I made that mistake during the trial days at one of the local dealers. She wanted to ride one so I got her on the heritage deluxe. Now she keeps pointing them out at the dealer.

 

Goldwing? BMW? vs Ultra? You gotta be kidding. First two are overpriced, Ugly, plastic covered motor scooters. The Ultra is a real motorcycle, made by a company that is over a hundred years old that was building motorcycles when the other makers still didn't know how to perfect a donkey cart.

 

Here is my two cents worth. I have owned 3 goldwings a 1986 SEi, a 1998 SE and a 2001. I just purchased a 2013 Ultra limited on December 15th of 2012. I put well over 100,000 miles on the three goldwings. I have 8300 on the new Ultra Limited. So I have some experience with all models in question. The Ultra is the most comfortable touring bike I have ever owned bar none.

It is as fast and handles as well as the 1986 and the 1998. The Ultra is capable of dragging the floor boards and the mounts under. Is it as fast as the 2001, no but that goldwing was a monster when it came to all out power. But it was the most uncomfortable of all the goldwings. Each time on the goldwings I had to put on the highway pegs at the first upgrade. This was because of the limited room to move around. I am 5'11" about 200 lbs and I could not get comfortable on any of the goldwings. The 2001 was the worst. Again it handled like a CBR on steroids I could even ride it in a wheeling through first gear with just cracking the throttle open. It handle like a dream with the Aluminum frame but it was uncomfortable for anything longer then a few hours.

The 1998 was the most comfortable goldwing of all of them. But still needed the highway pegs to do so. The Ultra limited I have spent 9 hours in the saddle and have not even thought about adding the highway pegs yet. I love this motorcycle and I personally would not go back to a goldwing.

If anyone wants more of an opinion about a goldwing vs a Ultra classic just PM me.

Buy the Ultra and never look back, it is the best for long distance touring?

 

That's right - you tell them - been built the same way for 100 years! HD says if it ain't broke don't fix it and if it is broke we have a part that will fix it just see your HD Dealer for details