I own a Dyna Super Glide. I haven't participated in a demo ride in several years. However, due to a arthritic left hip, I'm contemplating a new Harley that may be more comfortable. Thus, I took advantage of my dealer's recent demo day. Here's what I discovered:

1) Road King - Very comfortable ride. Particularly good on uneven pavement. Feels planted. A lot of weight to move around, yet, it does move nicely. Still has awful handlebar. Decent wind protection. Can't beat the easy, one-latch hard bags.

2) Heritage Softail - Maybe not so surprising, nearly as plush as the RK. Handles slow speed parking lot manuavers better than RK. This bike just feels right. It's that "softail thing." Good value.

3) Fat Boy S - Even slammed, it did quite good on the highway, but not as good as the Heritage, however, it's real close. Because of the 110 and it's polarizing looks, this baby put the biggest smile on my face. On the down side, for whatever reason, it's difficult to find neutral.

4) Road Glide - Felt most of the bumps and patches. Give the rear another inch of travel like the RK and it would be sweet. Needs a taller windshield for touring. Great bars - on par with the Heritage. Very good ergonomics for a bagger. Not as claustrophobic as the bat wing. If I wanted a radio rider, this would be it.

Comments: Can't offer a detailed opinion on cornering. They all did good. I'm sure any spirited riding in the mountains would not benefit the softail.

I so want to love the Road King, but the handle bar is so bad, that it's hard to get a feel for it. Though 30 pounds less, it feels bulkier than the RG.

As much as I don't care for a fixed fairings of any kind, the Road Glide, with better rear suspension, would be a superior bike.

You can really tell the difference between the unbalanced motor of the RK and RG to the Balanced "B" motor in the softails. The "B" comes up a bit short on power. It also buzzes more when on the gas, shifting into the higher revs; but eventually settles down. It's not a deal breaker - just different.

I really like the Fat Boy S. More for the 110 than anything else. Also, for me, it's a head-turner. When I'm not riding around the outskirts of Atlanta, I would have to booger it up with a detacheable windshield and bags. I need the versatility. Plus, all Harley's should have the 110.

That brings me to the Heritage. At 6' 1," 218 pounds, I felt comfortable. I love the bars and the way I sit into it. Since the majority of my riding is not touring, it's a good bike for all-around honors. I wish the bags locked. And though I like the look of spokes, I would eventually replace them down the road with a decent set of cast wheels. As stated above, the ride surprised me. It was very compliant over rough pavement.

Of course, I could possibly save myself some money and add forward controls or floorboards to my Dyna. However, there's no guarantee that would help my hip issue. The floorboards keep my foot planted better, thus, less pain. In the meantime, until I can get a new hip, I need a bike that will make my rides more bearable.

 

I have a Heritage and think the ride is great. I was worried it was going to be harsh but on the test ride I found my fears to be unfounded and in the past year this has just been proven even more. I had to swap the bars and get them lower however so I put slim bars on it.


My only complaints are...Too much chrome, leather bags in the rain, and cornering clearance as I live in the mountain. I also agree that spoke wheels aren't the easiest for keeping clean especially when you do lots of miles every year and do multiple days of riding trips.


So I Just have to slow down a bit or get my weight shifted to keep the floorboards from grinding too much, and I put bag stiffners in which solved my bag issues.


Edited to add: I also have some fairly bad arthritis in my hip despite being a bit young for it and I find that the Heritage does not bother it at all even on extended rides.

 

Tony what do you find to be the issue with the bars? I'm 2 weeks now on my '16 RK and think they are terrific. I came off a '94 WG with 16"apes so these are a real change but I like them. What would you do differently with the bars on the RK if you were to buy one?

 

I tried the heritage and the RK and went with the King last month. The bars almost made the difference for me. I ended up rotating the standard RK bars about as far back towards the rider as I could while still clearing the tank at full turn. They're very comfortable for me but I really would eventually like a beach bar or maybe a california bar (like on the slim).

Slight difference in reviews, not sure what the difference is here, but I felt like the Road King was better than the heritage at slow speed parking lot kinda maneuvers.

 

Just added a 16 Heritage to my stable. Nice 16 improvements: reinforced leather bags to minimize sag. Less silver beading on leather. Better brakes. CRUISE CONTROL. Still has ABS. I am really enjoying it, so easy to ride, very nice tooling in tight turns. GREAT value compared to anything else with bags that HD makes (except perhaps Switchback). I also love the backrest that the passenger seat provides to the front seat. Mine has two tone paint, upgrade wheels and it was discounted to 16600 before TT&L. Thanks for your review, it was interesting.

 

Though the bars had ample pull back, it felt like the bar ends were slightly upswept. For me, it was awkward.

 

HD changed the Road King's bars a few years ago. I prefer the type they had on the '09s.

 

I disliked the stock seat, bars, and windshield on my RK but I knew this going in. All's now remedied by a C&C Solo, EG bars, and 2" lower (18") LRS shield. It's just the cost of setting a bike up to be how *I* want it and is something I do on every bike I buy.

 

I noticed the same thing on one I sat on in a showroom somewhere but the demo bike and mine were apparently set up differently as there is none of that feeling on them..I may want to change them after I am able to put some real miles on it but so far so good.

 

Modify your Dyna. If you put something on and don't like it, take it off and sell it. You still end up ahead and are dealing with a known quantity of a bike you already have.

The mid controls are the primary cause of your hip pain while riding. Forward controls would be better and floorboards would be even better than forward controls since they allow movement. All the bikes you liked have floorboards.

After the floorboards are done, next evaluate your handlebars and how they affect your riding position. More than likely, the 12" fat mini apes with risers kit from HD will help you. They will be somewhat similar to the Heritage handlebars you like. Before purchasing, demo a Street Bob with forward controls. If this works for you, then you can often by Street Bob handlebars that were taken off for cheap.

After that, head to the dealer and try out their various demo seats. I cannot advise on this because seats are one of those things that one person hates and another person loves. The good thing is their demo seats let you try them on the bike without committing to them. Again, you liked the ergonomics of the Heritage, so look for a seat that is wide towards the rear of the driver section and tapered towards the front.

Get a quick detach windshield from Memphis Shades. They are available in various sizes and styles. I love mine and is way better than the stock windshield.

There are numerous styles of bags on the market with a wide range of prices and options.

Those mods would come up to around a couple thousand dollars and you can do almost all of the, yourself, with the one possible exception of handlebars.

If your suspension is stock, look into progressive springs in the forks and shocks from progressive, works performance, or ohlins. The suspension parts will be the most expensive of the mods.