Hey all!

I have a question for you. I have as you can see, an '05 Road King Classic. I believe its the stock seat which seems to be extremely comfy. I ride with a helmet always and I have noticed that I get a cramp in my shoulder from almost tilting my head up. I am wondering if I got a drivers backrest and possibly some longer or further back handlebars would this help? Also if there is correct terminology for the bars I'm looking for please wise me up.

I was also considering a Stage 1 and then maybe some V&H, Reinheart or CFR Slip ons. Would full duals be a better thing to investigate?

As I said before I believe this is the stock seat. Should I consider a different one? Right now I'm pretty much scooting around town. Haven't done much touring, (The fiance won't get on it until I have more miles under my belt. I wouldn't let her anyway...)

Couple other tidbits:

• I'm getting married in May 2013.
• My Fiance is pregnant with our second child.
• I live outside Chicago and this is my first bike, so I don't know how deep into fall/winter Ill be riding

With all this being said, I think I want a Street Glide eventually and I'm considering trading up next year. I am also curious, What's the big diff between a UC and a SG aside from the tourpack?

Any info or opinions are welcome!

 

As I have gotten no responses, should I have posted this in a different section?

 

No, it was so nice out that everybody was riding. If you are seriously going to trade up, save your money because you get almost nothing for your add-ons when you trade or sell.

For a short term fix the backrest helped me immensly. Craigsist or ebay for a used one. Also pretty much everybody hates the stock RK handle bars. I like my "reduced reach" bars from HD. Didn't have to buy new cables etc...

 

I had an 05 RKC and that is not a stock seat... you might want to remove it and see what is before you look for a backrest.

 

Road King back, neck, & shoulder soreness seems to be fairly common ailment. Though there are those that love the OE setup, a fairly popular mod is to put the Heritage bars on. These allow the rider to sit back more in the seat (more upright instead of leaning) and combined with a good fitting seat make the ride really comfy. The Heritage bars are popular because they don't require changing lines or cables. It's a fairly inexpensive mod.

I went with the Heritage style bars, Sundowner seat and the HD adjustable drivers backrest.

 

I'll dive in. First welcome to the forum. When one begins to MOD, ask yourself what is important to you comfort or performance because you mentioned both. As far as the neck issue of looking up several mods will correct. Again we are talking personal preferences. Seats can change the riding position forward, back, up or down all change your head position. Bars with more pull back will take the forward lean away. Windshield height will change your vision. Do you look over or thru. Again no one can answer for you all or personal perferences.

Performance mods are the same one note when dealing with Stage 1 air and exhaust changes you will need a fuel tuner to compensate for the changes.

Any way you decide to go be careful, unless you have unlimited resources MODs are expensive. I suggess you sit on as many bikes as you can find with different seats, bars, windshields as possible before you make a decision.

U tube has all kinds of videos with different exhaust systems.

Good luck in your research and safe ridiing.

One last statement, if you plan trading up next year you might want to wait. MOD have $0 value on the secondary market.

 

I also had neck and back pain with the stock setup.I rolled the handle bars back about 2 inches and installed a sundowner seat and and back rest which helped alot. The sundowner seat and back rest makes me sit alittle closer to the handlebars and a alittle lower than the stock seat.I'm 5'11" with a 32" inseam.

 

THANKS GUYS! I shoulda have assumed that it was the day and not that noone was reading my post.

In any case. I like this heritage bars Idea. I'll have to check that out. Thanks for the advice on the mods, Ill keep that in mind. I'm about 6'3 and I weigh about 270 so I don't want to be pushed forward. I will check out the sundowner but I have heard the Zepplin is great too. Opinions?

 

Driver's backrest makes a HUGE difference in comfort! I'm extremely happy with mine, and would never want a touring bike without one.

I'm considering the Heritage bars also, but haven't really investigated it much. Sounds like it's worthwhile. But if you're thinking about trading next year, why bother? You're not going to have more than a few more months of riding weather up here anyway.

You could always get a removeable batwing fairing like the Dragonfly. That's a good option for a RK, and would be much cheaper than buying a new bike. Sounds like you have a few extra expenses coming up!

(BTW, congrats!)

 

Other differences between the UC and the SG are the front and rear fender trim, (SG has none), the fillers between the bags and fender (SG has em), the tail light (SG does NOT have it on 2010 and up models). The UC has that big ole honkin signal light bar, SG does not. The gauge faces on a SG are white. The bag latches are color matched to the bike on a SG.

I think that's about it.

Shakey