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You should not be getting a bad ride with the RK Custom. I have one and it rides great to me. I can't compare it to a Heritage but it rides better than my Softail Custom which, I think, has the same shocks as the Heritage.
There is nothing wrong with the ride of the 12" shocks as compared to the 13". The only difference is 1" of travel. Yours may be bad.
You should not be getting a bad ride with the RK Custom. I have one and it rides great to me. I can't compare it to a Heritage but it rides better than my Softail Custom which, I think, has the same shocks as the Heritage.
There is nothing wrong with the ride of the 12" shocks as compared to the 13". The only difference is 1" of travel. Yours may be bad.
We just got home from a 2800 mile two-up trip on our RK Custom, and it rode great. I still have the stock shocks, and check the air pressure pretty regularly.
Better? No. Is it more fun to ride, 1 up? Absolutely! Jamb 50# of luggage and your wife on a Heritage and head across country, and then report your findings. I miss my 06 Deluxe badly, but was it a sensible bike for touring? Nope. If your Heritage is riding better than your RK, you may need to find out why. My softy had little suspension, but was an absolute joy to ride.
I just traded my FLSTC for a SG, I loved the ride, but long trips weren't as nice. Around town hands down the Heritage rides better to me. But on the interstate the SG is way better. 1 up was great flying around twisties, I just need to get more used to my new bike in them
I currently have 2 bikes, a 2001 heritage Classic with 20k miles, and a (new to me) 2004 Road King Custom with 10K miles.
I have noticed that when driving over bumps, the heritage suspension seems noticeably smoother when compared to the roadking. I have tried everything from 0 psi to 40 psi in the roadking rear shocks, but it still does not have the smooth feel of the heritage. I have pushed on the rear of the bike to make sure the shocks are working...and they are.
Isn't this backwards? What can I do to improve the "cadillac" feel for the roadking? Does the rk custom have different shocks than the other rk's?
I am 5'10 and 210 lbs.
Thanks
20,000 miles on an '01. You should actually ride it a little before you try to determine how it feels.
Had the same problem with my '10 RKC, Putting in SE Heavy Fork Oil in the front forks cured the problem. Pretty sad you have to spend $200 to get the bike to ride like it should out of the box but that was my fix.
Kevin
A bottle of fork oil and a six pack costs $200? Dang.
Just funnin' with you, too. I'm in a good mood since it's Friday.
I have a '10 Softail and just got an '11 RKC, the King is much smoother. I have pushed the Softail suspension past the edge, the King would still have room to spare.
Two different bikes, two different feels, both great rides.
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