New to HD. Noise.. What is normal?
#11
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Lafayette, Louisiana
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#12
Over the last several years I went from a '12 Sportster to a '15 Road Glide and then back to a '14 Deluxe. Having said that, The Sportster felt "alive". You could feel every nuance and it was like being completely connected with the road and the experience of riding.
Once I got the Road Glide, I got kinda spoiled by the rubber mounted drive train and how smooth the bike felt overall. It was relatively quiet except for the report coming from the Vance and Hines exhaust I put on it.
But, in my opinion, the thrill of being connected to the road was gone, it was top heavy with that refrigerator sized fairing setting right over the forks but rode like a Buick. It quietly lumbered down the road and you drove it more than rode it.
Man-o-man, when I got my Deluxe, I spent the whole first month convinced that the thing was going to come apart.
Feeling the vibrations of that solid mounted drivetrain resonating through frame into the floorboards and up my legs only accentuated the sounds coming from the rockers, exhaust, and primary.
Since I had been overly coddled by that Road Glide, the overall feeling of... let's call it "aliveness", this Deluxe had was unexpected.
With all of these new noises and vibrations, I was scared shitless that this thing was going to grenade on me and I would have to empty out the kid's college fund to replace everything.
However, you settle into it once you understand that it's all part of the personality of the bike. Keep up on your maintenance and everything will be fine.
Once I got the Road Glide, I got kinda spoiled by the rubber mounted drive train and how smooth the bike felt overall. It was relatively quiet except for the report coming from the Vance and Hines exhaust I put on it.
But, in my opinion, the thrill of being connected to the road was gone, it was top heavy with that refrigerator sized fairing setting right over the forks but rode like a Buick. It quietly lumbered down the road and you drove it more than rode it.
Man-o-man, when I got my Deluxe, I spent the whole first month convinced that the thing was going to come apart.
Feeling the vibrations of that solid mounted drivetrain resonating through frame into the floorboards and up my legs only accentuated the sounds coming from the rockers, exhaust, and primary.
Since I had been overly coddled by that Road Glide, the overall feeling of... let's call it "aliveness", this Deluxe had was unexpected.
With all of these new noises and vibrations, I was scared shitless that this thing was going to grenade on me and I would have to empty out the kid's college fund to replace everything.
However, you settle into it once you understand that it's all part of the personality of the bike. Keep up on your maintenance and everything will be fine.
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