The buffeting that I had was horrible. The fangs helped some but the largest improvement came from the replacement Freedom shield. Stock height is 19". I measured for my seating height so the windshield would be at my nose level. That was 21 1/2". I'm 6'1". The only buffeting I have to deal with now occurs on windy days with side gusts, totally normal and minimal. Huge huge improvement.

 

500 miles later, 350 interstate, made it to Commerce, GA and working on a steak and Sam Adams, here's my thoughts:

I think I got that buffeting figured out. If I rest my feet on the top of the engine guard with them as close to the frame as possible it goes away. I think what's happening is the wind hits my knees and whips up the front of my body in conjunction with the negative pressure behind the shield causing the turbulence. If I put my hand in front of my face with my palm facing down I feel a strong gust from below that mellows when I put my feet up. Fangs would certainly fix that, but they're ugly as sin!

I'm also not a fan of the floorboards. My anatomy points my feet out at a 45 degree angle. These damn boards are so close to the engine and exhaust there's no room for my feet to naturally relax. And if I do angle my foot out the wind blows it back further and off the footrest. They're also too flat with the ground. It's as if they moved the boards forward a couple inches and my stubby legs need them to angle up so my foot stays flat. Im almost constantly having to manually hold my feet and legs in an acceptable position, but then muscle fatigue sets in after a while. Need highway pegs STAT and a way to move the floorboards away from the frame about an inch. I put spacers on my RK and that made a big improvement.

The saddlebags are officially chintzy. The lock button is dragging on something internally and I'm not a fan of how the locking mechanism actually does the locking. I can actually pull the lid open on one bag with it locked not even pushing the button. There's way better aftermarket options, like Hardstreet.

Now the pros:

Sweet engine all the way around. Great pull, even at 80 in 6th. No need for any power adders IMO. Even the heat management was decent, for an air cooled huge engine anyway. Better than a TC I can attest to.

The seat is fit for a king! Like sitting on a pillow for 8 hours, no sore bum at all.

That cruise control works flawlessly! My last bike with cruise was a Vision. That cruise system came straight from the 80s. It sucked, there was like a 5 mph deadband before reaction or correction took place, and the increment button would make either no change or a HUGE change. It would hold a speed on flat ground but that's it. This TBW cruise is absolutely perfect. Great reaction time, zero overshoot, and never does anything stupid when I make changes.

I'll be in the hills tomorrow so I'll update this thread on those mannerisms then.

 

DK Customs has floor board extender that move them out 1". I recommend also getting the shifter extender at the same time. They are great.

 

Works well had them one three bikes now.

 

fangs just blend in.

 

With the DK 1 inch extension


And out
you can see the shift linkage is off set.
i got the spacer but chose not to install it, i didn't want to be searching for the shift peg. Small feet. If you had larger feet the shifter spacer would add more room on the floorboard

 

Accolades all around on the bike today. Went straight north from Commerce until I got to hwy 28, then took that all the way to Deals Gap. Stopped there for a burger and a sticker, then slayed the dragon. After the dragons tail I took the Foothills Parkway towards Gatlinburg. This road is excellent for seeing how a chassis is. Lots of high speed sweepers and fortunately light traffic. Speed limit suggests 45... Yea, sure thing bro. I settled I to a nice 65-70 for the bulk of all the turns, and mostly maintained it in the straights. Me and an old Honda Sabre were playing cat and mouse and I didn't see any reason to pass him. The only upsetting the chassis gave me was during one very extreme circumstance. Passing a car before a left turn. I was slowing down, merging back into my lane, and getting ready to line myself up for the left sweeper all in about 100 yards going 70. Right in the middle of my transition back into my lane there was a little washboard. It gave the bike one quick fishtail whip, then back to business. I guarantee if I were on a Dyna that bike would have milked out the wobbles well into the sweeper but she just shook it off like a champ.

Well, after yesterday and today I dont think I can expand on much else. Tomorrow will be more of today and Friday will be an ***-hauling down to Savannah. Unless anyone asks me a specific question I'm out. Have a happy 4th y'all.

 

Oh, and two other nitpicky things: gas cap rattle at 2000 rpm, and the damn glare of the speedo on sunny days when the right angle is met between my eyes and the sun.

I'd still buy one tho.

 

You must have a different seat on your Heritage than the one Harley put on mine. It's the single worst feature of the bike IMO.

I can't sit on it for more than an hour before my tailbone goes numb. The foam is too soft and the seat feels like it has a hole in the center.

 

Swing into a dealership and check one out. I'm sure it's the one HD sends them out with, nothing special. Just a damn good OEM seat.

Looks like decades of shitty seats finally got thru to the manufacturers and they're just making good ones off the bat.