I went to visit the local dealer to see if they had taken delivery on any of the 2013 models. The showroom was filled with 2012 models and none of the '13's yet. A salesman saw me and I asked about the 2013 models. He said that only the Baggers were being delivered. Ugh, I hate when salesman are uninformed. I pulled out a picture I had saved of the 2013 XL1200C. Oops.

Oh well, never no mind. I was looking at one of the Dynas and he offered a demo. I didn't expect to be asked but I accepted since I haven't been on a Dyna before and figured that if the price was right on a '12 leftover I might bite.

He asked what I rode and told him the 2007 Sporty. I was surprised that he didn't belittle the bike. I told him that I would sell it on my own because I knew the dealer wouldn't offer it's fair value.

Let me flash back a few moments. As I was walking into the dealership I noticed I pulled up next to a blue Sporty 883L that was either an '06 or '07. At first there was no-one there. Well, when I went back to get my sunglasses, gloves and helmet for the demo I noticed a couple around that bike and a nice Fatboy. The couple had ridden there on separate bikes. I say "Hello" and ask about their bikes. Her Sporty turns out to be the 2006. She wants to do a 1200 kit on her and I told her and her husband about the NRHS 1250 kit.

We were talking for a few minutes more and she had mentioned she also wanted to look at a Sundowner seat. I mentioned that I had the Sundowner on mine. She had the Mustang two-up touring seat. I said why don't you just try my seat. So she sat on my bike and liked it. I sat on her bike with the Mustang and liked it. I suggested we swap seats so we could test them on each other's bikes.

We switched seats and took our own bikes out for a spin. Her seat was for the Sportster with the 4.5 gal tank so there is about a 1.5" gap between the seat and the tank. Sort of like the gap you see on the 48 and 72 tanks. My saddlebags have studs on them as did her Mustang seat. Not what I was hoping for.

On the Sundowner seat I tend to slip forward on the seat and am constantly finding myself having to move back. The nice lady that had the Mustang found it a little tough to flat foot her bike and also though the Mustang was too hard.

I've had a Mustang seat in the past so I know I like them. With this specific seat it cradled my rear better and I like the firmness of it over the Sundowner slightly more.

She liked my seat and I liked her seat. What did we end up doing? We swapped seats even up. Right in the parking lot. Just like that. No I'm not a fan of the studs but I'm going to get black nail polish and paint then all black.

Back to the demo ride... There was a guy who also wanted a demo ride. Since I was out in the parking lot talking with the couple and swapping seats, I told the salesman to let guy waiting behind me to go first. After I made the swap of the Mustang seat I was ready for the FXDC demo.

The first thing I noticed was the width of the bike compared to the compact Sporty. The next thing I noticed was how light the clutch pull was. I had met up with a fellow forum member and he also has a Sporty. His clutch pull was much harder than mine so I know it's not that my clutch isn't adjusted or properly lubed.

With the stock pipes I could barely hear the engine with the stock pipes wile underway. With my Sporty I shift by sound plus I have V&H slip ons. I'm used to where my shift points are. I just shift by feel and don't even think about it. With the Dyna I have no idea what the shift points are and couldn't hear the engine to try and determine them. So I had to make educated guesses. I chose 25, 35, 45. I never got out of 4th on this demo. I'll do a search and try and find the actual shift pints but I don't think I did any damage using the ones I did.

The next thing I noticed was I could feel the extra weight. Not in a bad way. But in a more solid feel on the road. The extra weight and larger size do have some effect on the handling compared to the Sportster. The Dyna is a little slower handling.

We didn't go over any choppy roads but from the limited time I spent on the Dyna, it did feel quite a bit smoother than my Sporty. I'm not sure if I put better shocks (over stock) and springs on my bike how close it would get. But the Dyna does seem to be pretty darn comfy.

