HD Ride for BBQ - Comparison and Evaluation of HD

[RedRider]

In a previous post, I mentioned getting a free one day rental from Appleton HD. The ride was taken last weekend and greatly enjoyed. I am starting this as a new thread since the topic has changed from 'what should I do with a free day of riding an HD' to 'What I did with a free day of riding an HD'. Also, want to provide my review of the HD as compared to the Venture.

 

To begin with, let's review the dealer (Appleton HD). They are great. The sales folks on the floor were very knowledgeable of their product. There were a couple of esoteric questions they didn't know (fusing on the cig lighter - in case I needed to use my road compressor), but mostly, they knew their stuff. Their recommendation on a bike to take was also right on. Very impressive dealer.

 

After looking at the selections (all the big bikes were available) and listening to their expertise, I chose a Road Glide Ultra. This is the same as the Ultra Classic but with a frame mounted fairing instead of a fork mounted fairing. The RG fairing was also about 8" further forward providing a much larger, less cramped feeling, riding compartment. Very nice.

 

The RGU had all the bells and whistles. Radio, CB, Ipod interface - What?? No cassette??? ABS front and rear, 6 speed tranny, 103 ci of bone rattling power. The bike provided was totally stock.

 

Rode the Venture up to pick up the bike Saturday at 11:00ish. They advised to just bring it back when I was done - even if it was after hours Sunday. Just drop the key thru the slot. Cool. Interestingly, parked next to a '90 blue Venture when I pulled in.

 

Anyhoo, after the appropriate paperwork, they took me out to the bike and gave me an introduction - how everything works. I packed a change of clothing and various stuff in the cavernous saddle bags, threw on my helmet, plugged in my headset (yes, the plug is the same as the Venture), and took off. The Venture was resting comfortably under their overhang under the watchful eyes of a security camera. Really a nice setup.

 

Wanted to get my money's worth out of this free rental, so I took off for BBQ. Original destination was Kansas City, MO. Unfortunately, a series of items prevented me from making it that far in time to beat closing at Arthur Bryant's BBQ.

 

First - It wasn't an hour before I started squirming on the stock seat. Was also getting the little pain between the shoulder blades that is indicative of handle bars that don't pull back far enough. Couldn't ride more than about 100-125 miles before needing to stop and stretch. Frustrating. Added the Airhawk to the seat and that helped some. Also added the sheepskin and the seat/butt issue was mostly resolved. Nothing I could do about the back pain. Also, there were no highway pegs so not much room to move around the legs.

 

Second - My 6 year old Zumo 550 battery quickly ran out of juice. It is never run without a hard wired power source, so I'm sure the battery is pretty much toast. So, I plugged in the charger to the cig lighter (had a cig lighter to USB converter). Unfortunately, you can't operate the Zumo and change it in this way at the same time. Oh well, I know where I am going - at least up to hitting KC. So I thought.

 

Missed the split to HWY 151 from Hwy 61 south of Dubuque, IA. Therefore, added about 60 miles by detouring thru Davenport. That combined with having to stop too often meant KC wasn't going to happen.

 

However, all was not lost. I found an amazing BBQ joint in Des Moines, IA. SmokeyD's BBQ (http://www.smokeydsbbq.com). They have won an impressive number of contests both locally and nationally. And it tasted like it. Had a combo of pulled pork and brisket and they were both amazing - especially the brisket. I WILL go there again.

 

Found a cheap hotel just outside of Des Moines since I was not in any hurry to get back. Was on the road at about 7:15 Sunday morning under a clear sunny sky and about 45 degrees. Beautiful weather. Took the missed 151 back to Dubuque, crossed into Wisconsin, and then proceeded to head up the Great River Road. I figured there was enough experience on the slab, need to see how it works in some curves.

 

Stopped at Dewey Nelson State Park just north of Cassville and took some pictures. Road along the WI River on Hwy 60 all the way to Columbus. Stopped in Fox Lake to show the bike to Scooter Bob, stopped by the house to show the bike to my boys, and then headed back to Appleton. Had to run past about 15 miles to get the mileage over 1000.

 

All in all, a great weekend was had. The next installments will have pictures and an evaluation/comparison.

 

RR

Edited October 2, 2012 by RedRider

[RedRider]

Here are the pictures.

 

RR

[Jactana]

So bottom line, would you buy one? Ron

[RedRider]

The Road Glide Ultra (RGU) ran perfectly. Got about 45 mpg on both the slab and the twisties. Fit and finish was excellent and everything worked perfectly. Very nice bike.

 

Engine

 

The RGU has a 103CI (about 1600cc I believe) that has lots of torque. Doesn't rev up like the Venture, but it wasn't intended to. If you whack the throttle at about 3000 RPM it would power nicely until about 4500 RPM. Very impressive power. It appeared the power band was from 3000 to 4000ish RPM.

