New member, going to be asking a LOT of questions! Ghost sent me...

    Hey everyone,


    I just purchased a 2017 Orange Madness SLR, 800 miles, with cold air intake, heat shield, Twist Dynamics roof, floor mats, front grill, radio visor, and carbon fiber gas cap for $18,900 from an awesome couple out in Oklahoma. I think I did well on this one, even with the shipping to Massachusetts.


    I'm a gal who loves tools, motorcycles, giga coasters, speed, and modifying my things to be unique. So I am going to be asking a LOT of questions in here because - after renting a Slingshot over the summer - I already know a lot of things I want to do as soon as mine gets here.


    So hope to see you all around this forum (Ghost sent me) and hope you all don't mind the many questions coming your way :)

    Welcome to the club.


    A lot of your initial questions have already been asked. (You know you got a few ) Check out the search feature and you'll find them.


    If you don't, then ask away. There is a lot of talent and knowledge here. They will all happily share that with you.


    Be warned...... we all share BS easy too


    @studiopeg


    Hey Peg!


    Glad to see that you made it over here. You will no doubt see a few screen names here that look familiar as there are a few of us who still frequent TDS (the dark side) from time to time but that is a story of it's own. I hope your time here is as rewarding as mine has been. I hate to brag on these folks in front of them for fear of swelling their heads up but the truth can't be hidden. This is a fabulous group. They are one of the most outgoing, giving, caring, and intelligent groups I have ever had the privilege to be a part of. I only hope that I can one day learn to be the type person that they all are. All that said I can assure you that we don't always agree on everything and sometimes we let that be known but in the end we agree to disagree and move forward. Oh, and look out for the train! This bunch can derail a thread slap off the rails before it can get started. The trains are almost as frequent as the "hijackers". They hijack the trains that have derailed the thread and take everything off in the direction of some unknown land never seeing the original destination again! Enjoy!


    Be sure to get pictures posted AS SOON as you can of your new Sling. Then be sure to post pictures of it from the places you visit as @Ross likes to take those pictures and create calendars, banners and other beautiful works of art with them.


    73' from KT4JW


    Tim "Ghost" Ganey
    Winfield, Alabama
    205spam412spam2868

    BTW folks don't let the fact that Peg said I sent her leave a bad mark on her reputation here. She's just an innocent little lady that didn't know any better. Someone's gotta talk to her mom about teaching her not to accept candy from strangers! :evil:


    Tim "Ghost" Ganey
    Winfield, Alabama
    205spam412spam2868

    Quote from Ghost

    This is a fabulous group. They are one of the most outgoing, giving, caring, and intelligent groups I have ever had the privilege to be a part of. I only hope that I can one day learn to be the type person that they all are.

    Clearly, you have us confused with another of your social groups. :00008172:

    Quote from Ghost

    She's just an innocent little lady

    That would be a first for this forum. I'm sure we'll fix that shortly. :00008356::saint::evil:

    What a welcome! Ok ok so I have indeed been seduced to coming here by candy.... SS eye candy...


    I have been researching Slingshots for a year now, so none of this was impulse or not thought through. I know *some* of the mods I want to do right away - others I'll figure out as I go along. I always search the forums for the answer first, before I ask my question, to see if the answer is already available. If not, I'll ask.


    Slinglow: "Please share the story of your father with the crew. Very cool."


    --------------------------------------------


    It's a heart warmer...


    I bought a Harley Softail Deluxe in 2008. I loved the bike... changed everything on it over a 2 year period and made it into a breast cancer theme bike, and I can't tell you how many people (men and women, survivors and loved ones) saw the bike and told me their stories with tears in their eyes. I rode in every breast cancer event in New England. It was a blast.


    My dad was fascinated by the bike, because when he was first married all he could afford for transportation was an Indian Chief motorcycle. He rode it everywhere, even up Pike's Peak. Every time I came over my parents' house, he would come out and look wistfully at it, wanting a ride on the back. But I could never take him because he was too weak and unstable.


