That's actually pretty solid reasoning. Actually I had zeroed in on the Vrod as a good bang for my $ (as long as I didn't hate the test ride), and it was when I was telling my friend about it when he said he was selling his for cheap.

TBH, I'll probably get the dyna, but I am still giving the V a shot.

It's nice to have options

 

As much as I like a VROD for what it is, I would never have one as my only bike. It would be great as a second bike though.

I think you are making a mistake by limiting yourself to those two choices though.

I find the Fat Bob feels tall. I am 5'9" and my pants have a 29" inseam. The fact that your buddy lowered his echoes that sentiment. I hate lowering suspensions on bikes because it almost always results in poor ride quality.

Based on what you wrote, a Dyna Low Rider and a Street Bob are two bikes you should test ride at the dealer.

 

The Fat Bob is a very nice ride with the wide forks and larger front wheel. If you enjoy the forward controls you can still pick up set of foot rests and attach them where they would go if you had mid-controls. It'd good to change foot positions on longer runs. I didn't read about options but you can pick up a second hand removeable windshield and set of bags off this forum for a very fair price and have a touring machine. The stock seat is very comfortable.
V Rods are hot and fun to ride but I am biased toward Dynas.

 

Just go ahead and get the caddy / Ultra and enjoy the comfort

 

How many after market parts can you get for a V-Rod in about ten years from now, because Harley is discontinuing the V-Rod? I Would get the Dyna if I was in your shoes.

 

I've ridden both the Vrod and a Fat Bob. If you go with the VRod good move going with mid controls. Forward controls on a VRod makes absolutely no sense. Just puts you in a awkward position. I was scraping pegs when I rode the VRod (with forward controls), which surprised me because I really wasn't leaning it much. I think the Fat Bob has a higher ground clearance, not sure about the lean angles though. The Fat Bob handles really well, maybe the best of the Dyna line as far as handling. I think the Fat Bob is a more versatile bike.

Two completely different rides. VRod is more refined, water cooled, and rides more like a metric power cruiser. The Fat Bob has a rubber mounted engine (the VRod I believe is both counter balanced and rubber mounted) and it vibrates a bit at idle but smooths out very nicely once you roll the throttle.

 

This is going to sound trite, but it isn't meant to be.

You said you decided you finally wanted to try a Harley. While a Vrod is certainly made by HD it is a completely different experience than any HD air cooled big twin. If you're truly looking for the experience of owning and riding a Harley, I'd go with any Dyna. Yes the Vrod has a higher tech power plant, but if you're truly looking for what HD is, at some point you'll regret the Vrod despite it's technology.

 

Couple of responses mention limiting myself to a small set of choices - I've already analyzed my way down to those two.

The Fat Bob model itself doesn't hold any particular specific interest for me, it's a middle-weight HD above all else, though I do kinda dig the wide front tire, and especially like the dual discs. In this case specifically it's within my budget, AND a nice blank slate to build on, though the irony of most of my "build" will be returning it to mostly stock

In terms of having a V-Rod as my only bike, I think the Street Rod with the mids, bags and windscreen would be just fine. Plus I will keep my current bike for a while as well, at least until I can fix a couple of things and trade it for something smaller for the missus to learn on. The Magna may not match the HD for displacement, but an 85+ hp bike is not a good learner no matter what brand it is.

 

What kind of budget are you on? With that, it becomes easier to make recommendations.

 

I have a budget of about 5 grand. The Dyna is a rebuilt title so very reasonable, and V-Rod models appear to depreciate a lot more than other models.

I remember when the guy with the dyna bought it about 5 years ago, and he's put over 10k miles on it since then, so it's fine. Aside from one thing (fork seals) any part I would replace is all personal preference and not a repair.
​​
Between purchase price and what I would want to do to them, they will end up being within $500 of each other.