Harley long test ride....300 miles

[rickardracing]

Well, my wife and I had plans to go to the Upper Penninsula Wednesday through Saturday. We were going to ride up to Grayling, me on my 07 RSV and my wife on her 07 Shadow Spirit. Well with watching the weather we changed our plans. Thursday was the only day that was to be nice. So we decided to drive up in the cage and just hang out in Grayling with her parents. I changed those plans again. On the way up on Wednesday I figured why not salvage Thursday and ride the lower. So I called 45th Parallel Harley in Gaylord and reserved a bike for Thursday. Picked it up in the morning. 2015 Harley Electra Ultra Classic, 103 c.i. Low version. We headed out with my wife and I on the Harley and her mom and dad on his ancient Goldwing with the Voyager trike conversion. Well, this is the second time I have rented a Harley. Last year was a Tri-Glide out in South Dakota. Thoroughly enjoyed it. This time, two wheels for the day. I know Harley gets a lot of flack. Hell, even I slam on them, but I gotta tell ya........they are very beautiful machines. Well, it was pretty hot out, we rode that sucker all day. I put just over 300 miles on it in one day. Did it get hot and roast my nuts? No, it was warmer at times than my Venture, but nothing to complain about. Liked the handling, but the Low version was just a bit too small. Not enough leg room. The power of the 103.....very nice. Controls for the radio and GPS, not bad. Handling with the low was very good. Even got to test it in a torrential down pour. Held the road very well. We got soaked, no rain suits!! But we had a great time even with the storm. Now to find an Indian dealer that rents out bikes....I want a Roadmaster to ride for a day or so. Renting a bike for a day and taking it for a few hundred mile ride is a great way to see if your going to like that particular machine. And quite honestly, I do see a Harley in my future. Not sure when, but when I do decide to buy another bike, Harley will be at the top of my list.

[cowpuc]

A really good friend and neighbor of mine is a short inseamed feller.. He just traded in his 2012 Ultra Limited on a 2016 Ultra Low like you are describing Randy.. Having spent a ton of time riding his Limited, I climbed on his Low an INSTANTLY realized why he LOVES this new one - I (being much taller) was cramped right up but he can flat foot it at the stops and handle it beautifully!! REALLY REALLY SHARP SCOOT!! Got to hand to The Motor Company - they REALLY try to make something for everyone!!

Personally,, I LOVE those great big beautiful Harley's, I also happen to think that Harley has somethings going for them that no other breed of scoot can come close to = LOTS OF DEALERSHIPS - TONS OF AFTERMARKET GO FAST(gearheads dream come true)/BE COMFORTABLE/LOOK AWESOME PARTS and paint jobs that are just AMAZING!! If I were not such an abuser of my touring machines (taking them into the willie weeds and dropping them, leaving them to fend for themselves in unguarded circumstances, putting stickers all over em) and tight with my dollars I would buy and ride the wheels off a scoot like the one my neighbor traded in - THAT was one amazing motorcycle!!

[bj66]

Glad you had a good experience. I love mine, I just wish I had more time to ride. And Puc is right with the aftermarket stuff. I just sold my touring seat to a neighbor and bought a seat to help with my tailbone issues. There is always somebody looking to buy accessories if they don't quite work out the way you want, and if you can think of something that will help out your bike, it has already been made.

[Yammer Dan]

I still cain't pass the Hardley shop without stopping to Drool a while.. Like to have my Pan back. Still the best looking best sounding thing on the road. Now if they would just run with my Yamaha!!:backinmyday:

[rickardracing]

Glad you had a good experience. I love mine, I just wish I had more time to ride. And Puc is right with the aftermarket stuff. I just sold my touring seat to a neighbor and bought a seat to help with my tailbone issues. There is always somebody looking to buy accessories if they don't quite work out the way you want, and if you can think of something that will help out your bike, it has already been made.

