Good points from all who responded. Personally, I prefer the feeling of being connected to the road with my Fatboy. I don't like the Dyna's swing arm connected to the transmission instead of the frame like the Softail.

 

Find a dealer that will apply two rentals to the purchase of the bike. Rent what you think is your best choice between the individual members of the design group (dyna and softail) and ride the **** out of them for a day each. Be sure to make notes of what you like and don't like about each. Ask the dealer which ones, if any, he can honestly solve for you. Then make your selection.

Here's an example... you can get a Wide Glide and buy a center peg dyna's primary and foot controls and have center peg handling and extended peg riding on the same bike with the hot roddest looking dyna. If you want to >ride a bike that handles< center pegs are the only solution. Period. If you want to ride bike that >cruises< floorboards are the only solution. Period. If you want to bar hop and pretend you're a chopper, then get forward controls (like I have). I try to do all three... and it's a compromise at best. I picked the softail because the vibration on the road wasn't too much worse than an isolated engine but a LOT better around town... and after that it was simply looks.

C#

 

I just have a softail so can't comment on the dyna. Part of the thng with the shocks on the softail is to get the preload set properly for what you are going to do with the bike, two up, single or loaded right up.

Recent 450 mile trip, two up & loaded, gravel, mud, shitty asphalt and the bike handled it without any complaints.

I find that the softail is very much a do it all bike. Light & nimble around the city, very stable in the wind and just cruises on the highway. Very little vibration at any reasonable speeds, and most of the vibration that you'll feel from the engine is if you lug them or run in the higher rpm band. I recently did the Lee Parks Total Control course on the softail. The bike is low & its hard to not scrape the floorboards when doing the turns they want you to make on the course. It looks & feels strange to hang half your butt off the seat when making turns. The softail is not a sport bike but all in all did fine on the course.

If you go with the softail, look at the Heritage model as it has the bags & shield that you are going to need if you plan on touring with the bike.