 

Idle was a killer though. The whole bike would shake. I understand this is on purpose since it would be easy to eliminate with some internal balancing. I didn't like it at all.

 

Also, if you cruised at 2200 to 2800 RPM there was an irritating vibration. This was where you would be in 6th gear until about 75 MPH. Therefore, 6th gear was pretty useless unless on high speed slab. Road in 5th most the time. To be fair, the guy at the dealer advised to not use 6th until about 70 or so. As mentioned earlier, they know their products.

 

When I got back on the Venture after dropping off the RGU, I couldn't tell if it was running at idle (had the Packer game on the headset). This is the smoothness I prefer at idle.

 

Winner - HD for power, HD for mpg, Venture for smoothness.

 

Wind Protection

 

The cockpit on the RGU was very calm. No helmet buffeting, very little wind from under the fairing. Blocked wind from the hands very well.

 

Winner - HD, although a taller windshield on the Venture would help.

 

Storage

 

The RGU has a cavernous trunk. However, the saddle bags are very thin. There are several cubby holes in the fairing that are nice to store small items.

 

Winner - Venture due to wider saddle bags. Although a tank bag is needed for the small item storage (I always use one).

 

Handling

 

I was VERY impressed with the handling of the RGU. It has large diameter front forks that provide a confident feel of the front wheel. Since the fairing is frame mounted, the turning effort was minimal. Frame was solid and did not seem to flex. The RGU is very confidence inspiring in the turns. It would be really fun to take this to some tighter curves (think Smokey Mountain) and really see what it could do. Don't think it would be difficult to scrape the floor boards.

 

It has a low center of gravity and low speed handling was effortless.

 

Winner - HD

 

Comfort

 

This isn't really a fair comparison since I have modified my Venture to fit me.

 

Stock seat on the RGU was painful. But so is the Venture stock seat. I could really have used a back rest too.

 

I found the RGU to be very thin and the floor boards seemed to be tucked under the frame. It was somewhat difficult to reach the upshifter on the heal/toe since it was tucked in so far. As an interesing feature on the RGU, the toe and heal sections of the shifter are independently adjustable.

 

Winner - Venture although it wasn't really a fair comparison.

 

Overall Impression

 

I was very impressed with the Road Glide Ultra. Good looking machine with solid power and a nice sound. Loved the handling and the ABS braking worked well. Didn't have a chance to take my wife for a ride to test the passenger comfort, but it looked to be fine.

 

I just couldn't get past the vibrations. It drove me nuts when I was in town/stop-n-go traffic. The vibs at higher speeds was irritating although it could be eliminated by running a lower gear.

 

Overall Winner for my kind of riding - Venture. The Venture is smoother, better ergonomically (although aftermarket solutions are available for the RGU shortcomings), and has shaft drive vs. a belt. However, the feature on the Venture that really puts it over the top is one of my favorites - IT'S PAID FOR.

 

A great weekend to ride a great bike. Just isn't really my cup of tea for long distance riding. If most of my riding were short 100-200 mile hops, it would fit the bill very nicely.

 

RR

[twigg]

Nice review.

 

Glad you got to do it so I don't have to ... sounded fun though

 

You know what kind of riding I do, so I guess I am another rider who won't choose HD.

 

Looks decent enough for those who do though.

[etcswjoe]

Good review, I agree with your evaluation I will add that my wife was not comfortable on the back but in all fairness we are rather large individuals.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Nice write-up.

 

A couple of comments from, me, a past owner and rider of HDs.

 

The stock seat tends to wear out in less than 10,000 miles or so, thats why the aftermarket is there. You can get a seat that will fit and last but it will cost you a few hundred.

 

The vibration at speed could be a couple of things. Possibly the motormounts need to be broken in a bit, or maybe a tire was out of balance. Normally the FL's are pretty smooth at hiway speeds. To be fair, I have not ridden a newer bike with a 103 motor, except for the Tri-Glide.

 

I notice you did not report much on the sound system or cruise control or brakes.

 

The new bikes have some good tuneage, and the cruise control actually works well. The newer brakes have a nice feel, and are really easy to modulate, in my experience.

 

Of course, most owners end up paying the 'Harley Tax', which means an upgrade to the ECM mapping, the air intake, and the exhaust system. This helps the motor run cooler, develop more power, and sound more like a Harley than a stock sewing machine.

 

I enjoyed most of my time on the machines, but got a bit disenfranchised with the bikes because of longevity problems. But for short hops, they are the best at what they do.

 

Weekend toy: Great.

Long term transportation: Not so much.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RedRider]

Brian,

 

Good point on the missed features.

