Reviews on the 1995 Ultra Classic Electra Glide

Sturgis Rally on a 1995 Harley Davidson Electra Glide Ultra Archetype.

When you're a biker from the southern tip of Africa, trips to the Sturgis Rally in South Dakota, United states of america, are once in a lifetime events. Add together to that the fact you're given the use of a 1995 Harley Davidson Electra Glide Ultra Classic for a marathon trip of 6000km/3000miles in 13 days and you lot take the makings of lifelong memories!!

I come from a very long and varied biking back round. Growing up in South Africa, I started riding motorcycles at age 9 and have never looked back. I think it is safe to say that motorcycling has go part of my Deoxyribonucleic acid.

I raced in the 125 Inferior motocross class in loftier schoolhouse and then gravitated towards route bikes after leaving school. The listing of bikes I've owned is long and varied and includes a 1982 Laverda Jota, a 1986 Kawasaki 900 Ninja, a 1989 Yamaha FZR 1000 EXUP (two of those), a 1998 Honda Blackbird, a 2004 Honda CBR thou Fireblade, a 2005 Honda XLV 1000 Varadero, a 2005 Suzuki Hayabusa, a 2004 Kawasaki ZX10, a 2006 Suzuki M109R Boulevard, a 2007 Suzuki GSXR 1000, a 2008 Suzuki Hayabusa, a 2008 BMW F800GS and finally a 2000 Honda Valkyrie.

When my onetime friend John Holland from Seattle Washington invited me to come over and join him on a ride to the 2010 Sturgis Rally and on top of that offered me the apply of one of his bikes, I jumped at the opportunity! Up until this point I had, neither owned nor ridden a Harley, every bit you tin can see from the list above, my background is mostly Japanese rice rockets, and then naturally I was very excited at the prospect of doig a major bout on a Harley!

I arrived in Seattle in early August 2010, and John immediately introduced me to the gleaming 1995 Harley Davidson Electra Glide Ultra Classic. I was immediately struck past the massive size of the bike and and so by the weight of the bicycle when I swung my leg over and lifted information technology off the stand. I had visions of dropping it in the principal street of Sturgis and starting a domino effect and having to run for my life! I am of boilerplate weight and height (5'x" 170lbs, or 1.78m and 75kg), and this downwardly the middle average build has stood me in good stead over the years, as almost motorcycles are designed with the boilerplate sized rider in mind. The Ultra however was the first bike I always got on and felt that I was too small. John wasted no time in handing me a helmet and suggested that we have a ride so that I could get acquainted with the Ultra. In no time at all my fears were put to residuum most the size of the bike, immediately upon getting under fashion she sheds her weight and she feels light and easy to handle, even at very slow speeds, even walking pace! The dry out weight of the Ultra is 765 pounds (347kg), simply as I said before, she feels nowhere about every bit heavy as that once moving. The residue of the Ultra is outstanding, and it is clear that a huge amount of thought went into the riding position and ergonomics of the bike. The seat elevation is 28 inches (711mm), which gives riders of boilerplate top a decent bend in the leg when putting their feet down. The confined were the perfect distance for me, and everything felt completely natural for me. The Ultra truly is a mile eater!

The Sturgis Rally is a weeklong thing and we planned to stay the entire week. Add to that three days riding getting at that place and 3 days back and that translates to a lot of luggage. Every bit you lot can come across the Harley Davidson Electra Glide Ultra Archetype has tons of baggage space. It has ii difficult side panniers with removable inserts for your convenience, as well as a hard meridian case with a luggage rack on peak of that. It besides has 2 storage compartments upwardly front for smaller items.

Loading the Ultra downwards like a mule fabricated no difference to the handling of the bike at all, it took anything I could throw at information technology and e'er felt composed and planted. Every bit the days went by, I became more and more impressed with the bike, information technology truly has a soul of information technology's ain and has tons of graphic symbol, something Japanese manufacturers fail to engineer into their motorcycles. I can honestly say that I become the whole Harley affair at present, I empathise it finally.

In the engine department, the 1995 model still has the 1340 cc engine, which is no rocket transport, but is willing and fit for purpose.For those interested, the engine produces 60hp (43.8kw) at 5500rpm and 69ft-lbs (94nm) at 3600rpm.Regardless of the figures, it has tons of grunt low downwards and sounds fabulous. We spent all day riding beyond the Montana plains at 75 to 85 mph (120km/h to 140km/h) in temperatures in the upper xc'due south (mid xxx DEGREES C), bike fully loaded without the motor skipping a trounce. Fuel consumption was off-white at about 35mpg (15km/50, half dozen.6l/100km).

The bike has standard luxury features which I'm not at all used to on a motorbike. For example it has a radio record with decent speakers which were perfectly aural even at highway speeds. It besides has cruise command, air break, an electrical plug signal, running boards, which made total sense to me when cruising for hours on finish over the vast distances in America. The fairing and screen provided total protection from the elements

My prior disdain for the make had at present turned to total respect, this was after all a 15 twelvemonth quondam motorcycle with 45000 miles (72000km) on it, and yet information technology behaved perfectly and even felt new. Everything worked. Cipher felt outdated, it is as absurd today as information technology was in 1995, that'southward the thing about Harleys, they're timeless. There's aught cool nearly a 1995 Suzuki Intruder, it may well have been absurd dorsum so, but it certainly is not anymore. I can only imagine what a current model Ultra must be like with a 96ci or 103ci engine. It's certainly on my shopping list!

Over the course of 13 days we covered thousands of miles in all kinds of weather and a huge variety of riding conditions and the Ultra proved to be a versatile, reliable, fun and easy ride. From dead straight roads over wide open plains to mount passes in Yellowstone National Park, to riding through the field to get to our showers in the camp footing every morning. Nothing phased information technology

Await out for speed constabulary enforcement by aircraft in the country of Washington. We were pulled over doing 83mph (132km'h), luckily the friendly officer let u.s. off with a alert!

In conclusion, if you're looking for a timeless, versatile ,fun, extremely capable motorcycle with tons of curb appeal the Ultra Archetype definitely needs to be considered!

floresdegiverthe78.blogspot.com

Source: http://bikedawg.blogspot.com/2011/10/1995-harley-davidson-electra-glide.html

Share this post