Looking at buying a used Tourer with abs and cruise. Now that the 2014's have been out for awhile, are 2014's worth the extra $3k-$5K? Do 2014's handle better by a considerable margin? I am primarily interested in twisties and back road handling riding 2up. I asked a similar question on the Rushmore forum, you can guess what the consensus was

 

If twisties and back road handling are your thing, then yes they are worth it because you will spend more trying to get a pre 14 to handle as good.

Beary

 

Isn't the only difference the larger front wheel and the larger front fork, frame/suspension wise. School me if I'm wrong but I would think the handling would be pretty similar.

 

My 2013 handles great. Maybe I don't know what I am missing, but I am happy with how my bike performs. Can't imagine its a 3-5k better ride on the 14s.

 

See if you can arrange a few test rides. That'll tell you quite a bit.

 

Sorry, Not buying this statement. I had an '09 Streetglide and now a '13 Roadglide and have ridden about 300 hard miles 14s and 15s. I think there are a LOT of improvements but the vast majority of folks are not going to notice the handling difference between the bikes in the year ranges you are talking about. There are a lot of other reasons to pick the '14s but significantly better handling ain't one of them. The limitations on these bikes due to weight and lean angle are the main reasons. I haven't done anything to the '13 to improve handling and I ride the wheels off of it. The '09 I made changes to improve the ride quality due to the short shocks on the streetglide.

Now if you want nicer bags that fall off pick the '14.

It depends on your money. If you come across a super low mile '14 at a good price you are basically buying a new bike minus depreciation. I have over 100,000 miles on '09-'13 bikes and they are good bikes. If you find a really clean one with low miles you can't go wrong.

 

Suspension upgrades on the 14 are not worth the extra price if you do your own wrenching. My 2011 with upgrades with monotubes, rear shocks rides just like the 2014 and newer. If you do not do your own work, then, yes it is worth the extra money and not having to pay to do the work. Shocks and monotubes were $1k in parts and a afternoon of work.

 

The small changes have significant effects because the new triple tree stiffens the flex out of the front suspension. A big weakness in the Harley suspension that got worse as they got heavier. Not that big of deal for most riders, but it is for one who likes the twisties.

Beary

 

The test rides here consist of a few commercial/residential road miles and a few freeway miles. I asked for a longer test ride, explaining that handling in the twisties is important to me. They ignored that part of the conversation.



I would do the suspension upgrades myself on a pre 2014. The Ricors would come out of the softail, same 41mm forks, and installed with Race Tech springs into the tourer.

 

You are comparing the wrong bikes. Get on a pre14 Ultra and you will feel the difference. My 09 SG and 09 RKC weren't near as bad as my 09 Ultra. It made a believer out of me, almost enough to get a Road Glide.

There are some good deals for 14s our there, I just saw a 14 SG with low miles (3500 I think) for $18,000. That's not bad.

Beary