 

I didn't comment on the stereo because it was run thru my built in helmet speakers. It sounds the same as the Venture since it is the same. Very nice controls on the handlebars to operate though.

 

The cruise control was flawless. You set it and it sticks right there. Wish there was a cancel button as I don't like hitting the brake to turn it off if someone was behind me.

 

I did make a passing comment about the ABS brakes being very good. Mind you, I didn't really put them to the test as I rode fairly conservatively (as always). The brakes were smooth and brought down the speed well.

 

One thing I didn't mention was that this was a rental with about 8200 miles on it (when picked up - 9200 when dropped off).

 

The vibration at speed was from the engine. If I changed to 5th gear and got the RPMs above 3000, it smoothed out. Then I would slow down to 50 mph and the vibration would come back because it was at 2500 RPM in 5th. Drop to 4th and it went away. Definitely followed the engine RPMs and not speed.

 

However, I didn't really point out that - aside from the engine vibes - this bike rode very smoothly. I would judge it to be a smoother ride than the Venture.

 

And I will never understand why anyone would want to make one of these louder. Different strokes......

 

RR

[bj66]

as far as the aftermarket accessories to help make your ride better. I own a RG Custom, not the Ultra. 2 things stuck out immediately in your review. 1 is the neck pinch from the stock bars, and 2 is the position of the footboards. I've done 2 mods for this. 1st is the HD "Heritage bars". They give you 2 inches more height, and 2 inches more pullback for a price of 80 bucks. The other was some floorboard extensions. They moved the boards out an inch or so, makes a big difference for about 35 bucks. Its too bad you didnt have some highway pegs to stretch out on. I'd say your review is pretty good, the only other thing I would say is about the saddlebags, Yamahas may be wider, but the latch mechanism on the Yamaha gets in the way sometimes. The HD's is much nicer to load, although you better be sure its latched properly. I've had mine come open a few times, so I now lock it shut to prevent it from happening. My bike does not have the vibration at the higher speeds like yours did though. But I damn sure have that faint vibration at idle........

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Brian,

 

Good point on the missed features.

 

I didn't comment on the stereo because it was run thru my built in helmet speakers. It sounds the same as the Venture since it is the same. Very nice controls on the handlebars to operate though.

 

The cruise control was flawless. You set it and it sticks right there. Wish there was a cancel button as I don't like hitting the brake to turn it off if someone was behind me.

 

Yeah, the helmet thing. I forget.

 

Ok, the stock SPEAKERS sound pretty good..even at hiway speeds. And I believe you can roll the throttle grip back to the stop on the drive-by-wire bikes, to cancel the cruise setting. On mine, I always just blipped the brake lever with my right hand, not enough to apply brakes, but just enough to disengage the cruise.

[SilvrT]

I really enjoyed your eval/writeup ... thanks for doing that.

 

I try to go to every Harley demo days (usually 2 a year) just for fun and generally ride the RG Ultra and/or the EG Ultra and for the past couple years they've been the 103 engine.

 

What I've noticed regarding the vibration is the EG always seemed smoother than the RG, even at idle. No idea why ... just my observation.

 

My fav of the 2 is the EG simply because that RG fairing feels like it is a mile in front.

 

I also agree about the handle bars ... those would be the first thing I'd change out. Come to think of it, bar risers were the first thing I put on my RSMV and my Wing.

[Jactana]

Brian,

 

Good point on the missed features.

 

I didn't comment on the stereo because it was run thru my built in helmet speakers. It sounds the same as the Venture since it is the same. Very nice controls on the handlebars to operate though.

 

The cruise control was flawless. You set it and it sticks right there. Wish there was a cancel button as I don't like hitting the brake to turn it off if someone was behind me.

 

I did make a passing comment about the ABS brakes being very good. Mind you, I didn't really put them to the test as I rode fairly conservatively (as always). The brakes were smooth and brought down the speed well.

 

One thing I didn't mention was that this was a rental with about 8200 miles on it (when picked up - 9200 when dropped off).

 

The vibration at speed was from the engine. If I changed to 5th gear and got the RPMs above 3000, it smoothed out. Then I would slow down to 50 mph and the vibration would come back because it was at 2500 RPM in 5th. Drop to 4th and it went away. Definitely followed the engine RPMs and not speed.

 

However, I didn't really point out that - aside from the engine vibes - this bike rode very smoothly. I would judge it to be a smoother ride than the Venture.

 

And I will never understand why anyone would want to make one of these louder. Different strokes......

