We all had high hopes for the switchback. A good friend bought one. Traded it back in with less that 400 miles on a street glide special. His had stability issues at common speeds. No one could figure out why. Also, the saddlebags were too small for anything practical, like a laptop or even extra ride gear. Sportster bags on a dyna. It looked good on paper but failed miserably in practice. It didn’t ride as well as a superglide. I know some loved it, but it was a misfit. I wish it had been a hit.

I was actually thinking about purchasing one as a commuter to supplement my sporty and to use as weekend tourer. Then I test rode it. A superglide with fake leather bags was so...... much better.

I appreciate they tried, but I question the team that developed it, “what were they thinking!” So much potential, so poorly executed. It was a “hey, what parts can we use up?”, not a “let’s build a lighter weight semi tourer for serious commuters, weekenders.”

It was close, but no cigar.

 

Lots of other models are lighter but they are still not the RGU. Even taking 175 lbs off the RGU would make it a better bike. Lighter means better handling, better braking, better power to weight ratio even if you did nothing to the motor.

A lot of mass in motion does not want to change direction. That is basic physics. The RGU weighs 922. Weight won't make it ride better. That 3" of travel in the back is already overwhelmed too easy.

It is pretty clear the majority on here don't want a 750 lb RGU much less a 650 lb one. If I wanted a sport tourer I would go buy one. I have 5 bikes. The other 4 are all under 600lbs each.

 

The truth is one can tour on any motorcycle. My brother has a ZX-14R, but he'd much rather tour on his HD Wide Glide.

 

So true, even in my 70’s, I could tour on my sporty. It is *** and gas that would set my daily limits.

But, as much as I enjoy the comforts of a touring bike, we tour two up. She hates the sporty, calls it My evil machine. Two up, we have a king tour pack and the wrap around passenger backrest. On 10 hour days, she can nod off, feeling rested when we arrive some 350-500 miles from our start. That dynamic is important to me.

If she hated the harley for two up, I’d take the tourpack off and ride it as a weekender and get something else, even would consider a Goldwing if she was comfortable for day after day of riding. It doesn’t matter to me when we are two up.

I’m looking over the handlebars, as I said above, my ride is controlled by two, no make that three things. Gas, ***, and ****.

Fortunately, she’s a Harley gal, so no issues as long as she’s happy. When she’s happy on the ride, I’m happy at the end of the ride.

 

You're not wrong for the most part. I'm just saying the lighter weight touring bikes Harley has tried to make haven't stuck around like the big heavy bikes. The Dyna Convertible, the FXRT, the Switchback, the Sportster 1200T.

They haven't stuck around because they didn't sell well.

The big touring bikes are comfortable and haul a lot of stuff. To make a big bike to haul lots of stuff you need a strong frame, you need a big motor. Look at the Competitions touring bikes. Most are pretty close to the weight of a Harley. About the lightest out there is the BMW K1600 Grand America and that's still 800 lbs curb weight. You aren't going to get a 1,800cc touring bike big enough to haul two large people in comfort plus all their gear down to 650 lbs. And any bike you do get down to 650 lbs isn't going to be as comfortable or capable as the Harley touring bikes are.

 

Thats a factory bike or a copy of one. The FXRT, I had one. T for touring and the police version was an FXRP.

 

Harley could build a bike that weighs 650lbs. Problem is, nobody would buy it. An example was the Switchback. It was the lightest touring bike in its category at 718lbs. It was 94 lbs lighter than a Road King.

 

Those numbers really hard to nail down exactly as they like to sneak the Slingshot numbers in there but that category has shown an increase on the Polaris balance sheet every year and many don't think Slingshot is helping but that Indian is carrying that thing. Now their dollar amount includes parts and accessories too but I don't think Indian apparel is the business that Harley branded stuff is. I peg their numbers at a fifth of Harley but the key is they increase their sales year to year while Harley goes the other direction. Now I am sure Zeist and Co will crow when 2021 numbers exceed 2020 but they purposefully sabotaged their numbers in 2020 and those numbers cannot be held against the brand as a whole but instead only against management.

That they don't have Harley's numbers is not the issue, the issue is they are increasing their sales numbers and oddly with some models costing more than the equivalent Harley by class. Now Harley is at fault for making Indian's job so damn easy and by that I mean Harley is both just being greedy as well as lazy.


Two us have been just fine on my RT and even previous RTs and those ranged from 1100 up to the current 1250 and even with trunk and such none have weighed more than 650 ready to ride. All had better HP/Torque ratios than most Harleys. Better yet my 2019 is the best riding RT I have owned with electronic suspension that includes automatic preload adjustment and two significantly different ride modes. Then comes the three ride modes offered by the motor, brakes, and traction control. The only weakness with RTs has been their head lights but the new 2021 is fully adaptive, not this fake **** proffered by Harley and Indian where they light some additional lighting, the BMW systems move the beam like the cars have. So yeah a 650lb bike can serve just fine. Hell for long distance comfort simply go look at the Iron Butt rallies and such. Then again maybe not, there have been some masochists on Ninja 400s and even Sporsters

The K1600GTL, I have only ridden the GT and B and neither appealed to me because I don't like the idea of an inline six on two wheels, is just insane from a power side. Feature wise like both BMW "tour" lines they come with features you don't even get stock on any Harley, which includes heated seats, electronically adjustable suspension, and more. That is my beef with Harley. They have the look but what they offer at the price point is seriously disappointing. Its a compromise to step down to Harley. I can do it and probably will end up with a used 2018/2019 M8 model not too far off in the future.


So once again, beating the dead horse. Harley has shown what they can do with the Softtail revamp and its high time they did the same with their tour line. They need to quit just making the comparisons to Indian look so one sided. Specials should live up to what the name implies, meaning features should be stock. I seriously believe Specials should have keyless luggage, heated grips, and RDRS, all stock at their current price point. RDRS is not worth a thousand dollars, there are brands out there putting it on bikes that cost less than half that and even on bikes in 700-800cc range. Its not expensive tech. It took till 2021 just to Daymaker the damn lights on Specials and yet while the entire softtail line has LED indicators the tour line still doesn't. That is lazy. That is not premium.

 

The Kawasaki Concourse is 690lbs with bags and fluids. So weight is part of the equation but so is HP. It's 158 HP. whereas a Harley is below 100 So it's a combination of the two. Maybe that is not their customer but they also need to attract more people. BMW has made the transition. It's still has its customer base but has attracted younger customers with performance and quality. They have a bike that is a 300 cc which is an opening price and a commuter/learning bike.
It actually looked like they were on the right track but then they stopped production. They need someone that knows the industry and has the team to follow through, IMHO.

 

Hindsight is always 20/20 for a reason. It is easy to see what they should have done. Probably closer to the truth is they blew too much money on the Livewire, bronx, and Pan America to invest in their touring bikes. If people are still buying heavy and slow with 3" of suspension travel why change? I bought one