Saturday I hopped on my bike and decided to go check out the event they had going on. There's a coupe bikes I wanted to ride to see if it's worth trying to figure out which organs to sell so I can buy one. They had a lot of bikes there to ride. A slim, Heritage, Road King, CVO Road Glide, CVO Street glide, a couple street glides, Ultra Limited... but no Fat Bob. The people running the event kept things moving along nicely, gave instructions, let them know what they expected from you. I was mainly there to ride the Street Glide and the Fat Boy. I'm 35, 5' 10", 185, pretty active. Different ages and body types like different bikes... so here's my thoughts.


First up was a Denim White Street Glide Special. Never been on a bagger before this. I see now what people mean when they say it feels like you sit down in a softail, and sit on a bagger. The 107 had the bike shaking nicely at idle. Much more than my softail shakes. While accelerating, the 107 was nice and smooth. It has plenty of power. Having the fairing to block wind was nice. Being able to listen to tunes was great and the screen is easy to read. 6 speeds is another bonus over my bike. I didn't play with the fairing vent at all. There was the butt of a wasp poking out of the vent from time to time and I didn't want to open the vent and have it make a B-Line (pun intended) at my face. My only gripe is I don't like the mirrors and the bars are too low.


The next ride had a Road Glide Special open so I hopped on that at the last minute to take it out instead of doing nothing waiting around for the Fat Boy. Having the fixed fairing is different for sure. It didn't seem to block the wind as well as the Street Glide so the radio was harder to hear. There was also more rattles and vibration going over bumps. The steering did feel a bit lighter though. I did feel a shudder while slowing down. If the clutch is pulled in, it went away though. Not sure if it was the teeth engaging the belt or what, but it was weird.


Now to hop on the all new Fat Boy. The primary sticks out kind of far so at times it was up against my leg. That's the only bad thing I have to say about it. Onto the good... The bike has plenty of oomph with the 114. It just goes. For some reason I thought it'd have a wider seat on it that what it did but it was comfy. The new frame handled well, didn't feel much of the road bumps and the bike felt planted and solid. A 20 minute ride went by pretty quick. If it wasn't for the CVO Street Glide waiting for me, it might have taken an employee or three to get me off the bike so the next person could try it.


What I hopped onto after the Fat Boy was pure bliss. A CVO Street Glide. I was worried I'd miss my chance to ride it. On the last ride, the clutch reservoir clamp came off. I saw it bounce down the road and we all stopped to see who's bike it came off of and what it was. Once we found out what fell off, one of the instructors took the bike back while we continued on. By the time we got back, they had fixed it and were rolling the bike out of the shop. Way to go Uke's!! The CVO is a nice bike. I really liked the gauges it has. The stereo was loud. Really loud. After the ride, the guy behind me on the White Glide I took out earlier said he could hear me over his stereo when I had it up. Even though all the speakers were nice, not having lower and bag speakers to me isn't a big deal. The biggest difference I thought was having the separate tweeter in the fairing. The 117 had plenty of power as you'd expect. There was that decel shudder that I had noticed on the Road Glide as well. Not as intense, but it was there. This go around on a Street Glide I was able to play with the fairing vent. After I had pressed the button a half dozen times or so swapping back and forth between closed and open, there was a noticeable difference in buffeting.


To end the day I took out a Breakout. These bikes to me look really cool. But after riding one, I don't think it's a bike I will buy. There was more vibration and rattling on this versus the Fat Boy and it didn't feel as planted. Probably because of the heavier front end on the Fat Boy. Rider position for me wasn't ideal. I had to reach forward for the bars and having my legs extended in front of me on the pegs made it uncomfortable. But flexibility isn't my strong point. Also, the seat was pretty hard. Last minor thing of note is when downshifting I found it easier to take my foot off the peg to get on top of the shift linkage to downshift. I'm sure it can be removed and moved down a spline or two to fix that.

 

Thanks for the review.

 

Nice review, thanks, I'm looking at the Slim and waiting for more reviews.

 

Good reviews! stopped in at my local dealer to look at them on Sunday. The Fat Bob they got was already sold and gone, parts guy says there's a lot of interest in those and he thinks they'll sell well. That Fat Boy headlight looks better in person than it does in pics. I really wanted to see the Heritage but they didn't have one. The only other 18 soft tail they had was a Breakout, not too crazy about those.

 

One of the instructors told me the Slim is a beast with the 114 and recommended I take it out but not really my style.

 

I liked the fat boy, they really do look better in person. It felt much lighter than the 35lbs they removed, but the higher floorboards were a little to high for me.

 

I love the new Fatboy except for two minor things: the bobbed rear fender and the tank emblem. Neither is a deal breaker, though.

 

Hey Flash
Curious how the Fat Boy leans in a turn with the wide rear tire. Is there any difference comparing it to a RG or a Sg?

The end of this month going to Nevada for the demo Days there. Hoping they have one for me to ride.

BTW nice review.

 

I didn't really notice it taking much effort to turn. But I wasn't really pushing it in the turns either. They tried to keep the group together and going somewhat slow in the corners. Totally understandable considering they're letting a bunch of strangers ride 3-400k worth of bikes.

 

of the new softs, I really only want to try out the Fat Boy and Fat Bob. The Fat Bob interest me having owned a BMW R9T it looks to be in similar style and may give me that V twin feel with handling to match the looks. The Fat Boy, well those wheels look great and the overall looks hold up. Just am real curious how it handles.