smoked-a-harley-with-little-effort-14

SMOKED A HARLEY WITH LITTLE EFFORT
SMOKED A HARLEY WITH LITTLE EFFORT
On the way home from dinner, I was at the

stoplight, and a thin, middle aged guy on a modified Dyna pulled along side me in my lane. The first thing I noticed was that we wore NO PROTECTIVE GEAR,

whatsoever. There is no helmet law in Texas, which I like. But I am very prejudiced against the intellect of those who choose to ride unprotected. But then

again, he was riding a Harley. It was a newer Dyna Wide Glide with Screaming Eagle cylinders, a modified airbox, and BUB pipes, as well as a copious amount

of chrome. It was obvious this guy had over $30,000 invested in his bike. He pulled along side me and looked at my bike the way EVERYONE does when they

observe it for the first time. Took a full two seconds to look it over. He then shouts to me, “Is it fast?” I simply nodded. “How much does it weigh?”, he

shouted again. “Under 600!”, I shouted back. At this moment, the light turned green. The guy on the Harley took off first. I pulled the visor down on my

helmet and fed the clutch in second gear, the B-king engaged smoothly, and pulled away, effortlessly. The B-king tends to run out of RPM’s pretty quickly in

second. Since I am still breaking in the motor, I short-shifted into third gear. As I pulled alongside the Dyna, the rider leaned forward and rolled into the

throttle, looking for some fun. I gave him a couple of bike lengths and two shifts before I turned it on. I rolled into what I THOUGHT was full throttle. A

brief background on my riding experience: this is my first streetbike in years. I have been racing motocross, endurance roadracing, and supermoto. All these

bikes have quarter-turn throttles. The B-king has a HALF-TURN throttle. It wasn’t until I ran out of range-of-motion in my wrist that I realized this. Back

to the Harley: I flew by him so fast, you would have thought he was parked. I let the RPM’s carry to about 8000 before I let off, and coasted over 100 yards

to the next redlight. It was at least two seconds before I could even hear him catching up! When he caught up, he shouted, “How much horsepower on that

thing?” “About 180!” I shouted back. “How fast did you go, just then?” “Third gear, half-throttle!” He shook his head in total disbelief. I just shrugged and

prepared to pull away as the light turned green. The Harley revved his motor on down the road, his open exhaust pipes echoing in the distance. I idled along

in third gear, marvelling at the refinement of this amazing machine the gods of horsepower have delivered upon us mortals. Long live my new B-King!!!