HI all, i'm looking at buying my first Harley Davidson touring bike. Not sure if i'll get the Ultra Classic or Ultra Limited. But one thing I am not sure of is should I be looking at 2012/13 (pre-Rushmore) or 2014-15 (rushmore). I do understand the difference that was introduced with the Rushmore era, but not sure if its worth the extra cost given my budget.

• are the 2012, 2013 bikes nice to ride, what are the benefits or disadvantage of not going to 2014+
• are the 2014 plagued with issues or have they all been addressed by Harley

Can you shed some light on helping me decide. Thanks

 

Ride both model years and my bet is you will like the Rushmore better, I did.

 

 

Personally, I like the old Twin Cam 96" engine. Simple and reliable.

 

That may be true; however, the models the OP is looking at are 103's.

 

The newer the better but all of them in those years are good reliable bikes. The 103 in the Rushmores has the newer cam that adds a bit more power.

 

 

I like the looks of the pre-Rushmore bikes. I really hate the vent in the new bat wing fairing.
On the other hand the post-Rushmore Road Glides look awesome.

 

Whatever bike you get just run it thru to see that any recall work was done. Depending on the bike and the build date, there were a few recalls on the 2014's. Mine was recalled 3 times. The really early built ones had a couple additional recalls.

My '14 Limited has been extremely reliable, one repair so far- splines on the shift shaft wore out a couple years ago- easy and relatively inexpensive fix. No other breakdowns, or problems.
Even my much feared water pump is still running

 

You can probably find a 12 or 13 ultra for 3-4k under what you could find a similar 14 or 15 for. For me, the upgrade wouldn't be worth 4k. But for 2k, it probably would be. I've looked at upgrading to a new bike a couple times, but having GPS isn't worth the cost of the upgrade. Having a paid off bike makes for a lot of room in the budget for upgrades and mods.