In late May, I traded a 2013 Yamaha 1300 Deluxe for a leftover 2016 Ultra Limited. For those not familiar with it, the 1300 deluxe is Yamaha's 1300 v-twin cruiser frame, with a batwing fairing, GPS, an iPod interface, and hard bags. Mine also had a Corbin streamliner trunk and dual tour seat. I really liked the Yamaha, but I had been eyeing up a street glide. The dealer made a hard to refuse offer on the Ultra, thinking that was what I really wanted, and was a similar set up to the Yamaha.

Now that I've had the Harley for a while, I wanted to report and compare for those that might be interested in making a similar trade. Because I'm inseam challenged, I made a few mods. It has a Corbin dual tour seat. I swapped out the stock rear shocks for a set from a Street Glide, along swapping the passenger floor boards for a set of passenger pegs from a street glide (the stock units stuck out too far, I kept bashing my legs into them during parking lot maneuvers). I added a set of harley 'reach bars', with the cable extension kit, and was pleasantly surprised that I got to keep the heated grips.

Obviously, the motor in the HD makes more power than the Yamaha, though I'm not sure it's as much more than the extra 400 CC's would imply. However the Harley's 6 speed tranny is very well matched to the bike's power curve, and it never seems to be working hard. The Yamaha desperately needed a 6th gear, and some rework of the gear spacing.

The two bikes are about even for handling and ride. At 150 lbs lighter, the Yamaha was easier to toss around in corners, but the Harley certainly works well, and may be a little better at interstate speed. The rider's "air pocket" is much better on the Harley; I had buffeting I could never get rid of on the Yamaha.

The saddlebags on the Yamaha were a PITA to remove; the quick detach bags on the Ultra are great, if not quite as big. The connection for the iPod was in a little pocket in the saddlebag; probably so you could secure it easily, which worries me a bit on the Harley. The Limited has radio (which is nice) and CB (which I'll never use), along with the iPod interface. The "infotainment" system is a bit forgetful; it doesn't always go back to playing my iPod when I start it up, instead going to the radio.

It looks like I'll get 8K-9K miles out of the rear tire on the Limited. That's about what I expected. When the time comes, it will probably get a new Dunlop American Elite. I had a set of those on the Yamaha and they worked well. The gauges and dashboard on the Harely are far superior, very readable and I like the look. The Daymaker LED head light is a bit of a disappointment. Folks I ride with tell me they can't really tell that I have my headlight on. I know I can get the dealer to flash a change so that the running lights are on with the high beams, and the are other tricks to address this, but I expected the visibility to be better out of the crate.

The GPS on the Harley works best if you already have a good idea of where you are going. The Yamaha had a Garmin, which functionally ran circles around the Harley unit. I can't get a list of turns and intersections (at least, I haven't figured out how). The verbal directives are sparse: "Turn left now" should be "Turn left onto 5th street now", as sometimes there's more than one choice to the left. The Garmin showed lane diagrams for intersections and interstate exits, which was nice. A minor annoyance is that there's no current time display if you have the GPS engaged and are looking at the map (or maybe I just haven't found that setting yet).

Reading other messages here on the board, I've put "tighten the shift linkage" on my periodic check list. I've already had to take it up about a 1/16 of a turn. I've also read stories about water pumps, but my dealer assures me that if it goes bad, it's ok to limp into a dealer to get it replaced. A stripped out shift lever may strand me, so I'll keep an eye on it It may turn out that maintaining it keeps it from ever doing anything bad. I'm taking it to the dealer for it's 5K mile service. After that, I'll probably handle oil changes and other light maintenance (that reminds me to go find some of those gaskets).

Overall, I like The Harley very much, but I have to say that knowing what I know now, if I had paid $30k for it, I would be disappointed. At the price I paid (about $23k), I think I've got pretty good value. One thing the Harley has that no other bike can match is ecosystem -- no matter the part or accessory, it exists for a Harely, and I'm looking forward to finding all those little things that will make this bike "mine". Next up is probably the bushing so I can take the heel shifter off. I never use it, and I want the room on the floorboard.

Ride safe.

 

Nice review, ride safe.

 

Harley GPS system is sketchy at best that's well-documented. I do not use it a bunch but I do know that it'll show Interstate Lane and exits. I think there's a setting to turn that off and on as I recall.

 

Nice review. No problems yet with my '15 Limited.

 

I went from the VStar 1300 Tourer (the predacessor to your 1300 Deluxe) to a Road Glide Ultra, and I've had very similar observations. Notably:

• The Yamaha 1300 was better balanced in the turns.
• Head buffeting is much less,although I went from no fairing to the FLTRU's fixed fairing. Quite a difference!
• I'm constantly hitting my calves on the HD's passenger floorboards.
• The HD 103 with 6-speed handles highway speeds better and is much smoother.
• I didn't have GPS on my 1300, but the Harley's does leave a lot to desire, however I really like it being built in.
• The HD is much easier to customize. HD has a great set of compatible accessories and the aftermarket accessories is seemingly unending.

I hope you enjoy the next 5000 miles even more than the first!

 

Cool, but just a thought..Practice that hill and toe shift just two weeks before kicking it to the curb. You will never go back.
I know it seems *** backward till you get the brain engaged to it since it is backwards to what one would think as up and down. However, if you just use the toe and you happen to have a cleated winter hiking boot, a toe only shift is a pain. I have big feet and I miss the hill and toe.

 

You just haven't figured out how. Both of those things are possible; read the Nav manual - it's all in there.



Otherwise, great review, and thanks!

 

The Boom NAV is different than Garmin. I think it works as well as a Garmin as a guidance system but my Garmin has some features I'd like to see on the Boom NAV. The ability to display more information is probably the main one. I'd like to be able to display the present time, the ETA, the remaining trip time and remaining miles all at once as my Garmin 550 allowed. Every one of those is available on the Boom NAV, but only one at a time unless you aren't listening to music/radio which then allows any two to be displayed (I assume that's the case as I've never actually tried it).

I usually have ETA displayed and I push the info screen button to view the present time.

 

100% agree. The nav unit on my Harley is far superior to the nav unit on my 9-year old Cadillac. Honestly, I find it to be a pretty decent unit for a built-in.

 

15' Limited with 27.5K just keeps on roll'in. Love it. M8 not in my future anytime soon.