I'm looking to take the plunge and pickup a Road King. Before I invest thousands of $$$ in a straight-out purchase, I would like to ride one for a few hours to see how it feels. I can rent a Harley-Davidson here in Atlanta, however, a Road King rental appears to be a little scarce.

1. Is there a model that will provide a similar feel to the Road King? I'm not too concerned about "off the line" power or torque, but more about handling characteristics, center of gravity and highway speed engine rpm and resulting vibration.

My target production years are 2012 or newer.

Thank you for your time in replying!

JCZipper

 

You need to ride an actual Road King of the vintage and series of the one you are interested in. It will do you no good to ride a brand new 2017 Road King on a rental if you are interested in an older one. If this be the case, and you don't have access to an older one, then do what I've always done: don't work it to death, buy the dern thang!

 

The EG, SG and RG will all RIDE the same. Same frame same everything with the exception of appearances. Slightly different levels of wind protection at higher speeds.

Ben

 

I'm in the market as well, and am looking at the King and RGS, although leaning towards the King for versatility. I also plan to rent each for a day before a final decision. I would call dealers around you. There should be about 6 or 7 HD in and around Atlanta.

 

When I was in the market back in 2012, the local dealer here let me take a brand new RKC out for a test drive...I ended up riding both a new King and a new Road Glide before decided on the RKC. I didn't want all the fairings and don't care about tunes while I'm out riding. In the end, I didn't actually buy new, as I saw no reason to spend the extra money vs. buying a low mileage garage queen, so after a lengthy search, I ended up with a 6,000 mile 2010 Classic, all stock. I saved about $5-6K vs. a new 2012 RKC.

I'm sure there's gotta be plenty of 2012-2014 Road Kings for sales with ultra low mileage...take your time and enjoy the hunt.

Good luck in your search, I spent months figuring out what I wanted.

 

The shock travel on the RG and SG are less than on full touring and RK. To make up for that, the shocks are firmer (spring rate and damping) on the RG/SG line. Also, the RG/SG line uses the low profile front tires, while the RK uses the same tire as full up tourers.

 

I would say you shouldn't ride anything but a Road King if that's what you're thinking of buying. Any of the other Touring bikes will have a very different "feel" due to the fairings and possibly Tour-Paks. The weight distributions are different. I have a Road King and an Ultra, and the Road King is much easier to ride due to its weight distribution (not that there's anything wrong with the Ultra; it's more suited for long trips).

 

I bought my 2013 110 anniversary RK last year with 1200 miles on it plus the guy had already done pipes all the chrome, helmets backrest extras all over and saved about 6-7 thousand dollars for a practically brand new 2013 RK .

 

I am not arguing with you, all due respect. BUT, I have a Road King as well as a Road Glide, 01 and 08 in that order. Same animal, different ride but as far as handling I personally have no discernible issue between the two. Maybe just me as I have only ridden touring bikes since forever???

That is a beauty!!!

 

He's right about the 17's you ride one you'll want to buy it, fair warning

Hard to go wrong with an RK of any year, hooked me after riding shovel's for the last 40 years.