Harley doesn’t hate the Road King………they just hate you

Hate to say it, but those that love the RK and RKS will keep buying them, no matter what. I got tired of the bat wing. I like the shark nose, but it just “ain’t me”. That’s why I bought mine.

When I get tired of this one, though, I’l probably buy a used Twin Cam or Evo……I’m done with new bikes that use the consumers as “test beds”.

 

They don’t hate it they are maximizing the profit margin on the RKS by streamlining models , like dropping the SGS also

 

I don't know prices out there. But people there are so many low priced bikes out there. If it was here would be way over priced.

You see it in classified here all the time,

People get emotional and defensive, they love their bikes. Not enough to keep them though. You want lower miles yourself

I got a bike with 70 and 90 so people spare the stories.

 

No correlation. It has been over 20 years since people could do this.

You can walk in and buy what you want now . Plus now Harley improved and changes things. It's not the same bike for 10 years. People want big. 96" is to small for them

 

i was planning to get a 2024 road king in the spring. but it's about as much as the updated road glide. feels like i'd be getting ripped off. may just sit this year out on principle

 

Uhm, because the Road King is perfect?

 

If they made 1000 RK anniversaries last year, they would have sold out. If they had the ***** to build An ST model, it would sell out. I can’t ride a fixed fairing bike and I don’t want all the electronics. There are folks who are minimalists and like abasicc touring bike; and it ain’t a RKS.

 

Thank you HD for not screwing up the Road King. I've owned 52 Harleys yea really. The Road King will always be my favorite. It''s what Harley was all about. Not electronic gadgets and rolling boom boxes etc etc. Heck I've even traded a 2018 CVO Ultra on a Road King Special. Long live the Road King....

 

In a land with gravel and bugs, I want a windscreen on a touring bike. Without a screen, it’s a cruiser with bags.

In a land with gravel and bugs and thundershowers, chrome remains easy to clean and tough to chip.

For me and me alone, the special is not a road king. It’s a nice motorcycle, a fabulous cruiser, an always ready bat hopper, and capable of making a run to Sturgis, but it is not a road king. The ElectraGlide Highway king special icon revival or whatever they named it is not a road king. It’s a nice motorcycle and if you own one, you’re way more cool than I’ll ever be. But it is not a road king.

The king is more than a stripped down ElectraGlide. The king belonged to Harley’s history. It was the thread that tied Harley’s history together. It was a solid line from flatheads, knuckles, pans, EVOs, TCs, and M8’s that stretched longer than the glorious history of the sportster.

I do not consider the S a sportster and I do not consider the special a Road King. Nor the police version. Sure, one can cobble together a functioning look alike, but it shows a disregard for Harley’s own history. No, not a disregard, they just are so new, so removed, they don’t know or care about history or for that matter, how riders use their motorcycles. It’s an arrogance I’ve yet to master.

I don’t like where they are going. I know I don’t matter. He was hired by a board to meet the Wall Street paradigm where history has no place or importance only doing more with less is critical to maximizing profit. This blindness on their part is opening doors for other manufacturers. It isn’t obvious yet, but it will be. (And I’m not talking about Polaris)

On, I think the Road King Std was the focal point that drove the ElectraGlide, Street and road glides. Those riders were riding modifications of the king, not the other way around. The heart, the core is the king. The batwing, the shark nose were the factory mods. Should they be loved, yes. The king was not a stripped down ElectraGlide, it was the heart of a great motorcycle design.

So to answer the OPs question, I don’t think they hate the Road King, I think they are just too stupid to know about what the King offered Harley as a business because history, core reasons for why the king was popular was lost to make more profit/margin per bike. They simply lack the ability. It’s a common problem and the ruin of many fine manufacturers.

 

I have not warmed up to the new RG fairing. SG not so bad. I'm not sure I'd want them messing with the RK right now, although the new engine would have been nice but $$