Dear Shadow,
Congratulations to you and your “Black Beauty” for turning over the 100,000-mile mark. I, too, was fortunate to hit 100K on my 2010 Road King (“His Majesty” or HM) earlier this season. Unlike you, I observed the blessed moment—I was riding in an area of Wisconsin known as the “Driftless Region” in a section close to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin. I pulled off on a back road so I could slowly turn over the odometer and take a picture. Except for the ones put on by the service department, they’re all mine! And we hope to hit 113K before the end of our short season.
So what’s next for you and me—200K, 500K, a million? A new MC? I love HM, but wish he had ABS. Plus, the new Milwaukee-Eight sounds intriguing… It would be hard to give up an ol’ friend like HM, though.
I’ve only been riding since 2009 and consider myself a novice, but I love TP and all the columns/writers (you, Felicia, Sam, et al). Makes me wonder why I haven’t tried this “motorcycle thing” years ago!
Stay safe,
Gary Abplanalp
Gary, thanks for writing to share your 100K experience with me, as well as your love of THUNDER PRESS and our columnists and contributors. As for what’s next, I have just purchased a 2017 Road King (ABS equipped!) and will be riding it home from the dealership any day now. However, my 2000 FXD, who, once she turned 100,000 miles, became known as Elvira the Black Beauty, will still carry me on many more great riding adventures.
—Shadow
I, too, was thrilled to have captured my 100k mile turnover on camera during a multi-state ride a few years ago on my 2001 FXD, OLDNO7. Unfortunately, no matter how well she was maintained, a critical part (mostly starters) always seemed to conk out during a tour with friends. Embarrassing and inconvenient to say the least. Finally, after yet another occurance and posting 164k miles, I sadly decided it was time to sell. I was devastated and cried in my helmet more than once as we took some of our favorite roads like Lolo Pass for the last time. When we got home, I traded her in on a new FLD, but despite all the newer features, it still took me a couple years to accept the new bike and bond with it. I found out months later after letting go of OLDNO7, that she had been sold to someone living in Hawaii. That made me feel better–she was living her retirement carving out a few more miles along ocean beaches.