If anybody has tried both...(a counter-balanced Softail and rubber-mounted Dyna.)
Is there a different 'feel' to the ride or are they pretty much the same?

 

rubber mounted motors vibrate alot at idle but feel like a cadillac when you are under way.

The softail does not vibrate at all untill you reach about 80 mph. You start to feel a buzzing in the handlbars and foot pegs. Almost like a sander but not as severe. The new 6 speeds help this alot. My deuce is a 04 five speed.

David

 

The rubber mounted engines shake like a paint mixer up to around 2000 RPM. This means you will have to do the same weekly nut and bolt tightening as if you rode a Panhead if you live in a high traffic area where you spend a lot of time idling at redlights.
My Night Train is smooth as glass up to 100 + MPH. There is a difference that might be important to some folks, it takes about 1 HP to spin the balance shafts.

 

Ive never had a rubber mount so,I have nothing to say about that with my softail Nightrain my throttle hand has a tendency to numb out now and then at 120kms or over.My freind that has had many bikes and currently owns a 00 millenium Nightrian says he read some were maybe in the owners manual ?that Harley-Davidson designed it that way in attempts to keep the speed down .I have no proof one way or the other but,I believe him he's been rideing since the 60s and doesnt make sh@t up.

 

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Stop it. You're killing me....

 

I have tried both at the demo rides at last year's Bikeweek. 07 models of the Fatboy and the Street Glide. Like breaknbad and Oldtimer have said, the difference is on the sameset of characteristics of any V-Twin motor. You're gonna get vibration, just depends which which end of the RPM curve is going to deal with it. Rubber will take care of it once your are underway, the counterbalance will handle most normal driving.

Unlike what 07_103_NT said, I don't think anyone in their right mind would design-in a vibration, it is more a matter of how to deal with inherent vibs of a V-Twin. I'm sure there is a good engineering reason why they don't do a rubber-mounted AND counterbalanced motor. I'm guessing there are a few torque issues to deal with and probable frame changes.

A Harley is a Harley, is a Harley. If you want silky-smooth, go buy a four-piston import. I'll take the rumble and the vibrations any day, neither are that bad.

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everything that needs to be said has been, so I do not have too much to add, but the counter balanced is suposed to be a smoother ride for the most part.

 

Everyone has already told you what the differences are between the two types of bikes. To sum it all up it comes down to how you ride. If you ride mostly in town and very rarely ever ride on the highway at speeds over 75mph, go with the balanced motor. If you ride mostly on the highway at speeds over 75mph on a regular basis, go with the rubber mounted. I'm very happy with my 88B Softail and wouldn't want/need a rubber mounted bike at this point, though that may eventually change.

 

I was so used to my softail that when I test rode a roadglide I was going to buy, I walked away from it. I commute on my bike alot and I would have hated the VIBESSSSSSS

 

I've had both and can attest to the fact that the counterbalanced engine is smoother.