CrossBones - Rating the ride?

As promised THE CROSSBONES RIDE review. First let me say that, the CrossBones is not a StreetGlide, and it does not ride like one. It is a Softail, however, it does not ride like my Softail Deuce either. The ride is distinct, it feels retro, it feels vintage even while you are perched on the tall seat. People that I pass have given the thumbs up more than once. The ride started a little "Jaunty" it may be a combination of the springer front end and the spring style seat, however, the springer front seemed to soften as I rack up miles on the scooter. The double springing that comes from the Softail suspension along with the spring seat seems to bounce a little more than a normal softail ride. I would consider a typical softail seat, however, I believe that ruins the look of the bike itself. I have added a pillion, cool sissy bar and pad which allows for a bag on the back giving plenty of back support. I am shopping for some cool retro throw over bags (I did miss saddlebags on the trip) however, no one bothered our $500 worth of leather jackets that were bungied to the sissy bar in a waterproof bag. All in all I am happy with my decision to trade for this bike. The wide tires, short wheelbase, makes this a scooter that is very easy to handle. With the higher road clearance it is difficult to drag much on a turn. With the higher than typical seat height you get a commanding view of the road - and reach to the apes is very comfortable.

Road handling - the wider front tire gives the bike a nice stable feel on the road compared to the skinny tire on my Deuce. The wider rear tire seemed to be plenty stable compared to my old StreetGlide. The combination for the crossbones gave me a real sense of road worthiness of the entire 1,400 mile trip. I have to say that while I was idling away the miles I was thinking about how I would blog on ride quality. The lack of Radio, CD etc gives you more time for mental gymnastics.

Two-up you may ask??? My buddy had to leave his "Dark Custom V-rod Screamer" at the shop one morning and I hauled his 200lb Carcass to breakfast (Jack Nicholson Style in Easy Rider) and the stock 96 motor was more than up to it without any modifications to Carb or Pipes. He said that there was plenty of room with over 400Lbs of beer-bellied-biker-boys on the Crossbones. (although we parked in the back of Denny's so as not to draw too much attention to our ride style, not that there is anything wrong with that). Hope this answers any of those questions of those readers asking about a HD CrossBones. In a word it "ROCKS!"

If you can recommend some saddle bags please let me know.