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Is it just me, or has the MOCO really done a number on the Road King?
The RK Special to me is a far cry from my 2015. No chrome, no windshield, small seat, no passenger floorboards, half size crash bars? All this for 24k?
The Highway King appears to be what HD wants to replace the RK with. Except for the solo seat, no passenger pegs or boards at all, and adding the saddlebag guards, the new Highway King is what the Road king used to be. All that for 27k?
I'm not knocking either of those bikes. It just seems to me that the current Road King is a shell of what it used to be.
The only thing I like about the Special is the 114. If I were buying a new Road King today it would be a police bike. I'd like to buy a FLH with a M8 in the next few years and hated to see Road King go away.
From what I can tell in the advertising pictures, the "Highway King" is a Road King done in a nostalgic paint scheme and a considerably higher price. I have waited 4 years for a new Road King in blue, the company has disappointed every year. Now have a new police King on order, it appears to be equipped just like my 08 except for the 114 engine. My personal opinion is that the Road King Special is a stupid purchase. One must pay a premium price and then if you want them, ADD windshield and passing lights for even MORE money. The MOCO seems to be selling quite a few so my opinion isn't worth much.
With the revision of the softail frame, the Heritage Classic become a more capable tourer. Meanwhile, customizers were blacking out Road Kings along with the long term trend away from chrome, giving birth to the Road King Special.
Heritage Softail, Road King, and Road King Special were variations on a theme competing for similar market share. I know I looked at all three when purchasing my FLHR. While the Road King was the perfect model for me, no doubt the marketers thought there wasn't enough of a distinction for all three, and there is more variation between a Heritage Classic and Road King Special than between either of those and the Road King. Road King Special and Heritage Classic coming equipped with a 114 was probably the death knell.
As for myself... to each their own... but the Road King Special is a bar hopper in touring guise, while the Heritage Classic doesn't scratch the same itch the Road King does (plus the blacked out doo dads are atrocious). It's encouraging to see the Icon editions keep the Road King alive... although it's hard to justify the markup for a police seat, 114 engine, nicer paint, arguably worse wheels (16"), and some chrome goodies.
Last edited by Hungry J0e; May 23, 2023 at 12:59 AM.
It amuses me reading the articles on it, and how different it is from the Road King. True, it is different from the current Road King. But all those unique differences? They are all there on my 04 Road King.
Different strokes for different folks, just because you don't like it doesn't mean others don't. I'd take my old 2019 RKS over your 15 any day of the week.
As for pricing, like it or not, we own a luxury brand... A Kawasaki Vulcan is half price.... But we own HDs... If you think TCO on an HD is bad, I just added a BMW to the garage and engine guards were 600.00......
To me the Highway King is a one off special edition that has no bearing on the future of the road king.
True right now all they have is the special other than that. I dont think the classic was selling well. They drop models all the time only to reinvent them later. I see tons of used road kings with all the chrome and windshields sitting and not selling. Makes sense they would go in a different direction with it.
I love the special and I nearly bought one instead of my SGS. In the end, the fairing won out, because if I bought the king, I would have put a wind splitter on it and left it there, and also decided I wanted the electronics on the SGS after all.
The RKS I test rode at demo days had a stage 2 and a wind splitter, and it was a sweet ride.
When Willie G was the Chief Designer he tried to design bikes for bikers. Now they design bikes for the bottom line of the MOCO. Less features for more money. They don't seem concerned about losing sales, they even have a surcharge while losing sales. That seems like a short term strategy made for the benefit of current management while eating their young.
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