I went to the Harley-Davidson dealer with Dan today. One of his bikes had been in for service and it was ready to pick up. I’ve written about my own Sportsters, and the fact that my riding has been extremely dormant since it’s hard to involve Rottweilers in the sport without a sidecar. So I haven’t had the need or desire to get a new bike. Today I saw one that could possibly change that. Wow, it was beautiful.
Sometime during the past few years when I was not paying much attention, Harley came out with a new matte-finish “Denim” paint line. I’ve always liked the blacked-out engines and pipes. I liked the look on the Night Rod, even though the V-Rod is not my kind of bike in general. But since I was living under a rock, I had no idea that the denim finish came in several colors. Even though Dan has bought a couple of bikes in recent years, he has never bought a Harley that wasn’t Vivid Black.
You might know that my present Sportsters are blue and purple. Well, at least that one of them is blue since, strangely enough, I don’t have any photos of the purple one.
The bike I saw today was a Sportster Nightster in Black Ice Denim. Black Ice Denim paint was apparently made with me in mind. It looks blue or purple, depending on the light and the angle. I was told that it looks black at night. You can look at the picture on the Harley website, and you’ll see a nice shade of blue, but it really doesn’t show what it looks like in real life.
A Sportster in this flavor now costs over $10,000. For a Sportster. Yeah, I know, we’re in the 21st century and that’s what stuff costs now. But for someone who bought her first Sportster during the $3,999-100% trade in days, it’s a heart-stopping moment. I think my first new car, a Honda Civic CRX, cost less than that. Not sure I can get past that until the economy perks up a bit, especially being the end of summer and all. But, man, that Nightster just calls out to me.
I spent a little more time on Harley’s website, checking out what else I’d missed when I wasn’t paying attention. There is a whole subsection for women riders, which I guess is a good thing. There is also a whole subsection for Latino riders, which struck me as a little bit odd. I don’t want to sound racist, or sour-grapes because there is no subsection for my people (Asian riders), but there weren’t any subsections for any other ethnic group and Harleys are sold worldwide.
Staying with the Harley theme, I’m watching tonight’s replays of Sons of Anarchy Season 1 episodes on FX, so I’m definitely well on the way to having all the storylines fresh in my mind before Season 2 starts on September 8.
(NaBloPoMo | August ’09: 29 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 217 of 274)