 

Yeah, I liked it a lot. My wife said she was not as comfy on it as she is on my 07 RSV, but a new pillow top seat, arm rests and larger passenger floor boards and she would be fine. Definitely an endless supply of goodies to personalize the scoot to make it your own, more that what was ever offered for the RSV. I was not to kean on the display at first , but it grew on me and I actually really like it. So I put some miles on a Tri-Glide I rented from Black Hills last year, put over 300 on the Low Thursday. Now I want to rent a regular Ultra for a day and an Indian Roadmaster also. Really put some miles on them so I know what I want. I do see a Harley in my future.

[rickardracing]

I still cain't pass the Hardley shop without stopping to Drool a while.. Like to have my Pan back. Still the best looking best sounding thing on the road. Now if they would just run with my Yamaha!!:backinmyday:

 

 

I know......ain't they pretty? I really love the sound and the torque of the 103. It was reaaaaal nice.

[cowpuc]

I still cain't pass the Hardley shop without stopping to Drool a while.. Like to have my Pan back. Still the best looking best sounding thing on the road. Now if they would just run with my Yamaha!!:backinmyday:

 

Right there with ya brother BUT - I gotta tell ya.. The 2012 Ultra that my neighbor traded in (gorgeous scoot) for his 2016 Ultra Low was the 103 inch NON cooled heads - use to really bug em when Tweeks, fully packed, Tip n I riding 2 up would put a whoopin on him with him riding 1 up and empty bags... This new water head High Output 103 is wayyy closer under the same scenario (closer the key word )!! He did have them take the stock pipes off the new one and put the gutted headers and Vance n Hines pipes off the 2012 he traded in onto his new one so they may have helped BUT - I think there really is something to the HO 103 story..

Another interesting point, neighbor on the other side is the one with the Blue 2010 Ultra Limited - also a 103 - that I had the privilage to assist in a build on.. Screaming Eagle Race Tuner, cams, heads reworked, tiny raise in compression ratio, catatylist delete and slip ons, Air Box so it could breath, day on the dyno and WOWZY does that thing run!! The straightest curved - most instant 104 Ft-Pounds and 106 HP I ever did see!! Took some tuning (the Screaming Eagle Race Tuner has - get this - 200 rpm parameters - UNREAL) to get it right but WOW did it come out nice!! He and I were harrassing our local HD dyno guy (who's Dad own's the Dealership) about why on earth Harley dont make em run like they should right from the get go .. By the way DanL - Larry, the guy that owns the Ultra I am talking about, is also the one who has the new V-Rod Muscle that Crud (my tired ol V-Max) and I were always :stickpoke: with.. Crud would put a good stomping on a stock V-Rod.. Larry has, thru adding a tuner - Predator Pipe added 14 horse to his V-Rod which made the challenge almost interesting ,,, we still go round and round about that one,,,,,,, :scratchchin:I get feeling better I am gonna pick up another V-Max :crackup:

[Freebird]

I have posted my insights on the Harley here before but since you are seriously looking, I'll offer a couple of personal observations after riding mine for about 3 years before selling it.

 

There were many things that I liked about the Road Glide. For anybody who doesn't know, the Road Glide and the Ultra Classic are exactly the same bike from the fairing back. The Road Glide has a fixed, frame mounted, fairing and the Ultra has the handlebar mounted batwing fairing. Otherwise, the are the same bike in regards to frame, suspension, etc. It is simply a matter of which fairing style suits you the best.

 

I would be lying if I didn't admit that I still have occasional remorse about selling the Harley. It is an internal debate that I constantly have with myself. There were things that I loved about the Harley and things that I didn't like.

 

I loved the sound. I loved that low RPM torque. You just don't have to shift as much on the Harley as you do with the Venture. You can slow down and roll through a reduced speed zone and that big V Twin just makes so much torque that you can just leave it in a higher gear and rumble right along. The stereo is far superior to the RSV stereo. The larger speakers make all the difference in the world. I think that the new ones are even better than my '13 was. Accessories are abundant. Where Yamaha started discontinuing accessories even while the bike was still being produced, you can buy anything imaginable for the Harley. Even more for the Ultra Classic than for the Road Glide. I don't think there is any bike made that has more aftermarket support than the Harley. The Goldwing may be close but I think there is even more for the Harley. The Harley is not as top heavy as the RSV and in my opinion, was at LEAST as comfortable. My wife thought that it was more comfortable than the RSV but I had the Corbin seat on the RSV and while I loved it, she never liked it as much as the stock seat. It is a little tighter between the seats that the RSV was but a sliding tour pack base from KuryAkyn solved that issue very easily.

