Pilgrimage to Arlen Ness – Mecca of Motorcycle
Customization
I made my 340+ mile pilgrimage to Arlen Ness Motorcycles
a couple of Fridays ago and was rewarded beyond my hopes and expectations. I
went in to find help putting mirrors on my Victory Cross Country that I
couldn’t get done even with assistance over the phone and to maybe get a look
at a couple of cool bikes. I have new mirrors and every bike I saw, in the
parking lot and on the showroom floor was very cool and then there was the
bonus room upstairs for the Ness Museum that was amazing.
I had purchased the mirrors over the phone, using the
online catalog and confirming that these mirrors would fit the 2010 VCC. Soon
after receiving them I struggled with them on and off over several weekends to
make them work. My hopes for the new mirrors was to get a better grade of
chrome than stock and at the same time have more reach with the mirrors for
better viewing. I had to put them aside, something a professional-procrastinator
should never do. Several weeks later, I made my first call and was assured that
I merely needed to use the right bolt configuration on the stem but it was no
good and I put them aside in disgust again. Then while attending the IMS show
this past December in Long Beach I found Kevin at the Arlen Ness booth and we
talked about my problem. He assured me that the mirrors should work and to call
him again sometime. I did that, again several weeks later, with no success. I
told him I was taking a vacation on the bike with my first stop at my best
friend’s house nearby and asked if I could stop in and get some on site help. The
answer was yes and I moved my kick stand up time up and my pilgrimage was set.
I left before full sunup to miss most of the heat that
traveling up the Highway 5 was sure to have during a heat wave; traveling up
and down the grapevine and over Tejon Pass was very pleasant without much
congestion except for the construction areas that were easy enough to get
through without pushing my conservative riding style too much. The last
interesting riding was over for the day once I reached the valley floor and
started out along the straight and boring road. The scenery was nice enough but
the golden hills, agricultural fields with their “Congress Created Dust Bowl” signs, and the Harris Ranch stock yards
complete with super heated foul smells that a rider cannot escape, really only
went so far for entertainment. I always have to constantly fight the boredom of
the 5 and stay vigilant with semi trucks making the quick lane changes to
maintain the one mile per hour edge of their brothers and the speed freaks
passing on the right and diving into the left lane to pick up an extra car
length.
I arrived at Arlen Ness just passed noon and was greeted
with a row of Visions and parked next to them to go in. My timing was perfect
as Kevin was just walking by the receptionist, a very attentive and attractive young
lady. We shook hands. And he took the box of mirrors from me, opened it up,
took one look and said, “Oh, these won’t work…” I felt relieved that the
problem wasn’t just me, the inept biker. Kevin had me take a look at tear drop
mirrors that seemed a bit much for my style and my doubts that the pointy ends
would help me with the view. I sat on a custom VCC Touring bike, orange with
black flames, blacked out pipes, and mirrors. I could have just as easily
traded my 2010 on it and been happy with the custom paint and graphics,
beautiful! I was pleasantly surprised at the coverage of the tear drops and
Kevin came back out with a chrome set and put them on the bike, there wasn’t a
question about him doing this, he just walked out, put the mirrors I’d
purchased back in the box and went back in; done, and with one happy customer
trailing behind looking for more goodies to put on the bike.
I enjoyed my self-guided tour while drooling over the
gorgeous Harleys and Victories, even a nice looking Yamaha. Those folks really
know how to dress up a bike. I’m really proud of riding the VCC with the
unmistakable Ness influence in the bike design that sets it apart from all
other cruisers. I went upstairs to see Victory Row in the museum seeing the
early Kingpins dressed nicely as well as some concept bikes that played a role
in the development of other Victory models. I hope you enjoy the quick 360 of
the museum and get a taste of the place. I recommend dropping in if you are
even anywhere near Dublin, CA.
Visit Arlen Ness on the net, tour around, and let your mind grasp the possibilities:
http://www.arlenness.com/
I enjoyed the mirrors over next highly heated 1200 miles
of my vacation ride. Stay safe and keep the iron side up.
