Harley's for touring

savingclassicmotorcycles

savingclassicmotorcycles

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Feb 6, 2011
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Hey everyone,

Just curious has anyone had any of the following

road king
electra glide ultra
wide glide

around a 2003 or earlier carby twin cam

anything you regret or prefer between the models considering getting one at a later date. Had an Iron 883 but had to sell it when I got made redundant so only got to half run that in.

Thanks in advance
 
I have an ultra classic electra glide 2018. Love it! They are now liquid cooled, handle quite well and have incredible torque. Its got navigation and is high tech. I have a screaming eagle stage 1. Its good for long trips, really comfortable at 90 mph+. I ride 600 miles a day no problem. Its seriously heavy to manoever around in the garage, but great on the open road. A true touring bike. I have never ridden a Harley before this... Quite impressed overall.
 
Those sportys are good.... Don't have much use for the beasts you're asking about though. Make thunder & don't move as I like.

Jerry I've a buddy that just had one of the liquid jobs toast itself. Under warranty though, but he gave it back towards a different model. CRS on which one. HD idea of liquid cooling is somewhat different from conventional concepts. Hope you are more fortunate. His was a smooth caddy though with good looks.
 
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I own a 13 Ultra Limited. It is without a doubt a wonderful touring bike. At 70 or 80 mph it is turning something like 2500 rpm. Very relaxed on the interstate. It also handles far better than I expected it to.
 
cheers guys just the sort of info im looking for :) yeah never really got to experience the sporty running in wasn't a good judge was a bit on the cramped side for me I think. 6'3 an 14 stone.
 
The main thing you gotta check out is the weight of the things. If you have a tight manoeuvre requirement in the garage / shed it can be a real issue.

Street Bob is, I think, the lightest and also generally the cheapest of the big twins.

If you’re 6’3 I’d forget about Sportsters.

Not sure what year you’re looking at, but those 103 engines are fun. And the new 107 even more so!

I rode a brand new Road King 3,000 miles in 2 weeks having never ridden one before, I loved it and didn’t even get the mildest sore arse.

For their intended purposes, they’re great.
 
Well I looked at some pix of them and they are HUGE. In the midwest part of USA I guess they
are fine but here, how on earth would I navigate most of the roads?
Horses for courses I suppose.
 
I had a 1200 gsa te at one point which I did a bunch or miles on till it went through three engines an a couple of final drives in quick succession thanks to a dealer do ended up getting ride. so size an weight of the bike isnt really much of an issue was the height that used to drive me nuts on the gsa on off camber roads even with my long legs.

Budgets gonna restrict me to 2003 latest or an evo engined one. All seem to be around the same sort of money between the three different models I'm interested in an yeah the sportster I had wrecked my back on a few short rides was just two cramped I think.

I'd say currently the ultra an the road king are leading the way from a practicality point of view love the look of the wideglides though.
 
If you like the nimbleness of your English bikes the older iron sportys are about as close as an HD can come, which is why I've not much interest in the new larger varieties. Besides I've been through the gutty works of the sportsters & find them an enjoyable overhaul.
For hauls I've still got the old GL1000 which gave me 860 mi per day years ago. I'm still eyeballing and old XLH about 12mi away that ain't going anywhere and may move on it soon. It'll go as far as I can in a day.
Come this direction and I can set you up with my BIL's 2012 Wing for maybe under 10k. Cherry & low mi. Hah hah.
 
I had a year 2000 Road King (carb), about ten years ago. Only owned it for about a year, it was a great touring bike, except for the weight ! I learned to always back it into a kerb :). Never had any problems (it had only done @8000 miles) PITA changing rear tyre as you need to buy a side lift type bench to lift the bike. I liked it well enough, but it just wasn't a Norton or Triumph etc.
sam
 
If you want to travel don't go for wide glide, while early carb twin cams could be an interesting option for future value, great engine and sound. Even if have also carb evo, i prefer electronic injected, smoother and better for travelling, in my opinion.. touring series have better suspensions and charging system
 
I bought a new 2001 Road King in September of 2000. I picked it up on the first day that HD would allow their dealers to sell the new models. I put on just over 100,000 trouble free miles. The only failure that I had was a neutral light indicator switch. $15.00 and I changed it in the dealers parking lot. I was very meticulous with my maintenance. I sold it in 2016 when I purchased a new Road King. Best most trouble free motorcycle that I have ever owned. It still ran very well when I sold it. It was a carb model with a set of Screaming Eagle slip on silencers. Stock 88" bore. S&S air cleaner assembly. Everything else stock. I took that bike all over the USA. About half the time two up. Once you get used to it you'll be surprised at how well you can hustle one down the road.
 
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In 2018 I picked up a brand new (just had its PDI) 107ci Roadking and rode 3,000 miles on it. No sore arse or aches anywhere. No issues with the bike whatsoever.

Well ok, just one issue, I lost my balance and laid it down on its crash bars and hadn’t learnt the ‘trick’ for uprighting one. Lifting it took two of us. Even then we struggled!

I was very surprised with it abilities, especially it’s performance, and long and braking. Nothing like the folklore suggests.
 
I have a friend with an '07 Wide Glide that has over 60K miles on the clock. He had the cam bearings replaced at 40K as a precaution. No issues other than that. I personally hate forward controls and long front ends (not to mention tiny rear suspension travel) but that bike has been dead-reliable and leak-free since new. And the forward controls are all beveled to points from touchdowns in the twisties. He just bought a Heritage Softtail which I'm sure is a better distance bike, but ground clearance is minimal.
 
I have a 96 Dyna Wide Glide and agree with Danno, never had a problem and I went from southern Germany to Scotland in 2003, the year of the big heat. She used oil but that was normal.
 
I don't think there's been an HD made which hasn't been comfortable or more than reasonably reliable in almost 100yrs. I just happen to find the old ones, old sporty's in particular fascinating and the most fun because of the nimbleness.
The touring models I've looked over have everything on offer that the wings have and the styling and craftmanship look to be on a par.
 
I love the Road Kings ! and most of the others in Harley’s line up .... I have read lots , but still 800lbs scares me and my old body ... took a Ride years ago on my buddy’s anniversary edition sportster 1000 , wasn’t the greatest handling bike but it really was cool !
 
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