I've been spending a lot of time trying to decide which Harley suits me best and after today's demo rides I've come away with a clear winner for me and that's the almighty Road King. What a bike!
It was just the regular 96 cubic inch motor and that was plenty of power for me, I can't see myself spending extra coin for that 103 engine seeing as the 96 cu.in does the job without breaking a sweat.
While I really like the looks of some of the Softails, they just aren't at all in the same league as the Road King and other Touring bikes. The ride quality of the touring bikes is far superior in my most humble opinion but that's just my two cents of course.
I started out on a Street Glide that was blacked out, it looked really mean and I liked that but I just didn't really appreciate sitting behind that large fairing after a while and tunes aren't a big deal for me when I'm on a motorcycle. Plus, the batwing bikes are more expensive too.
After that I got on a Road King, I loved everything about that bike! Harley makes one heck of a nice touring bike I'll tell ya.
I then had a chance to take out a beautiful Softail Deluxe and while it's a real piece of eye candy, I just didn't enjoy the ride nearly as much as the RK. The Deluxe's suspension wasn't as good as the RK of course, no surprise there but the engine even seamed rougher. Must be because the RK has its engine mounted on rubber isolators.
The Deluxe seemed to rattle and hammer away when I was at the upper end of a given gear (my Vulcan 1600 Classic with balanced engine doesn't do that). Maybe that's normal for a balanced Harley engine? Anyway, I didn't like the feel or the noise coming from that engine. Maybe there was something not quite right with it? Maybe another Softail would have run smoother? I don't know.
I was going to have a chance to prove that to myself on the last and final demo ride because I was slated to get on the Heritage Classic next but since there were only a few people left at the end of the day and nobody was taking out the Road King, I asked to be switched over and they said yeah, no problem. So, I got to try out the RK twice today and I can safely say that it's the Harley that ticks all of the boxes for me.
I got to say too that the way that these touring bikes shake at idle is too cool, it just gives you this feedback that hey, this bike is alive and bad-ass as hell too! 8^)
Oh and on a side note, the paint on this particular bike was gorgeous, I think that it was that Merlot Sunglo/Vivid Black, wow! They sure do know how to put together a beautiful bike.
The Ultras, EGs and Road Glides are all great touring bikes I'm sure but I just can't get into these bikes because they seem like way too much bike and they just don't float my boat on a visual level. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that they're hard to beat out there on the super-slab but I just don't find them to be the best looking bikes out there but there again, that's just my opinion for what it's worth.
The nice thing with the RK is that it's those bikes stripped down and it can be easily transformed with an added detachable backrest with luggage rack or detachable trunk.
Long live the king of the road..........The Road King!
BTW, were there any noteable changes in the Road King since 2009? Anything noteworthy between the 2009, 2010 and 2011 model years?
I had a blast trying out these bikes today and I just wanted to share my experience.
It was just the regular 96 cubic inch motor and that was plenty of power for me, I can't see myself spending extra coin for that 103 engine seeing as the 96 cu.in does the job without breaking a sweat.
While I really like the looks of some of the Softails, they just aren't at all in the same league as the Road King and other Touring bikes. The ride quality of the touring bikes is far superior in my most humble opinion but that's just my two cents of course.
I started out on a Street Glide that was blacked out, it looked really mean and I liked that but I just didn't really appreciate sitting behind that large fairing after a while and tunes aren't a big deal for me when I'm on a motorcycle. Plus, the batwing bikes are more expensive too.
After that I got on a Road King, I loved everything about that bike! Harley makes one heck of a nice touring bike I'll tell ya.
I then had a chance to take out a beautiful Softail Deluxe and while it's a real piece of eye candy, I just didn't enjoy the ride nearly as much as the RK. The Deluxe's suspension wasn't as good as the RK of course, no surprise there but the engine even seamed rougher. Must be because the RK has its engine mounted on rubber isolators.
The Deluxe seemed to rattle and hammer away when I was at the upper end of a given gear (my Vulcan 1600 Classic with balanced engine doesn't do that). Maybe that's normal for a balanced Harley engine? Anyway, I didn't like the feel or the noise coming from that engine. Maybe there was something not quite right with it? Maybe another Softail would have run smoother? I don't know.
I was going to have a chance to prove that to myself on the last and final demo ride because I was slated to get on the Heritage Classic next but since there were only a few people left at the end of the day and nobody was taking out the Road King, I asked to be switched over and they said yeah, no problem. So, I got to try out the RK twice today and I can safely say that it's the Harley that ticks all of the boxes for me.
I got to say too that the way that these touring bikes shake at idle is too cool, it just gives you this feedback that hey, this bike is alive and bad-ass as hell too! 8^)
Oh and on a side note, the paint on this particular bike was gorgeous, I think that it was that Merlot Sunglo/Vivid Black, wow! They sure do know how to put together a beautiful bike.
The Ultras, EGs and Road Glides are all great touring bikes I'm sure but I just can't get into these bikes because they seem like way too much bike and they just don't float my boat on a visual level. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that they're hard to beat out there on the super-slab but I just don't find them to be the best looking bikes out there but there again, that's just my opinion for what it's worth.
The nice thing with the RK is that it's those bikes stripped down and it can be easily transformed with an added detachable backrest with luggage rack or detachable trunk.
Long live the king of the road..........The Road King!
BTW, were there any noteable changes in the Road King since 2009? Anything noteworthy between the 2009, 2010 and 2011 model years?
I had a blast trying out these bikes today and I just wanted to share my experience.