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Dyna Glide ModelsSuper Glide, Super Glide Sport, Super Glide Custom, Dyna Glide Convertible, Super Glide T-Sport, Dyna Glide Police, Dyna Switchback, Low Rider, Street Bob, Fat Bob and Wide Glide.
Full Frontal Maybe I need photography courses!!
Not great pics, but this is my 2012 Switchback that I've had for the last 8 years. Love this bike and didn't do many mods, just added the Dead Center Fairing, Vance and Hines Pro pipe and the LePera seat I've had since my first Harley, which was a Low rider. I do have more that I'm going to do over winter with it. Changing the rear shocks for Legends, HD heated grips, Oberon adjustable levers and possibly the bars too. I need something with a bit more pullback but the same height as stock and I'm still searching for that. Possibly changing the seat too. I've been looking at the Saddleman FLD Performance Gripper seat....plus finishing my stage 1 by adding a black Performance Machine Vintage Air Cleaner. I'm kinda wanting to change the bars to gloss black too...
Last edited by Krash26; Oct 12, 2020 at 11:49 AM.
Reason: forgot to add something
I ride a 2014 Switchback that I bought new and now have 40,000 miles on it. It is a fine bike. I changed the exhaust system when I bought it to an all black one, and that also eliminated the vibration problem. I also changed to a bigger windshield.
I have loved the looks of the Switchback since the first time I saw one. It's the 2nd best looking bike HD ever made right after the early 80s model Sturgis. Someday I would like to own a Switchback (and a Sturgis ).
Both my wife and I have 2013 Switchbacks (Ember Red Sunglow for her and Big Blue Pearl for me) that we bought ourselves for our 10 year anniversary.
Both of us think the FLD is a great platform for day rides to full on touring. Once we figured out ergo's for each of our bikes (seats and handlebars), they are all day comfortable. I LOVE the Road King, and have tempted myself now 3x with test rides. When I get back on the FLD though, the lighter weight by almost exactly 100lbs, give it better agility in the twisties, and make it more manageable in the garage / parking lots. Range is generally 150-200+ miles per tank depending. I've ridden multiple 500+ miles in a day, with longest 1 day ride from Asheville, NC to Bergen County, NJ (710 miles).
Some notes....
Forks - The FLD forks are from the same year Softail Slim. These are not the normal 49mm Dyna forks. Unlike the normal Dyna fork, preload adjustable fork caps aren't available. They have about 4" of travel. I've replaced the spring with Racetech single rate springs on both our bikes, and mine also has their Gold Valve and Emulator. I forgot which side does which, but one leg has a damper rod, and the other has a primitive cartridge. On my bike, one side has the Gold Valve and the other has the Emulator. Will be replacing this setup with a fully adjustable Andreani kit in the very near future.
Exhaust - The stock exhaust was known to have excessive vibrations from 2,700'ish rpm to 3,300'ish rpm. This is easily fixed one of 2 ways. If keeping the stock exhaust, search Google for the Clevis pin mod. It's about $5 in various washers and a clevis pin. I installed this on my wife's bike, and it fixes the excessive vibes. Option 2 is a full exhaust replacement. The nice thing about this (aside from sound and possible performance increase), is it removes the catalytic converter, which sits right under the pilot's right thigh. It can cause A LOT of heat. My wife actually got blisters on the underside of her thigh through her jeans when one day riding on a very hot day. I've since installed the heat deflector from HD which has removed enough heat to not make it an issue.
Windshield - The FLD windshield hardware has the same screw hole layout as a Road King, making replacement windshield options plentiful. We both have LRS windshields with the recurve. Works very well.
Tires - FLD tire size is generally not common among other HD's, aside from the 2018+ Softail Sport Glide. My wife and I both run Pirelli Night Dragons (which are outstanding tires for grip and wet weather performance, good for about 10-12k miles), but options are generally not as plentiful as other HD's due to the not so common tire size.
Shocks - I found the stock shocks to leave a lot to be desired. They only have 2.1" of travel. Shortly after purchasing the bike, I bought Hagon Nitro 13" shocks (travel is 3.4") and a couple of years later, my wife got Bitubo 13" preload and damping adjustable shocks (travel is 3.7"). I can not stress enough the improvement in ride quality and confidence in handling. IMHO, for the $, the Bitubos at about $525, is the best thing going and the overall single best mod I've done to my bike.
Hard bags - After about a year of ownership, being the dinkus I am, I forgot to lock the bike to the bag. Lost that bag going over train tracks. That cost me $785 for a painted replacement. I was recently in an accident (fortunately, i was ok, but my bike got dinked up) and the right bag is toast. The replacement is now ordered in separate parts and HD has to paint, costing about $925 all in. Point being, the bike has now been discontinued for 4 years, and replacement parts supply will get lower and lower.
