Originally Posted by rauchman

Can't speak to the old one. However, on the Sport Glide, I think many, including myself, were wanting a fixed fairing Softail. Kind of a Softail Road Glide. Something lighter than a touring bike, with great wind/weather protection, possibly a stereo in the fairing, with good bags (preferably top loading, and not the vinyl wrapped cardboard crappy bags with the locking mechanism protrusion of the new Heritage), higher seat, dual disk brakes, 32+ degrees of lean angle and mid mount pegs or floorboards. A true touring Softail if you will.

Not that the Sport Glide is a bad bike, but it missed the mark on this. Sport Glide is closer to a Softail version of the Dyna Switchback with a mini batwing fairing and forward foot controls. I ride a Switchback and prefer it's floorboards to the Sport Glide's forward controls, and the Switchback bags are top loading.

What gets me is if you put pieces of all the existing Softail models together, HD would have a great bike. Instead, all them miss the mark for me one way or another. What is with the sub 4 gallon tanks on some models? I'd seriously consider a "tourized" Fat Bob, but the 3.6 gallon tank kills any desire for this bike for me. Why is lean angle compromised more so on some models? In reality, it seems like HD moved floorboards and foot pegs further out instead of a slightly higher frame to allow more lean angle....really?...on a brand new frame? Why don't all the Softails have the Heritage / Fat Bob rear shock with 4.5" of travel? As mentioned, I was very impressed with the Heritage suspension. Why not have that on all the bikes?

I've been giving thought to a new bike lately. I've always been a fan of the Road King, but it has inferior suspension to the Indian's and it's 100lbs heavier than my bike. Nothing else in the HD lineup remotely interests me (aside from the Pan American, which doesn't exist yet). $20k is a hard pill to swallow knowing that there are choices out there that do "it" better. I also keep hearing rumors of a mono shock touring frame. I'd kick myself royally if I bought a Road King, only to find the following year they revised the frame.

The Indian Challenger really has my interest (but too expensive for me and accessories are stupid expensive), as does a 2020 Suzuki VStrom 1050. Fully loaded VStrom 1050 XT Adventure is $17k and comes with SW Moto top loading aluminum bags, aux lights, heated grips, electronic traction control and cruise control. Great value, and as a former SV650 and SV1000 owner, I love their liquid cooled v-twin. I've test ridden the Heritage 114, and while very impressed with the suspension, engine and general handling, the crappy bags, tubed tires, floor board ergos and overall buzzyness left me unimpressed with the bike as a whole.

For now, I'm keeping my Switchback, but may add the VStrom, or similar to the stable. Sad, I'd rather buy a Harley Davidson, but they currently don't make anything that makes me scream "OMG, I want that!".

Originally Posted by nevada72

At the time of it's release it was the best handling HD made. Since then there have been many improvements and to ride one now is "nostalgic". I think the memory is better than reality but that said, to make a new version that had the same design principles - lighter weight sport tourer, would be a good seller. Especially if they used a fairing that looked like the old FXRT fairing.

Originally Posted by rauchman

Can't speak to the old one. However, on the Sport Glide, I think many, including myself, were wanting a fixed fairing Softail. Kind of a Softail Road Glide. Something lighter than a touring bike, with great wind/weather protection, possibly a stereo in the fairing, with good bags (preferably top loading, and not the vinyl wrapped cardboard crappy bags with the locking mechanism protrusion of the new Heritage), higher seat, dual disk brakes, 32+ degrees of lean angle and mid mount pegs or floorboards. A true touring Softail if you will.

Not that the Sport Glide is a bad bike, but it missed the mark on this. Sport Glide is closer to a Softail version of the Dyna Switchback with a mini batwing fairing and forward foot controls. I ride a Switchback and prefer it's floorboards to the Sport Glide's forward controls, and the Switchback bags are top loading.

What gets me is if you put pieces of all the existing Softail models together, HD would have a great bike. Instead, all them miss the mark for me one way or another. What is with the sub 4 gallon tanks on some models? I'd seriously consider a "tourized" Fat Bob, but the 3.6 gallon tank kills any desire for this bike for me. Why is lean angle compromised more so on some models? In reality, it seems like HD moved floorboards and foot pegs further out instead of a slightly higher frame to allow more lean angle....really?...on a brand new frame? Why don't all the Softails have the Heritage / Fat Bob rear shock with 4.5" of travel? As mentioned, I was very impressed with the Heritage suspension. Why not have that on all the bikes?

I've been giving thought to a new bike lately. I've always been a fan of the Road King, but it has inferior suspension to the Indian's and it's 100lbs heavier than my bike. Nothing else in the HD lineup remotely interests me (aside from the Pan American, which doesn't exist yet). $20k is a hard pill to swallow knowing that there are choices out there that do "it" better. I also keep hearing rumors of a mono shock touring frame. I'd kick myself royally if I bought a Road King, only to find the following year they revised the frame.

The Indian Challenger really has my interest (but too expensive for me and accessories are stupid expensive), as does a 2020 Suzuki VStrom 1050. Fully loaded VStrom 1050 XT Adventure is $17k and comes with SW Moto top loading aluminum bags, aux lights, heated grips, electronic traction control and cruise control. Great value, and as a former SV650 and SV1000 owner, I love their liquid cooled v-twin. I've test ridden the Heritage 114, and while very impressed with the suspension, engine and general handling, the crappy bags, tubed tires, floor board ergos and overall buzzyness left me unimpressed with the bike as a whole.

For now, I'm keeping my Switchback, but may add the VStrom, or similar to the stable. Sad, I'd rather buy a Harley Davidson, but they currently don't make anything that makes me scream "OMG, I want that!".

Originally Posted by Herrick

Yeah lots of people seem to like that fairing design.



I think the Sport Glide is a great-looking bike but I always hear about how crappy the bags are and how useless the fairing is.

Agreed about the small tanks on some of these Softails. I don't understand why they downsized some of the tanks compared to the Dynas.

I'm looking into a V-Strom too...the 650. Don't know if I'll get one though. Every time I ride my Low Rider, I think I'm crazy for even thinking of trading it in.

Originally Posted by CanadianRocky

I want a new bike… Every time I get on my Eglide I love it, fits me like a glove and handles like I need it to and I really like Harleys... I was seriously going to buy a brand new CVO this year, (Once I found out that I couldn’t get the paint set I wanted) But because of Covid and a slow down of the economy I held back… And now I found out that Harley Davidson has closed down their parts warehouse in Canada, and that means everything has to come out of Milwaukee… So instead of waiting for a piece for a couple of days, now It can be up to three weeks, maybe four… a Brand new Harley Davison isn’t looking so good to me anymore, and if I get stuck out on the road for three weeks with my ‘017, waiting for a $100 part, you can bet your *** I’ll be moving brands.

Originally Posted by Dynamick

Eight weeks and counting I've been waiting for a new rear fascia for my Street Glide. Still hasn't shipped....I know painted parts take longer but c'mon, this is ridiculous.

Originally Posted by Cooper1203

I was reading on Revzilla that some models are being discontinued in the upcoming model year bc of the massive loses...it didn’t really say too much on which bikes are being cutout though...

I’m curious which ones...