Pilgrimage to Arlen Ness

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.