Thinking of taking the plunge on a 2012 Road Glide Ultra, I would appreciate any comments, good or bad, on my future choice. Also any recommendations for some "slight" modding.

So far I am thinking of the Rush ceramic Header True Duals and the Vance and Hines Monster Rounds along with the usual Stage One upgrade.

I have heard the Boom Audio system on the non-ultra version of the Road Glide and was pretty impressed with it (with the 400 watt amp) for the bagger lid speakers so I am probably going to go that route but am open for suggestions in that area as well.

Thanks in advance,

Dennis

 

Love my '11 RGU. Did a 5K road trip last summer. Great ride with great handling and comfort. My back seat was very happy with the accomadations also. Stage one, rinehart exhaust, Kuryakyn tour pak relocation kit, split view mirrors and other cosmetic changes. Collecting parts now to change to +2 sweeper handlebar change with ISO grips. May do speaker upgrade at the same time since I'll have the front fairing off. The other 2 changes I'm considering are changing the head pipe and windshield The wife says she takes a beathing at times from the wind. Otherwise that is all that I'll be changing.

 

 

Been looking at a RG myself. Finding tons of into on the RG Forum here: http://www.roadglide.org/index.php

 

to be very honest you should really ride a batwing first...even if it is just for a test ride....it will make you like the RG even more! i fought the change for about 6k miles...was ready to sell it...like it more and more every day now...

 

FFHD05...I know what you mean. That is what I compared for my first test rides. I tried the Batwing and then the frame mounted fairing (reminded me of the Gold Wing fairing) Road Glide Ultra. The frame mounted fairing was very steady at, ahem, high speeds and just felt right. Because of the header mods and pipes I actually didn't have a very loud sounding bike (which is fine with me) but the heat because of those Rush ceramic pipes wasn't there but could definitely be felt on the other Ultra Glide I was riding...anyway I wasn't thinking of doing too many mods but since I am new to "Harley" world I'm sure that there are a lot of riders out there that have some considerable experience with them and will be of great help on things that I may not have thought of.

Dennis

 

And to answer, in advance, of why I am thinking of going Harley while I have a Thunderbird...there is not much to tell but here it is.

I love my Thunderbird, water cooled, plenty of HP, plenty of torque and with the Hogslayer pipes I have on it...it actually sounded more "Harley" than my two test ride bikes.

And in a perfect world (and if I go back to work overseas for another year and a half) I would keep it and get the Harley as well. But if I do get a job offer (hopefully in the next couple of weeks) stateside then I may end up trading or selling my T-bird to get the Harley as I miss the stereo and the storage...and true cruise control that I used to have (on my two Gold Wings).

Triumph makes a "touring" bike the Rocket III Touring but it only has the hard saddlebags but with plenty of power (147 HP, 162 ft/lbs torque) and a nice windshield...but that is about it. I have started to get tired of waiting for Triumph to step up to the plate and make it into a "proper" touring rig.

The Gold Wing is a great bike as well...but a lot of us were expecting a lot of great changes/improvements to the 2012 model (after missing the 2011 production year) and we were disappointed to say the least...still a great touring bike we were just underwhelmed with Honda's response and offering for the 2012 model year.

My only main complaint against Harley was lack of a water cooled engine. because of a lack of that type of power plant (unless you go for the V-Rod...which definitely isn't a touring ride) you run up against the EPA's standards for emissions and such and really limit HP and torque capability but there are enough fixes (cams, exhaust pipes, more air flow mods) that you can boost up the Harley's power to be enough for what I want it to do...and I can be happy (I hope) in being able to accomplish that. And since the ceramic header pipes do a lot to control the heat coming off of that engine...the Harley heat factor is negated a great deal.

So I finally may be able to be happy with a Harley and I am hoping to find out soon...wish me luck.

Thanks again for any other insights and I appreciate you help.

Dennis

 

I have a 2011 RGU and to me it is the best bike ever. It is the perfect fit for me and come close the the things I like about the newer Goldwings but it is all HD. You would need to have rode both to know what I mean about the Wings and the RGU. The closest thing to a complaint about the RGU is from the wife that she gets more buffeting on the RGU than on my 09 Ultra Classic so for her she would rather be a passenger on an Ultra. I'm selling mine in the near future but it will be greatly missed!