(from an earlier post I made)
Quote:
I had a test ride on one of these yesterday. I had a Shovel many years ago and fancied another Harley. For me it was a choice between a Road King and the FXDF, different bikes I know but the overall look of the Fat Bob made this the bike I thought I'd really like to own. I had the bike for about 4 hrs and rode it about 70 - 80 miles, motorway and B roads. The weather here was terrible and the wind kept pushing my feet off the forwards.
I really liked the bike, especially the looks, handling and mainly the motor. The bike had the full stage 1 so I cant say what it would be like standard. What I didn't like was the finish. The plastic tank badges seemed a bit cheapo for this sort of money, and you could see the rubber stickers peeling off the tank badges and the stick on oil tank trim. Many of the fittings were showing signs of slight corrosion as were the discs, probably due to the bike being used on salty roads. Minor but unexpected with only 300 miles on it. I guess a better cleaning and maintenance regeime with some ACF or similar would keep this at bay.
The seat was great solo but I'd really need to change to a Sundowner or similar to keep the missus happy on long journeys. The riding position was fine for me at 6' 2". Parts are obviously limited for such a new model, although at least one rack and sissy bar are available. For me I'd need these plus bags and a screen for any sort of functional distance / touring use. I'm not sure you can get a screen yet, I haven't seen any.
The handling was pretty good considering I'd just jumped from an R1200GS BMW. I could hustle the bike fast enough through the corners to hold plenty of speed, even in the wet skanky road conditions. The ground clearance seemed fine. The brakes are pretty good for such a heavy bike and seem up to the job even braking from speed, no problems here. I actually didn't find the vibes that bad, the mirrors were clear at all speeds, better than the BM at some speeds, but then the BM does vibe a little bit anyway.
The wind blast was something I've not experienced for a few years of riding bikes with fairings. It was more than I'd expected as I'd thought sitting in the bike would have made it less noticeable. More than sixty mile per hour was too much with the strong winds yesterday, which was to be expected I guess. With the wind behind me the bike was fine at 80 mph plus and the sixth gear made this a realistic cruising speed.
I liked the bike and I guess I was hoping it might perform both as tourer and cruiser. I guess it could with a few mods but I ended up hankering after the Road King, mainly due to the extra passenger comfort, screen and bags as standard plus I can fling my tent and camping gear on it easily.
If I only used the bike solo and was going to stick to UK use I'm sure it would be a great bike to own long term. I still think it's one of the best looking and most UK orientated Harleys straight out the box.
Anyway, it brought me back to wanting another Harley  |
I ended up testing another 3 bikes, all RK's and eventually bought one of them. I felt that the RK was the swiss army knife of Harleys, is better built and finished, better value than the FXDF and would do everything you asked of it, plus it's more classy imho and looks better with ma pipe and slippers ;)
