Just got the word. There's good news and bad news. Good news is, it's ready to pick up, Stage II and all. Bad news is, they're recommending another 500-mile break-in period before driving like a hoolingan. Oh well, if the weather holds I can get that done in two or three days...

 

I bought the touring bag & day bag together. Not as wide as rolling tour bag but adequate as it expands. Mounted with auxiliary strap kit and clip-on backrest. Also got the taller sissy bar for stability when mounting luggage. Very stable. Have both luggage racks in case I just want to roll up jacket but don't want sissy bar on. I just got mini saddlebags made just for Fatbob & in the spring plan on getting windshield & cruise control. Haven't done any performance mods yet as bike is a blast stock & still deciding on what to do plus all the other things are adding up dollarwise,lol. I'll try an d post picture but I'm new and only have iPhone.

 

So you only put the bar weight on the clutch side of the handlebar?????? That somehow eliminated the vibes going to the right side also?

 

No, I just showed that side in the pic. There are weights on both bar ends.

 

@Fatbob2018: Thank you for sharing your experiences. I will get my Fat Bob in early 2018 and I'm thinking about the 15" shield as well for longer "Autobahn" trips in Germany. I'm 6'4'' so I could have a chance that the turbulent wind will hit me beneath my helmet. I'm looking forward how the 19'' shield will work for you.

Happy holidays

 

I have the 15” QD Screen. I’m 5’11” and it works well for me. There is some wind but no buffeting. I like looking over rather than through the screen. Plus I think the 15” looks better on the bike.

 

I noticed quite a difference over the first few hundred miles on my Stage 2. Initially it was pretty tight feeling again and power seemed to fall off around 3600 rpm. My initial impression was it felt like I'd dropped a tooth on my sprocket...more low end, but less high end. That all improved significantly after the first week. It pulls strongly to about 4600. It also increased vibes slightly, but that has also since gotten smoother. I also think the adaptive ECM dials in the tune a bit over the first few hundred miles. I'm at about 5500 miles now and loving it. I'm pretty sure you're going to be happy.

 

Your report gives me optimism. My initial response in the first five seconds was that the vibes had increased noticeably and annoyingly; same reaction as PuttNutt24 had. I put on 130 miles yesterday and it's still noticeably vibier than before, and I'm being quite gentle with it assuming it needs some break-in (trying to keep below 3500 RPM) but ... wow, there certainly appears to be a noticeable increase in roll-on power. It certainly feels livelier. I'm gonna try to get these 500 miles over with as soon as I can (weather permitting) so I can do some roll-on comparisons; I gathered some data in stock form, so now I'll be able to compare against Stage II form, but it certainly seems like it's woken up.

As for the vibes, I'm optimistic that it'll follow the same curve the stock bike did. In stock form I was initially concerned that something might even be wrong with the bike, but after 1000 miles it'd settled down to the point where I was utterly smitten and not concerned at all. Now, it's back to "er, this doesn't feel right", but I'm hoping that it'll break in like the stock form did, and like you're saying yours did.

Since I'm babying it right now, the only thing I can report on is gas usage; it seems like it hasn't dropped much if any. I ran it for 130 miles at 50 to 80 mph, mostly around 55-60, and it returnd 47 mpg. That's really good news, I knew/expected MPG to drop, but I was hoping it'd be minimal when driven at touring speeds so I could retain a usable tank range, and that seems to be what it's doing.

 

I think you have a pretty good chance it will hit below your helmet. And if you need to adjust it, you can gain a couple of inches of height by mounting it "Madstad style", although -- that's not recommended by Harley; it's just something I experimented with to see if it made much difference and if the 19" would be worth trying.

I took a couple of pics of what I mean by "Madstad" style; basically I tried mounting it as high as possible by putting the top mount on the top of the fork, rather than underneath where it's "supposed" to go. By doing so, it creates a "vent" under the shield, where some air can be redirected up behind the shield, with the intention of alleviating some of the vacuum created by the windshield and therefore potentially smoothing out some of the turbulence. I'm not advocating this as a good idea, only mentioning it as a possible alternative for anyone who's not happy with the height or how the wind hits them. These shields are expen$ive, so having an option of mounting might be the difference between being satisfied or not. It didn't really work out for me, it wasn't "enough", so I'm getting the 19", but it did make a little difference and gave me optimism that the 19" might be right for me.

This photo shows the mounting clamps moved up as high as possible; I moved the top one on top of the triple tree as an experiment to see how high the shield could be positioned. This is not the recommended mounting by Harley. I found it to be stable, but obviously if you choose to do so you're taking the risk yourself.


And this is what it looks like when you mount the shield high like that. It leaves about a 2" gap above the headlight nacelle. The net result is the windshield sits 2" higher, it gets a vent, and it looks a bit goofy. I found it to somewhat alleviate my helmet buffeting issues, but not enough to make the ride truly comfortable. As stated before, others who are taller or shorter may find that the standard mounting works just great for them (and definitely looks a lot better!) Again, I just show this as a potential alternative for those who may not be happy with the buffeting when using the standard mounting.

 

Fatbob2018, Yes, mpg has remained nicely usable, although the more you play the more you pay . Once you get a taste for the upper rpm stretch....well, expect to smile a lot between more frequent fillups.

The vibes will improve, but they will always have a slight edge over stock...which I like because it does have a new set of teeth and you'll feel it..especially when you're feeling aggressive...but I think once it settles you'll find your happy place with it. I can cruise up to 3200 in 6th and it's reasonably smooth. Below 3000 it is VERY smooth. 3300 - 4600 you'll feel those teeth and might giggle a little. I know I do. The passing power is very nice on this thing.