After riding an '18 Sport Glide, there wasn't much I didn't like. Maybe it was a little plain looking, but even then I am really nitpicking.

 

I hate having a gas cap on one side, and nothing matching on the other, because that has always said Harley to me.

 

I think your confused. You said "If it had struts instead of spokes it be my favorite".
A strut is a type of shock absorber on a car. I think you meant to say "if it had mag wheels instead of spoke wheels"

Myself, my main problem with the new bikes is that I don't like how they actuating two valves from one hydraulic lifter on the M8 motors. I've adjusted a lot valves over the years, and they don't wear in at the same rate. I predict as the M8 motors start racking up a lot miles they'll have a loss of compression problems.

I also don't care for the blacked out rims and motors, they look nice brand new but that gloss black motor and rims are going to look pretty shitty five to ten years down the road. Your going to have to be waxing or repainting your rims and motor to keep it look nice, chrome still looks good thirty years down the road and all you have to do is just wipe the dirt off.

 

Not gonna lie....I dislike almost everything HD has been doing at the MoCo as of late. The colors and some of the styling changes.... What the hell has happened in Milwaukee? I find most of the colors to be obnoxious at worst and the rest to be bleh at best. About the only color I like now is Vivid Black. A little metal flake goes a long way...and HD has been on this kick now for about the last 5 years and I think it's time to relegate the heavy metal flake back where it belongs....the late 60's....early 70's. Enough is enough already. I'm also tired of the blacked out everything look. Again...the old dark horse thing while I do think looks cool, when suddenly nearly half the bikes or more have the same color scheme, it's no longer cool....it's just played out.

It's as though the MoCo doesn't know what the hell to do to attract more buyers so they're just changing things hoping something will stick. Another example...The Softail Deluxe. It's always been a nostalgic retro FL style cruiser. Aside from the distasteful colors, the bike looks good except for the rectangular LED turn signal light bar! WTF!!! HD, are you people high? That looks like complete Dogsh*t and totally out of place! What were they thinking? What about the FatBoy and the Fat Bob? Don't get me started. There has been serious changes at HD and while some of it has not been all bad like improvements to the powertrain and frames, other choices just leave me cold thinking HD has completely lost touch with what buyers want. Or at least what THIS buyer wants.

I want to desperately to like the bikes, but I've just reached my limit where nothing even appeals to me any longer. Well....in all fairness that's not entirely true. The '18 Ultra Classic Limited in Blue/Black (anniversary colors) does look very nice. It reminds me of my '08 Ultra Classic in Pacific Blue Pearl/Vivid Black. Also...I really have no use for anything other than an Ultra Classic anyway, so lucky for me I guess there's one color scheme that I don't find utterly disgusting.

I know I'm just ranting here, but I needed to get this off my chest. Just so fed up with the direction the company seems to be heading.

 

Don't think anyone has a problem with the new engines, and they go well from what I've heard, it's just what surrounds them, in the case of the Softails that's the problem.
Doing away with the Dyna seems to have been a big no no with a lot of people no doubt to save money. As has been said why they replaced the Breakout tank with a smaller one is anyone's guess, a bigger version will probably turn up in the new accessories catalog. The Fatboy IMO has grown into a fat ugly looking thing that looks like it came out of the Polaris factory, and the Fatbob looks like it was made by Yamaha.
There's probably two camps here, those like me who are old and are 'old school' and won't be buying a new Harley, and the younger progressive guys who are quite happy with the new bikes and are happy moving into the future. The M8 is probably the last throw of the dice before eletric bikes take over.

 

Yep - definitely two camps and I am in the new school. I traded my 2014 Dyna Fat Bob for a 114" 2018 Softail Fat Bob and its a superior bike in every way. The only downside is the smaller gas tank, but even that's not a really bad thing as I can still get 160+ miles from a tank.

But I also have a 1980 shovelled Wide Glide for my old bike fix.....

 

would really like to see them put the 114" in touring line up

 

My attention is only given to the big baggers, as that's my primary interest when I visit a dealer. And of course since I own a '17 M8 everything I see gets compared to what I'm riding. I tend to look at ALL the baggers in any dealership, used or new. I haven't seen one older Ultra or U-Limited I like better than my current ride. I've seen some paint schemes and colors I love, but ya can't ride far on just nice paint. It's a package deal and for me...none of the older packages offer something better than what I own today.


Looking at the '18s (baggers only) what I do like is some of the paint colors. Silver Fortune is very nice. The Anniversary scheme is pretty but I'd rather ride almost any color besides blue. Twisted Cherry is unique but I doubt I'd buy into it at the $25k+ level. The normal 'Harley-Davidson' block-letter badges on the Limited are fairly boring and uninspiring to me. I still like chrome, but not gratuitous and gaudy amounts of it. Black-outs aren't for me and I'd be very unlikely to buy one in anything.


I have yet to see a very complete lineup of all the 2018 baggers in models and colors so far. I think dealers are still trying to move out some '17s and are waiting for better weather here in the midwest, before rolling out more of the '18s to show. I have no knowledge of that however. The CVOs I've seen are still impressively upgraded and gorgeous to my eye. When I look at the spectrum of '17 and '18 M8 baggers (so far) I don't find a lot not to like.

 

I dislike the ‘18’s so much, I bought an ‘18 Deluxe!!!!

 

The only problem with this, it's not good for Harleys as it's likely to lessen sales dramatically. People on here have always had moans and groans when the new bikes come out, but I've never known oppinions devided like they have been this year, not good espially when sales are down already. Hopefully amongst the new '50' bikes to come they'll be something that'll appeal to the old school guys.