I have posted this in another forum as well but failed to prompt any responses. Granted this was done on a site famous for Harley bashing. Perhaps this is the proper place for such a thread.
I suspect most of us have a bike that remains closer to the open end of our garage than the rest of our toys. Not our thoroughbred stallion but a bike that's always ready to go at a moment's notice without any pre-flight fuss. Be it for the never ending jaunts to the hardware store or a last minute milk run for tomorrows wheaties, screw the car, you just hop on old faithful and yer back before you know it. No tippy toe slalom to navigate between the air compressor and your vintage classic just trying to back her out, no need to don a Rallye 2 Pro outfit, just grab a jacket, lid and pair of gloves, step over your seat and be on your way.
Scooters, vespas et al, are tailor made for this role and for neighbourhood runs, probably cannot be bested. However there are more than a few errands that inevitably involve riding perhaps 2-3 exits down the freeway. Rain grooves, faster traffic and the greater exposure to wind, can quickly conspire to turn a leisurely spin on your 12" wheels into a white knuckle gauntlet run.
Generally, what makes most scooters so practical is their easy accessibility; simple step through design and low centre of gravity. Outside of grid city riding though, the smaller scooter wheels offer no real benefits over other types of bikes and in states where lane splitting is illegal, size and agility become somewhat moot points as well. Parking, where I live, gives no preferential treatment to scooters over motorcycles.
With this in mind, how practical would a low slung, fuel injected Harley be, used in (but NOT! restricted to) this role? Say one of the low sportster or perhaps one of the Dynas.
I used to have a Vespa 250 GTSie for this purpose and loved it but handling at speed and on the freeway rain grooves was testing. The larger Maxi scooters that can still shift their own weight (400cc & up) are no doubt stellar performers on the freeway but their sheer size and cost makes them practically motorcycles in my book and dull ones at that. So how well would a low sportster-Dyna/Bob serve as a daily runabout- errand fetcher.
Admittedly I am smitten by a 2010 fxdwg right now and am blatantly trying to build up a case for my wants

 

Welcome to the forum. Well, I guess you could use it for that purpose but Harley's are cruisers...not usually associated as grocery getters. IMO. But I am wondering why you have to sell yourself on the utility of purchasing a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

You obviously like it...you ride on two wheels...what else do you need?

Stop thinking about it and go buy the damn thing already.

 

I have an 02 wide glide and if it aint rainin or storming I ride it for everything except what I can't carry on it, just do it

 

BTW, if you need to justify it to your OL then YES, a Harley Davidson motorcycle is by far the most versatile and economical runabout money can buy.

 

Quite an interesting scenario. It seems that your core decision is moving from a scooter to a bike. Assuming a positive result to that, your next decision is what bike?

Given the strengths you ascribe to the scooters - step through, CoG, etc - I wonder whether any bike would meet your needs? Your post implies that you have multiple two-wheeled conveyances already. What else is in your stable?

If I were looking for the type bike you describe "a bike that's always ready to go at a moment's notice without any pre-flight fuss. Be it for the never ending jaunts to the hardware store or a last minute milk run for tomorrows wheaties, screw the car, you just hop on old faithful and yer back before you know it" and a scooter wasn't up to the task, I'd likely look at a small mid sized metric. My old Shadow 750 would be (and was) perfect for that. VStar 650, Vulcan 800, etc. All great choices.

IMHO, the Sportster is grossly misunderstood. Being the lightest and cheapest HD many think of it as a "starter bike Harley". But the Sporty's heritage is in racing and it has a comparatively high CoG and a "torque-i-ness" that makes it less than ideal for your stated objectives.

The Dyna would be better, but let's be honest - LeatherLyke saddlebags are incredibly useful for quick trips to Ace Hardware or the local supermarket, and look far less objectionable on a Shadow than a Wide Glide.

I think you're looking for rationalizations to buy the WG. The only one really needed is "This bike called my name".

 

I have several Harleys but nothing beats my Burgman scooter for running around town. It'll run 80 on the freeway as well!!. Keep the scoorter

 

I'd kill to own a restored Harley Topper and yeah, I'd run all my errands on it.
http://www.scooter-news.com/index.ph...-harley-topper

 

Great rationalization-you're hereby given permission!

 

My Dyna Street bob is my work transportation, travel, camping and around town riding when the weather is nice. I ride just to get a haircut or even get diapers. You don't have to do "pre-flight" checks on the newer HDs, but I do it anyways and I would do it anything I have with 2 wheels. Likes said above, get the FXDWG and put bags on it and roll. Plus you don't have to put the leathers on to ride a HD.

 

So the timeless and clean vivid black or the Flames?
I'm a gonner just going through the motions, perhaps all this pondering on my part, is really just foreplay. This will be my 1st 'cruiser' aside from a Guzzi EVT I had I while back. The problem with Harleys as I see it, is deciding which one to get. I have been kicking tires around the range so many times now, I have to settle on a choice. Started looking at Softail Classic and was barelywhelmed, then rented a Fat Bob, loved it and thought I had found my bike.....but then I rented a beautiful red & black 2010 Road King and oooooh this is nice. Handled pretty nicely despite its size as well. I knew however that a Dyna was what I was after and when I saw the WG in the flesh....