This past January while attending the Arlen Ness Show in San Jose, CA, we had one goal in mind: find tight and done-right Harleys to feature in future issues. Well, that show (we'll bring you the coverage next issue) had so many sweet bikes, it was like fishing with dynamite. We didn't just accomplish our goal-we annihilated it. Our crowning achievement for the show was when we came across this golden beauty. We immediately knew that we were staring at a future cover bike.
Unfortunately, the stars weren't completely in alignment for us that weekend, as we could never find the owner or anyone who knew the owner to make the necessary arrangements. However, as luck would have it, a few weeks after the show an e-mail came in from a new freelance photographer we'd just picked up, and attached to his e-mail was a pic of the RG. We were back in business.
So that's how we came across this cover bike. Now let's hear the owner, Jeremy "Lumpy" Sturgill, tell us in his own words how this '05 Glide went from rolling stock to total shock.
"In December of '05, this guy I ride with, Mike Lacy, set me up on a blind date with his sister Melissa. Surprisingly, we hit it off, and after talking to her for a few weeks, I found out she had never ridden on the back of a motorcycle. Seeing as I am the type of guy who rides all the time, I knew I had to talk her into getting on the back of my bike.
"On our first ride together, I have to admit it; she was a trooper. Somehow the place we ended up going to was three hours away. Not to mention that my bike at the time, a custom chopper, wasn't set up to have a passenger on it, so I threw a p-pad on the rear fender and told her to manage. During the ride I yelled out, 'How is it?'
"'Not so comfortable,' was all I remember her saying. When we stopped halfway through the ride, we realized she'd burned off the toe of her boot on my pipes. Guess that's what happens when you ride a passenger on a 'single man's bike.' When the ride was over, her thoughts about the whole experience weren't the greatest, but she did say she'd like to do it again. I knew at that moment it was all going to have to change.
"A few weeks later, my father went down to the local Harley dealership to buy a new Ultra Classic, so Melissa (she had now become my fiance) and I decided to tag along. While we were there, Melissa and I sat on a Road Glide, and the first words out of her mouth were, 'I could get used to this. This is like riding in a Caddy.' My response wasn't as positive: 'I will never own an old man's bike!' I ended up riding it home a couple weeks later, with the word 'Caddy' rolling around in the back of my head.