 

What I didn't like about the Harley. While it doesn't have the gear whine noise of the Yamaha, it does have its own noises. My primary irritation with it was lifter noise. If you do some research, you will see that I'm not the only one who was bothered by it. The solution is new aftermarket adjustable rods. There are several on the market but if you aren't able to do it yourself, you will spend a few hundred dollars for the upgrade. Another thing that some will say is good but is more work is that an oil change is more complicated and takes some time. A Harley dealer will charge somewhere around $300.00 for an oil change. No way am I paying that and I've always done my own oil changes but it is more time consuming. You have three different reservoirs. Engine oil, transmission oil and primary oil. Now if you think that the "which oil" question is crazy here, try to get a consensus on this from the Harley riders. Harley recommends their synthetic oil for all three holes but you won't find many riders who will agree with that and I didn't either. I used Mobil one for all three holes but not the same weight in all three holes. There are also other things to do along with the oil change. Clutch load, clutch cable adjustment, etc. Figure at least a couple of hours to do an oil change.

 

You say that the heat didn't bother you and that's good. Some people are more sensitive to the heat than others. I have heard people complain about the heat on the Venture but I never even thought about it. I have owned a lot of different bikes and have never been bothered by the heat so I never considered myself overly sensitive to it. I absolutely noticed it on the Harley though. I could deal with it but I felt it. My wife though was very bothered by it. On longer trips on hot days, her feet actually felt like they were getting burned. She was constantly trying to reposition herself to get them out of the heat but there was just not way to do it. They would actually be red at times. I did everything that I could find recommended to reduce the heat. Removed the catalytic convertor, free flowing exhaust and air cleaner, tuning, etc. It was still just too hot. There were two trips where I won't say it became unbearable but pretty darn close. One was when we were coming home for the rally in Galena and got caught in Chicago traffic. I was actually lifting myself off the seat because my thighs were burning so bad. The other was when we rode down to Hilton Head. By the time we got there, it was about 100 degrees and over 90% humidity. Eileen and I were both suffering from the heat. Not terrible on the Interstate but when we were in slower traffic areas, it was brutal. The last thing I'll mention is the intercom. I always wished that the RSV had voice actuated intercom. I quickly realized that I did not like it on the Harley. I never found a sweet spot in the settings. It was either turned on and offer by wind or set to where you had to speak pretty loudly to active it. Then once you started talking, you had to keep talking until you were finished to keep it activated. If you paused, part of the conversation would be missed. I now prefer the RSV intercom with MicMutes. Much better in my opinion.

 

The last thing I'll say is this. I wasn't worried about it because we don't ride as many miles as we used to. If we did the trips that we used to do though, it would have been a concern. There is simply no way that the Harley engine is going to last as many miles as the RSV engine without major work. I've seen some out there with close to 100,000 miles with no major repairs but it's very common to see bikes with 50,000 miles that have already been overhauled. I have always suspected that part of the issue is with people making mods to increase the performance and just pushing them past the point of remaining reliable but I don't know that for sure. The fact is though, you will not see a Harley with the 150,000 - 200,000 miles on them like you will with the Venture that haven't had one or more complete rebuilds. The old roller bearings and etc. in the lower ends just aren't going to make it that far.

 

These are just my opinions. Others may very well differ. I'm not trying to talk you out of a Harley. I loved mine and in spite of these things, I have no regrets about buying it and some remotes about selling it. If it makes you smile, then you should do it. Whether you learn to love it or end up deciding that it is not the best choice, I think you will enjoy your time with it. They are beautiful bikes with an iconic sound and feel.

 

I won't get into my opinion on the Indians other than to say that I won't be buying one anytime soon. I've never owned one or ridden one and anything I say would just be from the research that I have done on them when I was thinking about trying one. I can only say that if I were in the market for another big V Twin right now, it would probably be another Harley.