I'm thinking of picking up a 05 wide glide it close to 40k miles on it which is high for the area I live in the pacific north west. My first concern would be the high mileage on the bike. I Personally think that it could be a good thing means the bike has been ridin an taken care of as opposed to a low mileage bike that hasn't had any services and someone bought an stored any opinions. My second concern is that I live where it rains a lot how will the bike handle in the rain with the thinner front tire and third how will the bike handle with me an my beautiful bride to be on it. I come from riding crotch rockets for years and having a metric cruiser currently any thoughts and opinions would be great thanks

 

double posted, again.

Ask the seller to let you take it for a test ride.
I wouldn't even buy a pair of shoes without trying them out.
It's kind of like choosing your beautiful bride to be.

 

Well I have a 2002 wide glide. First thing.....I don't like it in the rain. It's not that I've had trouble but that skinny front tire makes me really nervous on wet roads. I've been in some heavy rain on it with no trouble but if I had to brake somewhat hard I fear the front will wash out.

Dry road....WG is a blast. Stable, smooth, handles well, and a ton of fun.

With the bride....I added a wide touring mustang seat and sissy bar to mine and my wife and I fit perfectly on it. Plenty of room between us and once it's rolling doesn't seem to mind the extra weight. We borrowed a friends heritage softail and she prefers the WG over it. The WG is a handful at slow speed with a passenger probably because of the rake. Get above 15mph no problem. This all my opinion so take it for what it's worth.

40,000 miles.....hard to speculate on that without looking. I notice in my area that's when harleys go up for sale is around 40k.

 

Take a compression test or a leak down test on the motor. If it's with in spec and it doesn't sound like a blender full of marbles when it runs, and doesn't smoke.. You'll probably be ok. The "action" of the clutch will tell you a lot on how the bike was ridden.

 

Great intro...

 

Riding in the rain sucks, thin or wide tires.

 

Coming from a sport bike you might want a dyna with a mid/narrow glide front end. I think they handle better. If you like the bike don't be scared of the miles, check the condition of the oil and try to get a feel for how it's been maintained.

 

Thank for all the input! I have test rode several wide glides while on my search some where not so good, this one runs an ride amazing sounds good has a mustang seat already on it along with several other tasteful mods. I will be purchasing a 3 year extended warranty with the bike all tho the miles still kinda sketch me out. The bike is coming from a Harley dealer so I do have that confidence the bike has been thru the ringer and checked out.

 

Having come from a sport bike background I would have to agree that the Dyna is the way to go. First couple of rides with my wife, she was all happy, nice and slow and deliberate. Last ride she complained a little that I was starting to ride the dyna like a sport bike. Does not have the power you may be used to nor the handling but you may be surprise with how well it does on the twisties. Must be acceptable as I have a 1k trip planned mid august up the Oregon coast with a bunch of my old riding buddies that all ride sport bikes, but they did tell me I had to ride at the back of the pack in case anything fell off.

 

I sure hope it handles better. I rode sport bikes for years then got a big metric cruiser and it handles like ****