Road King Blog

Based on the advice given in the Hahn book, and from a variety of other sources, I had come up with a plan to build my riding proficiency in slow, measured steps.

Phase 1:

Mid-day riding around the residential streets in the local neighborhood.  25 - 30 MPH posted limits, two lane roads with minimal traffic during the mid-morning timeframe.

Phase 2:

Adding short trips on larger, higher-speed roads around the neighborhood, returning after a short time to the roads involved in Phase 1.

Phase 3:

Spending more time on the Phase 2 roads, and venturing out for the first time onto multilane roads in the vicinity, with posted limits of 35-40 MPH.

Phase 4:

More time on the Phase 3 roads, and venturing onto slightly faster and busier multi-lane roads with limits in the 45-50 MPH range.

When adding complexity (like winds or higher traffic levels), I fall back a phase and work up again.

My wonderful wife, sick to death of listening to me talk about bikes constantly, agreed to the purchase of a motorcycle.  I set about looking for a bike, and happened across a 2006 Harley Davidson Road King Police at Seminole Harley Davidson.  The bike had only 1088 miles on it, and was in nice shape.

The dealer let me ride it around in their lot for a bit, and I was hooked.  A whole bunch of paperwork later, I rang the bell at the dealership and they delivered my bike to the house that afternoon!

Yes, I said delivered.  Even though I had already obtained proper riding gear, I was not going to try riding the bike home from the dealer on heavily traveled roads (or the Interstate) as my first time riding in traffic.  

The Road King is a big, hefty bike (around 750 pounds), and I felt then (as I do now) that a healthy respect for it’s size and power would be important to my riding career.  And I was right….