Monday, April 23, 2007
Finally got out to the sun
So I finally made it to the beach this past Saturday. Gorgeous is the only word to describe the trip. From the weather, to the waves, to the women, beauty was literally all around me, and it was good. :) I managed to color my pale flesh a light shade of pink, but no burns. Thank Jebus for Australian Gold 35+ sunscreen...
It was great to get back out to Clearwater again. Knowing how bad the traffic can be, I got there around 11:00 and took up a spot near the pier. There were very few people on the beach at that hour, so I had a nice chunk of real estate all to myself for a little while. People slowly filtered in and for once, most of them were females. For some reason, I normally end up being surrounded by a bunch of loud-mouthed dudes when I venture out to Clearwater on my own. Thankfully, things were different this time.
At one point a drunk came meandering by, announcing his arrival, his departure, and his return to any ladies within ear shot. The females looked thrilled. A little later, some guido, complete with tribal tattoos, blowout hair, and a gait that was supposed to resemble a strut, sits down and starts bothering this young girl and her friend laying a few feet away from me. When they started laughing at him, he and his wingman got up and moved on to greener pastures. The whole exchange more or less made my day. I probably should have been bothering the same girls, but that's never been my style. Besides, without the tats and haircut, what hope did I possibly have?
Went straight from the beach to the cycle dealership. I couldn't have looked more out of place amongst all the chrome, jeans, and leather in board shorts and flip-flops. After a few minutes of staring at the two Deluxes they had on the floor, one of the salesmen decided to take a chance on the odd ball. We chatted for a bit, went back to the office and started playing the numbers game. Things got to the point that I wrote up my parts and gear wish lists, started pricing everything out, and filled out a credit app.
Went out to saddle up and feel the heft of Harley's nostalgia cruiser. The bike is so well balanced that it feels MUCH lighter than its listed dry weight of 700lbs. At one point, I was sitting on the bike with the kickstand up, both feet on the footboards, and was able to stand it up for a few seconds before it started slowly leaning toward the shift side. The seating positiong is perfect and the bike's center of gravity is very low. It felt good sitting still and I was amazed at how light the bike felt!
The thing about buying a Harley is that every dealership is adamant about getting MSRP, so the only real negotiating you can do is in the freight, prep, and extras. As far as the numbers go, I'm almost where I want to be, so it's very likely I'll be putting a deposit down on the bike tonight, potentially be picking it up Thursday or Friday. With any luck, pops and I will be able to do some riding this weekend. I need to get out in traffic in order to expand my understanding of what it means to be on a bike. Hopefully, the bike will be ready by Thursday, so that I can get some seat time in the neighborhood, and do some side street riding this weekend. Good times. :)
Labels: beach, motorcycles
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I'm fine with the bike until it causes you to miss a reunion. Then we're going to have some words.