 

RR

Great write, very objective. I've ridden a few at demo days, and my experience mirrors your comments. Thanks man! Cheers, Ron:)

[bj66]

You are correct with the vibration at high speed low RPM's though. Thinking back on it, my salesman told me to keep the RPM's at 3000 or so in 6th gear (about 75 mph). He called it a good interstate gear. He said if you drop below that in 6th you'll notice that it seems to chug or lug a bit. That must've been what you felt.

[BuddyRich]

So the newer HD's are using a 5 pin din for the helmet connections ?

[RedRider]

So the newer HD's are using a 5 pin din for the helmet connections ?

 

Apparently so. Mine slid right in and worked. Didn't try the CB to test the mic though.

 

RR

[eazyduzzit]

Being a Harley rider, I have to share my experience. First, the cruise does have a cancel. It's not labeled but you twist the throttle backwards and it turns off the cruise. Second is the seat. My seat is stock. I've put about 20K on the bike in the two years I've owned it, and it's the most comfortable seat I've ridden on. Third, I don't understand why Harley makes these things shake at idle, but anything above idle and it's much smoother than the RSTD I had before I got this bike. My wife is also more comfortable on the Ultra than on the Star, but I'm sure the Venture seat would have been better than the Tour Deluxe.

I know 2 identical bikes can ride and feel very different. My RSTD developed a buzzy vibration you could feel in the handlebars, and I couldn't get rid of it. I tried multiple carb syncs and tightening bolts, new tires, weighting the ends of the bars (like the stock bars). When I test rode the Ultra, it was like a Cadillac. And last, I had the reach problem on both bikes. I put the longer Flanders bars on the Royal Star, and Harley has a touring pullback bar that I spent last weekend putting on this bike.

 

To sum up, I don't think anyone makes a perfect bike. If they did, everybody would be riding

it. I don't have an tattoos, or wear a doo-rag, and Karen and I usually ride by ourselves instead of in a pack, and i don't like the attitude that a lot of Harley riders have, but I really

like the bike.

[PBJ]

What a great review. The road glide has quickly become a Harley i would love to own. That and the V-rod. In fact the bike bike I have seen but Harley unfortunately doesn't make is a V-Rod with the Road glides frame mounted fairing and bags adapted to it. Why Harley does Not make this bike Is a mystery to me????

 

Anyway Loved the thread if i was a rich man( retired now) I would seriously consider it. But still lovin my new to me 87. But if i could....... thanks again for a great review!

[rickardracing]

Nice scoot. Very nice write up! I looked at a Ultra Classic at Smoky Mountain Harley in Pigeon Forge 2 weeks ago. It was a Smoky Mountain Limited put out by that dealer. BEAUTIFUL!!!! I came REALLY close to pulling the pin and trading in my Venture. Glad I did'nt. Payment would have killed me! But between the Road Glide and the Ultra Classic, I like the layout of the dash on the Ultra Classic better. Plus, I love my bike too much to part with it!

[PGunn]

Now for what the dealer left out....

I found this article the other day when someone wanted to know why I would not buy a Harley. Well instead of going through all the rehashed stuff which is the normal way of going about it I thought I would see just what others had to say.

Now before you start please read the article this guy loves Harleys but points out stuff that I feel should not be an issue but really are.....

 

 

BEFORE YOU BUY A HARLEY-DAVIDSON MOTORCYCLE - YOU NEED TO READ THIS ARTICLE

http://www.jamesrussellpublishing.biz/beforeyoubuyharley.html

[twigg]

Being a Harley rider, I have to share my experience. First, the cruise does have a cancel. It's not labeled but you twist the throttle backwards and it turns off the cruise. Second is the seat. My seat is stock. I've put about 20K on the bike in the two years I've owned it, and it's the most comfortable seat I've ridden on. Third, I don't understand why Harley makes these things shake at idle, but anything above idle and it's much smoother than the RSTD I had before I got this bike. My wife is also more comfortable on the Ultra than on the Star, but I'm sure the Venture seat would have been better than the Tour Deluxe.

I know 2 identical bikes can ride and feel very different. My RSTD developed a buzzy vibration you could feel in the handlebars, and I couldn't get rid of it. I tried multiple carb syncs and tightening bolts, new tires, weighting the ends of the bars (like the stock bars). When I test rode the Ultra, it was like a Cadillac. And last, I had the reach problem on both bikes. I put the longer Flanders bars on the Royal Star, and Harley has a touring pullback bar that I spent last weekend putting on this bike.

 

To sum up, I don't think anyone makes a perfect bike. If they did, everybody would be riding

it. I don't have an tattoos, or wear a doo-rag, and Karen and I usually ride by ourselves instead of in a pack, and i don't like the attitude that a lot of Harley riders have, but I really

like the bike.

 

You answered your own question .... This is why HD do not take the perfectly reasonable steps needed to cure the low rev shakes.

 

They are part of the package.