I am looking at buying my first bagger. I currently own a 02 big dog custom softtail bulldog. It is a sweet bike and I hate to sell it. so I am trying to decide if I should get an older (2001) ultra classic with lots of upgrades one owner 19,000 miles or a newer (2008) ultra no upgrades 2000 miles and sell the big dog. there seems to be a $6-7,000 price difference.
Is an 08 that much better than the 02? I run with a 6 speed now and have test drove a 06 5 speed i think the tranny would be ok but not sure. I currently just ride locally (bike has no storage) I have no idea how many miles I will put on a Bagger. I have currently ride about 2,000 miles a year with my wife.
thanks for any help anyone can give.

 

I'd get the 2001.

 

+1
The newer bikes are under engineered and over produced POS....

 

thanks for your input. if I go with the older bike I can keep the custom. wife loved the comfy seat compared to a pad. hope the tour pack won't cause to back seat to be too tight I have heard the newer bikes have more room but the wife is petite.

 

2001 stock has 88ci eng 5 speed trans
2008 stock has 96ci eng 6 speed trans
Looks about the same stock
If money no problem buy the 08

 

I ride a loaded 2000 ultra with so much chrome it's sick the guys i ride with
have newer bike. My OLD bike gets as much if not more attention.
Go for the OLD one most people cant tell the year of the bike anyways.

 

I had an '01 Ultra bumped up to a 95 CI. I traded it for an '07 Ultra. I had buyers remorse. The '01 would outperform the '07. I made a big mistake by getting rid of the '01.

 

I'm kind of biased because I have an 08 and love it, but I think for your situation, you should go with the 2001 so you can keep the softail. The 6-speed trans is an incredible improvement, in my opinion, but the 5-speed will get you where you're going with no problems.

Just my .02

 

I had a nice 03 Road King, TC88. I liked it very much. I traded for an 07 Ultra, love it for touring. I put 15K on this year and live in MN (7 month riding season). My wife loves the Ultra's seat and stereo. Not sorry I traded but the TC 88 is a fine bike.

If you don't need the 6-speed, you can go with the 01 and keep your other bike for around town. BTW, I ride my Ultra everywhere. I don't think its too big or unweldly and the tour pak/saddle bags allow me to run erands or carry my back pack/lap top to work. If you had some previous time with a tourer, I would recommend just getting the tourer, but coming from your Big Dog, you might miss it and want to ride it sometimes. Of course, it also means insuring both.

As far as the 01, you can always add a 6-speed tranny and you can get a '95 Kit for more power.

Either way, I think you and the wife will like a tourer and put more miles on it.

 

wow I am new to this forum didn't expect so many replies you guys have been great help going to look at the 01 in the morning it is at a local HD dealer getting serviced. Dude wants $10,500 for a one owner 2 tone loaded with chrome. I will need to upgrade to an mp3 system I think this one has am/fm/cb. Hopefully the bike is as good as it is advertised. Again I can't thank you all enough for your help.