Forgive me if this is information exists somewhere already but I've attempted to search the forums and could not seem to find anything specific.

I'm looking at moving from a Sporty to a RK. One of the main reasons for my desire to change bikes is for a more comfortable ride. Hence the desire for a touring model. I know the Custom sits lower than the Standard. All things being equal, does the Custom have a harsher ride because of the shorter distance to the ground? I understand it will bottom out sooner, but before it bottoms out will it be stiffer?

Thanks for any feedback you can provide!

 

I have a '07 Road King Classic and have installed the low profile touring shocks on it, so functionally it has the same suspension as the Custom. I have found that I need to run a couple more pounds of pressure in the shorter shocks to avoid bottoming out on large bumps. But that has been mostly a function of suspension travel rather than compression damping. On average road surfaces I would consider them to be about the same in terms of comfort and handling as the longer shocks. For two-up travel with luggage I think I would prefer the longer shocks, but for mostly solo or short duration two-up riding, the shorter shocks are fine.

 

With the air adjustment I haven't had any problems with bottoming out. I'm 160 lbs and she is 117lbs.

 

I have the rear low profile shocks and front lowering kit installed on my RKC and I think that it is slightly stiffer ride than the stock set-up. I run 12-15 lbs in the rear shocks and have never bottomed out, the ride is still very comfortable.

 

JohnC88,

I did exactly what you are wanting to do; I moved from a 03 Sporty to a 05 RK Custom. Do yourself a favor and run, don't walk, to the HD Dealer and buy one today. It is the smoothest ride!!! I can not say enough about it, except to say it is F***ing awesome!!!

With that said, I can't compare a regular RK vs RK Custom. I can compare a Sporster to a RK Custom, but I would be wasting both our time. Whatever you choose it will be a huge difference in ride quality compared to a Sporty. I can't believe I waited so long to move up.

Ride safe,

p.s. I do have to say I loved my Sportster and anyone whom says a Sportster is only half a Harley does NOT know what cool is!!!

 

The Harley lowered air shocks ride like crap, but it's not necessary to put up with that ride to have the lower ride height.

I bought a RK Custom new in 04 & the ride was absolutely killing my back it was so rough. After a couple weeks of enduring that awful ride, I replaced the Harley shocks with 12" standard spring Progressive 440's. The 440's sit at the same height as the HD lowered shocks but ride 1000 times better(12" 440's ride better than 13" HD air shocks).

I paid $388 for the 440's, but I sold the HD shocks on ebay for $225 so that worked out quite well.

~John

 

Thanks everyone for the comments.

I rented a RK Standard today. WOWee, that is a really nice ride compared to what I have been used to! It also didn't seem to be an issue on height so I may be very happy with the Standard.

 

I think after my rental today I know exactly what you mean! Smooth was the word I kept repeating to myself :-)

 

with standard, you get hard bags, can store helmet and lock, all my riding buddies with classics(4) and customs(2) all switched to the hard bags. extra expense 400 to 1200(stealer). custom ride seems a tad bit harder,but only have approx 5 miles on custom

 

That makes no sense to me, a "locked" hard bag is no more secure than a leather bag(it takes about 10 seconds to break into a hard bag or steal the entire bag right off the bike). I have nothing against the hard bags, but you're in for a rude awakening if you think that lock makes them any more secure than the bags on a Custom or a Classic.

https://www.hdforums.com/m_1423226/tm.htm

One of the reasons I bought a Custom was that I liked the hard leather bags better than the hard bags(& I have owned both types). If I wanted hard bags, I would have bought a bike that came with them in the first place.

~John