I'm looking to purchase a 2005 Police Road King with 58k miles. Did a VIN check and the last recorded information was in 2013. This is a private seller and he is selling for $4400. I like the bike and interested but not sure if it's a good deal or not. It started cold with no problem. Any advice will help...I want to get it serviced at HD dealer or a motorcycle shop.

I have attached the photos.

 

Does it have any maintenance records? 58000 miles isn't huge but a 12 year old bike will have some things that need to be looked at. One thing in particular is the cam chain tensioner. Has it been replaced? Some of the pre 07 bikes had a problem with the tensioner shoes failing.

 

When I purchased my '03, I did so with the mindset that I would be putting a couple grand into maintenance at repairs. Even if records are meticulous, they can be false. I would check the tensioners immediately. Mine were a couple miles away from major damage to the engine. I had around 54,000 miles on mine. I changed the tensioners, upgraded the cam while it was apart, and plan on changing the oil in the front and rear springs this winter. There are always items overlooked, my rear shocks for example had a leak. Turns out it was just one of the valves going into the shock so it was a $7 fix versus $500+ to replace them. I didn't like the grips or how low the handle bars were, so I swapped all of that. I now have a very annoying "tweet" coming from somewhere that I'll have to hunt down this winter. If you don't like tinkering, I'd think long and hard about an older bike.

 

A lot of folks don't like the handlebars on the RKs. A popular fix is to swap the bars out and replace them with the bars from a Heritage Softail. I did this on my 03 and loved them. They are a direct swap, so you wont need new cables. I did have to tweak my front brake line just a little but if you're careful its no problem.

 

Wow, I didn't know about all of these things. I was going into this with the mind to put some money into it. I will have to research where the tensioners are located. I really appreciate you insight and comments.

 

Better to get a 6 speed.

 

Not trying to scare you out of it, that was just my mindset going in. It's fresh in my memory since this was all a few months ago. If you do the work yourself, you can get away with $100-150 in parts. Any dealer around here wanted I think $700 to replace them. You have to tear half the bike apart unless you start cutting rods. Dealer wanted $1200 to replace the old tensioners with the new hydraulic system. I ended up replacing the cam, added the hydraulic tensioner, and a couple other parts for that $1200 and did it myself.

 

Okay cool. I'm pretty good with my hands, so a winter project shouldn't be an issue.

 

a 6 speed?

 

Not sure if it had been replaced. No records of anything after 2013.