I am caught between a rock and a hard place. I have a 14year old Road King Classic that I love, but my wife has given me the option of buying a new bike. The new bike, a Street Glide, is @£18k but I think that if I spent @£10k on my Road king doing it up....it would be more the bike i want than the stock Street Glide.
What would you do if you had the choice? New or Upgrade existing Bike?
I have to agree with Dave & Jinx
What needs to be considered IMO
Is what kind of bike can you get for 10K
Will it be as good as your current bike with that 10K spent on it
If the answer is no, then you have your answer
But if the bike you have now isn't "in your soul"
If it's just "a bike" that wont be missed or mourned
Then no amount of money spent on it will help
But if it's part of the "family" then it makes "economic" sense at least, to upgrade it
If you fancy the idea of a "new bike" then go ahead & spend 18K
Hmmm..."but my wife has given me the option of buying a new bike"
Well, that's very generous of her....but why has she made this offer? She's done it for a reason. You don't just offer to buy a new bike, well not in my experience anyway?
"but I think that if I spent @£10k on my Road king doing it up....it would be more the bike i want than the stock Street Glide."
....I'm a bit biased (cos I said something similar when I was married, although the amounts of money were much smaller) but I interpret this as meaning, "I love spending time in the garage doing up bikes rather than going out riding em"
I don't know her, but I think you have to ask yourself how your missus would feel if you chose to spend £10k on doing up a bike, rather than buying the bike that you can get out on and ride
Hi Minnie There is an element of truth in what you say but there is a long story behind my question. 30 years ago when i was courting, I was in the army. I had saved £3k and thought that I would propose to my wife, so i asked her if she would accept my hand in marriage. I said that if she accepted I would put the money as a deposit on our first house and if she said no then i would buy a Harley and disappear into the distance. Anyway she accepted and i put the money as a deposit on our first house. She always said that I would have a Harley one day..so 20 years (and many other bikes later) she bought me a nice 2000 Harley road King classic. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my bike but it is starting to need attention..the chrome is flaking, there is some rust and it is generally looking tired. I am not overly impressed with the styling of the new lineup from HD but the Street glide is light and fast and can carry all the accessories i need for long distance touring. Part of me however wants to upgrade what I have..new big breather, chrome, braids, wheels, tourpak etc etc. The only problem is, HD accessories don't come cheap and would my Roadking be worth all the effort?
For 10K you could have a bespoke upgrade from any number of custom shops instead of limiting yourself to off the shelf HD bits and bobs that anyone can buy. So have a chat to a few of them and get yourself your very own completely individual bike that you'll love for years to come
I'd check out shops in the states first and american ebay ,can be loads cheaper and most are good at getting the stuff sent,at times quicker than over here,twin cam stuff is cheaper than evo stuff,by quite a lot,I use places in the states a lot now.