Good advice. But I'd at least say up front, "I;m going to trade for bike I want."

 

Ride the Street Glide.

 

My dealer had a fairing that they ordered for a customer's Heritage. It looked like it was from the factory. It had a nice stereo and speakers - but it was pricey. I believeit was $1600 in black. Painted to match the bike was going to beeven moreexpensive.

The one thing that gets me excited about the touring bikes is the true cruise control. Why don't they offer it on the Softails? There is an after market company that offers a kit to adapt the HD curise parts to a Softail but it ends up costing around $900 and adds a pretty ugly metal box to the side of the bike.

 

Decisions like that make you feel like a guard dog at a fire hydrant factory!I have an Ultra, the wife has a Deluxe.. so I have a good feel for both. Right now, I have a hard on for a Road King that I can costimize (new word there)! I love the Ultra for 2 up riding, and general cruising. 90% of the time, I wouldn't trade it for anything. BUT.. there are those times I would like a little more wind, and a little lighter bike to throw around. That's when I take her Deluxe out for a while.. but I prefer the ride of a touring bike. I rented a Street Glide for 4 days, and really liked the way it rode and handled.

Good luck with your decision. If you keep the Deluxe, and decide to do the 95"... call Head Quarters and look at their 98". It will give you more power for the same money. Do NOT get a HD "kit".. you WILL be disappointed. I did a 95" before I heard about HQ. I'm getting 99.6 torque and 96 HP... but it's not out of the HD"kit".

 

I just got my Fat Boy in March and already want to up grade it to a touring bike!! I have put over 4000 on my Fatty in less than 3 months.

 

It's a tough decision, but ride some and see what you think. Then it's sitting down and having a discussion about what you both need as riders--especially if your kids are expressing an interest. My wife and I don't take turns--it's all about what's the biggest need. Dunno if that helps or not. The problem is, you'll have all that money for upgrades into your bike and you know you'll never see a return on it whether you sell it or trade it in. You might want to look at what you're going to pay for upgrades and how much that money can be put towards owning a bike that already has all that.
Once those 08 models come out, you should be able to get a pretty good deal on an 07. But ride the other model, because it will definitely ride differently.

 

I've been going through the same process you are for about a year now (I even made an offer on one bike, but am now glad the owner didnt' take it). What I keep coming back to is, looking at it honestly, my current ride is about 90% of what I want a bike to be. So, if I'm going to be spending $7-10k over what I can get out of my bike to get a new touring bike (this doesn't include what I'm losing on my current bike. The bottom line to me is, is that 10% difference worth that amount of money, especially since, in all likelihood, I'll end up with a different 10% or so shortcoming in the new bike? So far, it hasn't made sense to me. I'll be looking at the '08s, and continue to look at other bikes as well, but until I ride something that just screams 'buy me!', I'll just keep the ride I have.

As to your hubby wanting a Goldwing, we all ride what we want to ride. If your riding friends would dis him or you because of his choice of ride, you're riding with the wrong people.

 

I don't understand why you feel the need to upgrade the engine on your Deluxe but do youreally think an 07 Street Glide is going to be any faster than your stock Deluxe? I wouldn't do the engine upgrade. At 3000 dollars to make your bike less reliable. If you want to go faster there are plenty of bikes that will run circles around a Harley.

I think the Deluxe's seat is really comfortable. I don't know why people want to change it out. Ride a sport bike and you will appreciate the seat.

All that money you spent fixing up your Deluxe and now you want to sell it? I guess the Husband assumes once you buy the new bike you will spend a ton of money fixing that one the way you want it as well.

 

My wife rode a Heritage for 4 years and tried everything to get what she wanted out of it. She had a I-pod for tunes, a tour pac and more.

When she finally got the Street Glide, she has not looked back. She has better handling, more comfort, less wind, tunes,and the Street Glide doesn't scape the pavement on every sharp turn like the Heritage did.

No matter what you do to the Softail it would be hard toget out of it what you would have with the Street Glide.

Bill

 

There is a third option for sound. You can put inexpensive speakers in your helmet. I have them in mine and they work great. You still hear everything else and the music.