I went from a Sporty to a Softail Deuce to get a better more comfy stretched out highway ride. Like you I am tall (6' 1" 33 inseam) and IMMEDIATELY the ergos were fighting me. Felt like I was going to flip backwards right off the seat AND the pegs were so high and so near me I had my knees in my chin an no weight whatsoever on the ***** of my feet.


Plus the stupid pullback risers made the whole affair steer like a boat tiller as in you didn't steer at all---you SWAYED the bike from one side to the other. VERY weird feeling bike indeed!


So I changed things and worked on the bike every day for ten years and FINALLY it is DONE. Rides stable and comfy at 80 miles per hour. Handles great in the twisties. LOTS of lean clearance without dragging pegs.


I am running the newer shaped drag bars from J&P on 4 inch straight risers with no pullback. A Corbin seat that moves my butt three inches FORWARD and locks me onto the bike in great comfort. Three inch longer forward control locating brackets from Kuryakin that put my boots lower and out where I can feel the weight over the front end. Stretched and rakes with four inch over forks and 3 degree head bearing cups so that there is more stability and more lean angle.


The shield is the fifth try for me. It is an F15 model from I forget the name and I had to fabricate brackets to make it fit in the exact right spot. It has enough air bleed not to buffet my helmet and the angle is tilted back so that it actually adds stability to the higher speeds. I had it further forward and it would catch the wind something horrible and sway in bad gusts. Now it is like a rock. And boy does it help.


It took waaaay more fiddling than I thought at first to simply find a really great riding Harley that looked "bad." But in the end I got there and that is important. No other bike tempts me whatsoever and I don't ride my other motorcycles nearly as much now the Deuce is so nice to me.


Good luck. If you backtrack my posts you will find a nauseating amount of detail over my escapades and mods if you are so inclined.

 

Touring bikes aren't just for us old guys. Out here in the west lot's of young guys are riding custom baggers (although many are now into the club bike look).

I bought a RoadGlide in '03 and the first ride we went on we all hit the freeway. I took off and looked in my mirror and said "WTF? Why is everyone riding so slow?". Then I looked at my speedo and realized I was going 90MPH!

I'm 5'10" and never had an issue with the weight of the bike. At your height I think you'd really like riding one and they are super comfortable. Newer ones with the new frame and big inch motor are very nice. And all the extra storage is handy on a daily driver bike.

 

i'm 5'9" with a 31" inseam..... but forced to buy 32" pants......Another story .....

I always experience the legs/knees wanting to drift away from the bike. To stop it I turn my feet outward and lock my heels against my engine guard and the outsides of my feet lay on the floor boards. A position that resembles a look of having forward controls.

The no windshield on helmet buffet and the legs drifting outward makes driving above 55 a task, an un-enjoyable chore and I feel your pain.

Spring seat puts me back and up, giving me more room, but mount is ugly. But comfy for me. I decided comfy was more important and the ugly is lovable type of ugly... think of a Pug....

Windshield is ugly but..... see above.........

My perfect bike is about 30k, which is costly for a commuter to work, which I need right now. MY 25 miles to work that takes roughly 1 hour. Some lane splitting/shoulder riding and plenty of lane changing is what I need to do to get me home at a decent time. Slim wins hands down in this environment. If my commute was at highway speeds, Id get tired of this bike and understand.

2 bikes FTW!

 

Rode 5 hours to OC Maryland last week. Real nice ride. I recommend the Delaware Bayshore Byway if you ever go through delaware. Also the Sena 10U worked great for music and GPS.

I don't know how I feel now. I'm sure a touring bike would have been more comfortable. But this was the longest continuous ride I ever did. So maybe I'd still get the same aches and pains anyway.

Still gonna test ride other stuff but I'm stuck with this Slim for a while. Probably going to take the seat to an upholsterer and see if they can move me back a little.

 

So the stock Slim seat can't really be worked with to move you back. The upholstery people were real nice. Talked to me for like an hour about all kinds of stuff. Husband and wife business. They both ride. D&M upholstery in Seven Springs PA. Anyway the position of the ECM means there needs to be a pocket on the seat pan. So there isn't really any room to move you back anymore.

Anyway I ended up installing go-forward extensions from Cycle Visions. They worked great and made a huge difference. Feels like a completely different bike. I might even put the heel shifter back on and try it out again.

 

You can move the ECM relatively easily - if you get a smaller battery, it will make enough room to fit the ECM under the seat

But sounds like you're onto a good solution anyway

 

the solution is simple but I understand it's hard to admit to yourself that you made such an expensive error. The problem with not admitting it is that it will continue to get more expensive. If you don't want a geezer glide they are plenty of tourers out there for us young guys.

I've been researching them for almost a year as I am looking to getting a non Harley tourer/bagger. I love softails and I don't plan to ever give mine up but that won't stop me from adding another bike for a different purpose.

 

Lol. Yeah man. I'm 33. Give me another 15 years or so before I get the geezer glide.

 

I asked the dealer about the hesitation at starting and they just told me to keep it one the tender. Sometimes this 103 just starts hard. And I don't mean turning over multiple times. Sometimes it just really hesitates.

A smaller battery would just seem bad to me. Hell I want one with more snot if anything.

 

you'll shrink in 15 years and want the Slim back.

IMHO......furthest back/up you can go is a spring seat:



Come to Jersey and try it..........3 hours on a stock slim seat