OK, I flew to Perth and that was not all roses (explanation) and I have to admit that up until last Saturday I struggled with not picking up the keys, packing the Road King® and heading west. Anyhow I arrived in Perth just before lunch today, headed to Frasers Harley-Davidson dealership to grab a pair of gloves and then south to pick up a nice, black 2011 Ultra Classic that a mate had kindly lent me for the four days I was to be in town.
Soon enough I was on the Kwinina Freeway heading south, fiddling with the knobs and dials on the Ultra trying to work out where everything was. First thing was finding how to set the cruise control. On the Road King there's a switch on the left handle under the blinker to activate it and you set and adjust with the right. After several failed attempts to do the same thing on the Ultra I saw the Cruise Switch in the faring and all was good.
Then I moved on to the stereo. Never having ridden and Ultra before I was keen to experience the sound of music and after noticing the Speaker switch while looking for the cruise I was faced with my mate's taste in music. Familiar songs I admit, but none I'd ever owned (except for some of the AC/DC). It was pretty cool though pumping up the jam in beautiful riding conditions. It was also pretty funny seeing the tin box owners around me noticing the sounds except for one occasion where I passed a very attractive lady driving a sporty yellow convertible and realised I was blaring out "It's Raining Men". Fumbling with the switches didn't help, it was followed up by Brittany Bloody Spears. At least she got a laugh and I was grateful that the full faced helmet disguised the red face.
I had a function to get to so instead of veering off at Busselton and taking the scenic route to Margaret River I too the highway, which in itself is quite nice. It's fun to see 110kph speed limits on something that isn't a concrete super-slab.
I arrived just in time for the party, parked the Ultra and met up with some friends and even Bill Davidson himself.