    Then mom got Alzheimer's, and dad could not keep up with her care. Every day I would get up, drive over their house, make them breakfast, do dishes and laundry, walk their dog, put lunch in the fridge, then go to work. At 5:00 I would leave work, drive back to their house, make them dinner, do housework, then get them ready for bed. Then drive home where I would wolf down something to eat then fall into bed exhausted.


    There was no longer any spare time ever. No time to ride my bike, and I didn't want it just sitting in the garage. It was meant to be seen because of it's theme. So I painfully put it up for sale and parted with it. I even have a video of me saying good-bye to it.


    Not too long after that, dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and mom had to be taken care of full-time in a nursing home. My husband and I sold our house, I sold my parent's house, and we bought a condo and had dad come live with us so I could take care of him. One month after moving in, my mother-in-law hit her head and almost died. Doctors said she could not live alone any longer, so my husband moved in with her to take care of her, while dad and I stayed at the condo.


    Dad's cancer was now moving quickly. And he still talked about motorcycles with me all the time, reminiscing about his time riding his Indian and the feeling of wind in his face, and freedom.


    I started thinking about a way I could get him on a bike again. I called up a Harley dealer that rented, and booked a trike for the 4th of July week last summer. I put on Facebook that I was going to give my dad a surprise bucket list ride, and it went viral. Forged Alliance out of S. NH got wind of it and volunteered to escort us and honor dad for his military service. Then the local papers got wind of it, and two of them contacted me to cover the ride. Then the entire town found out and were going to line the street for the ride, and a police officer volunteered to lead us.


    On the day of the ride, dad knew nothing except that I rented a trike. All the neighbors were in our driveway, waiting with flags in their hands. I brought dad outside, had him sit in a chair, and told him I was taking him for trike a ride to Kimball Farm to get his favorite hot dog. He was so excited! Then he noticed all the neighbors and asked if there was a block party going on. I didn't answer, and then we heard the rumble of 20+ bikes roaring up the road. The look on my dad's face when they pulled up was priceless!


    Then I told him this was all for him. He was in his glory... Forged Alliance all thanked him for his service, and presented him with his very own leather vest complete with U.S. Army and Korean War patches. The neighbors were all clapping and waving flags. The newspaper reporters were snapping pictures and interviewing. Dad stood up and told a true but very funny war story. Then two members of Forged Alliance gently lifted dad up and set him on the back of the trike, and off we went, police siren blaring and clearing the way for us.


    All I could hear as I was driving was "oh this is fantastic! It feels so good, just like when I was 20!"


    I had no way of knowing then that dad would be gone 7 months later.


    Dad said next to the day he married my mother, it was the happiest day of his life. He talked about it every week for months, and read the newspaper articles over and over. He made the front page of both papers, and made the front page again for the last paper of 2017 for one of the most heartwarming feel-good stories of the year.


    It's the best thing I could have ever done for dad, a memory that I will cherish forever. I keep a picture of us together on that ride in my office where I can see it every day.


    Dad passed last month, and had made me promise after he was gone to sell his car and use that money to ride again. I promised I would. And that's how I came to buy the Slingshot a few weeks ago!




















































































    What an awesome story of your dad @studiopeg! Thank you for sharing! Danged eyes are leaking a bit, these allergies.... I tell ya!


    Your story hit home. My dad had Parkinson's and it got pretty rough the last 5-7 years of his life. He passed in 2011. It took me the most of 2 summers to get his house (the one he built and mom still lived in) back up into really good shape. While I had tended to the things that he said he needed in those last few years, he always told me the house was in good shape. I didn't look closely, but I should have. Mom started failing shortly after we got the house into great shape again. She went on a roller coaster ride that slowly descended over the course of 3 years. She passed on May 1st, 2016.


    My wife and I went for a ride on the Harleys about 2 weeks after her funeral. I commented to her that I almost felt guilty for being out on the bike, and enjoying some time with her after looking after my parents for so long. It just seemed.... odd.... even selfish of me. I told her that we needed to learn to have fun again. She knew I'd been researching the Slingshots since before they came out. She said to me, "Do you want to go look at the Slingshots at the dealer?" We went the following weekend, and we brought ours home May 22, 2016. 26,000 miles later, I can promise you it was the right thing for us.


    Thanks again for sharing!