Other than that, it's a fantastic bike that IMHO is one HD's best looking bikes.
From 2015 on tour in VT From 2017 with wife's bike in the backround From 2020's trip to VT
Last edited by rauchman; Oct 16, 2020 at 01:26 PM.
Both my wife and I have 2013 Switchbacks (Ember Red Sunglow for her and Big Blue Pearl for me) that we bought ourselves for our 10 year anniversary.
Both of us think the FLD is a great platform for day rides to full on touring. Once we figured out ergo's for each of our bikes (seats and handlebars), they are all day comfortable. I LOVE the Road King, and have tempted myself now 3x with test rides. When I get back on the FLD though, the lighter weight by almost exactly 100lbs, give it better agility in the twisties, and make it more manageable in the garage / parking lots. Range is generally 150-200+ miles per tank depending. I've ridden multiple 500+ miles in a day, with longest 1 day ride from Asheville, NC to Bergen County, NJ (710 miles).
Some notes....
Forks - The FLD forks are from the same year Softail Slim. These are not the normal 49mm Dyna forks. Unlike the normal Dyna fork, preload adjustable fork caps aren't available. They have about 4" of travel. I've replaced the spring with Racetech single rate springs on both our bikes, and mine also has their Gold Valve and Emulator. I forgot which side does which, but one leg has a damper rod, and the other has a primitive cartridge. On my bike, one side has the Gold Valve and the other has the Emulator. Will be replacing this setup with a fully adjustable Andreani kit in the very near future.
Exhaust - The stock exhaust was known to have excessive vibrations from 2,700'ish rpm to 3,300'ish rpm. This is easily fixed one of 2 ways. If keeping the stock exhaust, search Google for the Clevis pin mod. It's about $5 in various washers and a clevis pin. I installed this on my wife's bike, and it fixes the excessive vibes. Option 2 is a full exhaust replacement. The nice thing about this (aside from sound and possible performance increase), is it removes the catalytic converter, which sits right under the pilot's right thigh. It can cause A LOT of heat. My wife actually got blisters on the underside of her thigh through her jeans when one day riding on a very hot day. I've since installed the heat deflector from HD which has removed enough heat to not make it an issue.
Windshield - The FLD windshield hardware has the same screw hole layout as a Road King, making replacement windshield options plentiful. We both have LRS windshields with the recurve. Works very well.
Tires - FLD tire size is generally not common among other HD's, aside from the 2018+ Softail Sport Glide. My wife and I both run Pirelli Night Dragons (which are outstanding tires for grip and wet weather performance, good for about 10-12k miles), but options are generally not as plentiful as other HD's due to the not so common tire size.
Shocks - I found the stock shocks to leave a lot to be desired. They only have 2.1" of travel. Shortly after purchasing the bike, I bought Hagon Nitro 13" shocks (travel is 3.4") and a couple of years later, my wife got Bitubo 13" preload and damping adjustable shocks (travel is 3.7"). I can not stress enough the improvement in ride quality and confidence in handling. IMHO, for the $, the Bitubos at about $525, is the best thing going and the overall single best mod I've done to my bike.
Hard bags - After about a year of ownership, being the dinkus I am, I forgot to lock the bike to the bag. Lost that bag going over train tracks. That cost me $785 for a painted replacement. I was recently in an accident (fortunately, i was ok, but my bike got dinked up) and the right bag is toast. The replacement is now ordered in separate parts and HD has to paint, costing about $925 all in. Point being, the bike has now been discontinued for 4 years, and replacement parts supply will get lower and lower.
Other than that, it's a fantastic bike that IMHO is one HD's best looking bikes.
From 2015 on tour in VT From 2017 with wife's bike in the backround From 2020's trip to VT
Great write up! Always good to get another perspective.
I love my 2016 Switchback and finally got rid of stock muffler and de-catted. Took about 4 pounds off bike helping the shuttering vibration. Total cost was about $175.00 and it sounds perfect and runs strong, no tuning needed!
Has anyone thrown some smaller shocks on the rear? I'm a short guy 5'4"-5'5", and I'd like to have flat feet to have some better control. Seeing what others have done.
Hard bags - After about a year of ownership, being the dinkus I am, I forgot to lock the bike to the bag. Lost that bag going over train tracks. That cost me $785 for a painted replacement. I was recently in an accident (fortunately, i was ok, but my bike got dinked up) and the right bag is toast. The replacement is now ordered in separate parts and HD has to paint, costing about $925 all in. Point being, the bike has now been discontinued for 4 years, and replacement parts supply will get lower and lower.
One day while I was out riding, my right saddlebag disappeared. I had never taken it off the bike. I have no idea what happened. My insurance covered all but my $500 deductible. But the bill for the bag, including a saddlebag guard that had to be powder coated black was $2,312.22! That was for the bag, cover, all hardware and the saddlebag guard.
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