We're Done Shopping!

We’ve been busy this summer. And we finally bought the Harley.


After Karl got his motorcycle license, we decided to check out the bikes at Patriot Harley in Fairfax and Whitts Harley Davidson in Manassas. That was about a day’s worth of shopping.

At Patriot, I found the boots I liked - different from the boots I tried on at East Coast – but I liked these better. Wide enough for my feet, but not too masculine. (A lot of the girly looking boots were too narrow for my feet.) I ended up getting them, as well as a leather vest I liked. They had it in my size.

We looked at the selection of Fatboys there and they had a black 2010. So we knew that if East Coast couldn’t get the one we wanted, we could get it at Patriot.

At Whitts they also had a black 2010 Fatboy. We would probably be ready to buy it in the next couple of weeks, but it was so close to the new model year, we decided to wait to see if there were any significant changes.

At Whitts I also found THE leather jacket. It was beautiful – black with turquoise flames and according to the website, it was new and could only be purchased through the dealer. So I figured I’d put off buying it until we got the bike in another couple weeks.

Karl went away on a business trip for about a week and then at the end of July, we looked at the new models online. I liked the 2011 paint job on the Fatboy better than the 2010 paint job, and since the price was exactly the same, we decided to get the 2011 model.

So I called the car insurance company to get a quote and with that in hand the last Saturday in July, we went to East Coast to buy a Harley.

This is our first Harley. Buying a Harley is quite an experience. It’s like being adopted into the family. After talking to the Salesman, and seeing that, to our surprise they had a black 2010 on the floor, and they were looking to move it, we decided that the 2011 paint job wasn’t worth passing on a good deal, so we bought the 2010.

After deciding on the bike and making sure the fit was right for Karl, then we were introduced to the Chrome guy where we decided what accessories we wanted on it. We decided to get me a more comfortable seat with a backrest and a luggage rack, saddlebags, footboards, a windshield, an engine guard and road pegs fro Karl. We wanted to get footboards for me, but I had to settle for pegs because they are attached between the dual exhaust pipes. The footboards wouldn’t work.

Next up was Service. We went back to the service center and were introduced to the service crew, and talked about scheduled maintenance and how they work and the service plan and the owner’s manual and their recommendations.

Next stop was gear. The ladies in the gear shop were so helpful and fitted us with our helmets and helped us pick out our jackets and gloves. We ended up having to order Karl’s helmet because they didn’t have the one he liked in his size. I got my helmet that day. My jacket had to be special ordered, and the one I wanted was no longer available. (Big Bummer!!) But I found one that was subdued (Black and purple) and it matched my vest pretty well.

Then it was off to do all the paperwork. All in all, it took most of the day, and they wanted us to take possession of it that day. They couldn’t hold onto it waiting for all the accessories to come in. Plus we were going on vacation for two weeks.

Karl couldn’t ride it home because he didn’t have a helmet, but the Salesman drove it home for us and Karl took him back to East Coast.

We couldn’t ride it yet, but that baby was ours!