I have a friend who is in the market for a new Harley. He's not sure what he wants yet, so I spent some time going through the H.D. website and puled together this comparison chart. It does not include many of the details of each model, but it does include the FIRST things that many buyers look for. It also does not include every model, but does include most. Some folks are concerned about weight, some about height, some about engine size, etc. I think that my information is accurate, and I hope someone might find it helpful.

 

Reddog, very nicely done. Thanks.

 

Good effort, but there's some mistakes.

For example, you list the seat height of the Softail Slim and the Road King as being the same. No way that's true.

 

If you look at the Harley-Davidson website and look up the specs. for the two bike, you will see that the unladen heights for both bikes are the same. I had to choose laden or unladen, so I went unladen. As you look at the chart, you may find several surprises.

 

A softail is a good beginer bike. Especially with their very low seats. I wouldn't recommend a sportster to a beginner those are for more advance riders.

 

You're right, they list the unladen seat height of the Slim as 28.2". But they list the laden seat height as 23.8". So they're saying that the seat sinks 4.4" when a 180 lb. rider is aboard? That's some awful mushy suspension!

I'm thinking they made a mistake on the unladen seat height spec.

 

News to me. I thought the Road King was the beginner bike.

 

I'd suggest a Dyna Low Rider as a first bike, smoother than a Sportster with more power and longer range, Can easily be ridden 500 miles/day. Lighter, easier to get a feel for the bike and road, easier to manipulate than an FL.
But that's just my 2 cents