In bone stock form, the 96" Dyna has a much smoother and linear power delivery compared to my Sportster. The 883 Sporty has a lot of grunt at the bottom end but does run out of breath when it winds up. I've had an 883 with a 1200 kit before. That was with the 883 heads and gearing. The power delivery of the 1200 was similar to the 883 but with just more power. I'd like to feel the power delivery of the 1250 kit with 1200 gearing to feel how it differs from the 883. I don't think the Dyna felt faster more powerful. I just felt the power band seemed to be the same up and down the band. At least smoother.

There has to be a way to raise the height of the brake peddle of the Dyna. I'd prefer it higher up so it can be more in-line with the foot peg.

This is going to sound strange but I felt more cramped on the Dyna using the mid pegs than I do with the Sporty using the mid pegs. The pegs are higher on the Dyna than my bike and that makes me feel a bit more cramped. I don't like forward controls so that's not an option.

Unfortunately I didn't have a long ride nor a chance to take it on the highway or on choppy roads. I was also running very short on time. I had spent about an hour with the nice couple and that took away from the time I had. So tomorrow I will go back for a highway demo and a longer ride.

Overall I like the Dyna. It's a nice bike so far. What I didn't feel was that it's a far superior bike to my Sportster. For less than $1500 I can get the 1250 kit with taller gearing, get the air cleaner and tune kit and add some nice Progressive shocks and springs. I bet it would not only be an improvement over my current configuration, but might get it close to the Dyna. Who knows? I have to see if I can justify spending the $13k which will still need pipes, bags and other stuff I'll have to invest into the Dyna to make it what I want and need.

So that was my day at the dealer. No 2013's, nice people, a demo ride and a swap meet all rolled into one visit. Not too bad.

 

What a day you had! After checking out the dyna a little better,
test ride a road king as well.

 

Of any of the touring bikes I'd get it would either be a RK or RKC. I'm a big fan of the Road Kings. It's just not practical for me though. If I were doing a a ton of two-up long-haul riding I would look at one. Even though I ride every single day, it's mostly city riding in a lot of stop and go traffic. The Sporty is a champ at that. I can see the Dyna as not only doing the local stuff well but, even with the stock seat and shocks (which I'd change anyway), it seems it would do plenty well enough for any of the longer rides I do. I just wish I had the time to do them more often.

I still have to try to justify spending the $13k. Or can I put a few grand into the Sporty and get it close enough to the Dyna? Who knows?

 

Just so you know, I bought an fxdc out the door, tax title, tags for less than 13 with a thousand dollar gift card and major discount on first service. Also, It has a built in tachomoter in the mileage bar lcd on the tank. You just have to flip through your trip button to get to it.

 

And, if you just got into 4th gear, you still don't know what a Dyna can do.. Take that bike out on the open road pop it into 5th gear, then 6th. That's what sold me...

 

Seems like you got a pretty decent deal. I think I'd rather have another $500 off the price of FXDC than have a $1000 dealer gift card though. I'm not sure what I'd spend $1k on. I'd probably get the detachable sissybar and pad. But I may find that used on eBay too. I don't need more HD swag.

 

Tomorrow I'll go back to the dealer and take it on 95 and see how it is on the highway. Here's the rub. It's obvious that they're letting others demo the bike. What if they've mistreat the bike? If I should decide to get it I don't want one that some dolt revved the **** out of. The damn thing isn't even broken in. It's the only black FXDC they have. The other is a blue I really disliked.

I shall see tomorrow.

 

Well, I would think you would get a discount on a demo bike. If you bought the bike you demo'd on. I ended up buying from another dealer after I demo'd the Dyna. So, I don't know if it was abused. I just know that I'm happy with what I've got now. The bike I bought had 2 miles on it, so I think I'm safe.

 

That might be true depending on the dealer but for many dealers that is false at it's face value. Many dealers will offer it's fair value as a trade in which is the wholesale value of the bike. What they won't offer is it's fair retail value as that's what they'll ask for it when they sell it.

 

Although I paid a fair price I didn't pay wholesale for it. My guess is that I'd be out probably $1500 from what I paid. I'll most likely do better on Craigslist.