of motorcycling - very relaxed and unhurried. The engine is running in nicely and is loosening off a lot from when I first bought it, at the time of writing I'm in the process of working through the first 500 mile service schedule.