I'm thinking of trading my late model heritage for a new dyna. Main reasons are I like the slightly lighter bike and the rubber mounted motor without the counter balancers. I also only ever ride solo, so pillion comfort isn't important.

I do a lot of 4 - 5 hour rides and a fair bit of highway riding. With good after market rear shocks and new fork springs and emulators, will the dyna ride as comfy/plush as the softail??? I don't want to take a step backwards in comfort (ruptured disc in my lower back gives me a bit of trouble).

 

Softails are called slop tails for a reason. A dyna in it's stock form is already a faster, better handling, and more comfortable riding machine than any softail on the market. lol, saying plush ride and softail in the same sentence...

Enjoy the dyna. As long as you don't lower it and do other silly crap to it like that, you'll be entering into the world of practical motorcycles built for people who ride.

 

what a crock.... I ride my springer everyday. Handles just fine, and no complaints on the ride. To the OP, ride what makes ya happy, but I think you'd be miles ahead tweaking the suspension on your heritage to your liking.

 

lol. Someone who rides a Springer softail should not be giving advice on what handles and ride's just fine. Yeah... it may "handle" and it may "ride" but you're not going to outrun an FXR or a properly set up Dyna... just not going to happen. What a crock of ****. Softail... the only suspension design that works against itself. Looks cool... and that's about it.

 

You'll like the Dyna, put a detachable windshield on it and enjoy the ride.

 

Spent some time on a Dyna first. You sit "higher"...versus sitting down low "in" a softy.

Yes you can ride for hours and hours on a Dyna. My prior ride was a Dyna. Sure she was quite sporty in riding...almost as much fun as my wifes Sportster in the twisties. And I used to ride 2-up very often with my wife on the back....and I'm 6'5".

I left my stock mid controls on, and I had highway pegs on her. I'd normally shift 'n brake with my heels...was sort of like forward controls, but more comfy for me. Plus when I felt like pushing hard in the twisties I'd just shift my feet back to the mid controls.

Comfort for your back...3/4 of that is your choice of seat. 1/4 of that is your choice of bars. I'm someone with nothing left of my L4/L5..had an operation there...plus my L5/S1, L3/L4, and L2/L3 are also blown. So I get the bad back thing...again...lots of seats to try, it's worth it. Type of bike doesn't matter so much.

Then again...some people prefer sitting "down in" a Softy. One of my buds rides around the country year round...every year...summer up here in New England, late fall early winter in Florida, late winter and spring out west, then back to NE for winter. Repeats every year. He's full time on the road on his bike, camping, doing tours. Had an old Evo softy.

 

I think any family of Harleys will do the trick for the way you say you're going to ride. They'll all go for 3 or 4 hour rides, and will all do highway riding. If you set up the Dyna the way you described, I'm guessing you'll get a comfy ride. I do think if most of your riding is under 65-70mph, you're going to feel a little more vibration on the Dyna. That's not necessarily a bad thing. I mean, you are riding a motorcycle. Good luck & ride safe.

 

I couldn't agree more....Well said.



Again.....Complete agreement.

The Softail is the worst handling, most ignorantly engineered motorcycle that Harley has ever made...And the springer is the WORST of the bunch.
I inherited an '04 Heritage from my brother in law and rode it a couple of thousand miles, it was a poor handling piece of ****.
We were gonna keep it because it was her brothers last bike...But after a couple of years of the damn thing just takin' up space in my shop, we decided to get rid of the piece of ****.

So I can factually say...I wouldn't ride a Softail if you gave it to me!

 

I rode a 90' heritage for years, put a lot of miles on it. It's already been mentioned here that the right seat, bars and where your feet are positioned makes the ride. I preferred the floorboards, never have liked forward controls. As far as the debate, Softy vs. Dyna, I loved the feel of that old Heritage, the vibes and how she felt down the highway. Hell man, it's a Harley.

 

Good suspension makes all the difference in a comfortable ride and handling...I miss my FXDXT for that. Currently solo on a Fat Bob; that big front tire feels solid going down the road and I tour far and wide on that bike no problems (Wife has a Low Rider). I've tried the FLH's and found them too ponderous; never put a Softail thru it's paces; never felt like I needed to. Hard to find rear shocks with adjustable rebound, but there certainly are upgrades available. Have 430 Progressives on back of the wifes bike; mine is still stock with better tires