Well, I've been looking forward to sampling the Road Glide for some time now. I rented an 08 Ultra Classic last April, put 1100 miles on it in 3 days and had a blast but I've been curious about the Road Glide and rented an 08 model from Mancuso Harley at Hwy 290 and FM1960 in Houston. They were the only Harley dealer in the area that listed the Road Glide on their rental fleet.

In a nut shell, I really liked the bike. Surprise, surprise! I now understand what some of you are talking about with regards to the bikes handling. Steering forces on the Road Glide were quite a bit lower than I remember the Ultra being. Basically, the RG just feels lighter on the bars than the Ultra does. That's not a dig against the Ultra as I didn't find it to be bad at all. The RG just feels more sporting. It's also 62 lbs lighter (according the Harley's web site) and that can't hurt.

One thing that surprised me a bit was now much stronger this Road Glide was compared to what I remember the Ultra feeling like. As I said, the RG is lighter and I wasn't carrying any extra baggage like I was on the Ultra but still, this RG pulled much more strongly, especially in the upper gears. The Ultra felt like it was struggling a bit to accelerate in 6th gear from 70 mph or so. It would pick up speed but was definitely nothing to write home about. The Road Glide, on the other hand, increased speed under the same circumstances with no fuss at all. I did one roll on from 65 and was passing 80 in short order. The Ultra wouldn't have kept up with that. It just seemed like too much of a difference for the weight difference to account for. About the only other thing that comes to mind is the RG is better off aerodynamically with the shark nose fairing and no tour pack on the back. It made more of a difference than I expected. Another plus along that line is, I managed to put close to two full tanks of fuel through the RG. The conditions I was riding in today were very close to what I had last April with the exception of the temperatures and the RG returned 3 to 5 mpg better than the Ultra did. The Ultra netted in the mid 42's most of the time I had it and the RG returned 45.8 on the first tank and just over 47 mpg on the second. I can definitely live with that.

Oddly enough though, in spite of the obvious superiority of the RG in a number of areas, I think I'd go with the Ultra Classic. It's got features I really want, features I could add to the RG but at a premium that would bring the cost well over what the UC would cost in the first place. Besides, there's nothing like the look of the classic batwing fairing. So that's my decision. All it takes now is getting the finances together. That'll take a few more months and the selling of the bike I've got now

Time will tell!
Steve R.

 

Well unless you wanted all the extras of the Ultra , you can put the TourPak on the RG , and come in about a grand under the Ultra ..

Look at my sig pic , you'll see the Ultra TP .. I ordered the standard , but they ordered and charged me for the Ultra , which I like better anyways with the extra lights .. The speaker boxes are dummies , I can live without them anyways , no biggie there , and somewhere down the road I may upgrade anyways ..

But yeah to make the RG an Ultra , you'd go a bit over the Ultra price .. Here the Ultra is about $2800 over the RG .. I spent nearly $1500 on the TourPak and accessories plus install labor .. That leaves $1300 or so to do the rear speakers and other stuff .. Might get it all for the same as the Ultra ..

Caint lose either way , we almost got an Ultra , when we got this one .. But this is my third Shark , and I love 'em

 

If you are going to buy new well then sure it will cost a lot to add the Ultra stuff to the RG. If you buy used you will probably get the tourpak as well as a few other things.

I bought my 06 RG used in Oct 07 with 5700 miles. I paid $16,200 and it came with all the stuff you see listed in my signature except the exhaust and PCIII. I had an 02 Ultra before the RG.

 

Thank You. How refreshing to read a post where someone has obviously done their homework and legwork. Ya done good.
Guess I spent too much time in the 70's (all 10 yrs, now that I think of it, DOH!). The RG just reminds me of those butt ugly Vetter fairings.
Never cared for them, then, or now.
I, for one, am glad you chose the GZRGLD model.

BaggerDrvr - You did alright with the trunk. Empty spkr boxes, now you can install some GOOD spkrs, and not have to either throw away, or try to horse trade the old spkrs.

 

Them Vetter's were fugly , but hey they were state of the art back then ..

I dunno yet , the stoopid harness for the speakers is $130.00 , go figger ..

I remeber a litl' bit of the 70's , the few early years ( 70-72 ) the rest was well you know the rest , hadda keep the sailor image in good order ..

 

Thank YOU!

One thing I've been impressed with in all this is the fact that a person "can" rent just about any model that Harley makes. I've never seen that with any other manufacturer. You can rent Goldwings and the occasional BMW from private companies readily enough but its rare to find much of anything else. In Harley's case, it is a wonderful opportunity to test ride and get to know if a bike is really what you're looking for. The only problem I had was that the Road Glide doesn't seem to be that common in the rental fleets in the Houston area. They collectively offer just about everything else but Mancuso 290 was the only one with a Road Glide in their fleet and they stated that they were probably going to drop it when they updated their 08 models to 09's by the end of the year. It simply wasn't being rented as much as their other models. I think that's a shame.

For me, it's certain that I'm going to buy new and I do want the features offered on the Ultra Classic which is the main reason I'm sticking with it. The biggest surprise for me was the difference in performance and economy between the two. If anything swings me back to the Road Glide, it would be that, but I have to wonder how much those advantages would remain once the Road Glide has been outfitted like the Ultra. As for the shark nose fairing, it's Ok although I prefer the classic batwing look. I had a Vetter fairing back in the 70's. I used it on at least two different bikes. It may not have been the prettiest thing in the world but it worked better than anything else on the market at the time and, I think, was ultimately the basis for the fairing designs that Honda, BMW, Harley (Road Glide), and others came up with when they started adding the body work from the factory.

Ride Safe,
Steve R.

 

Pretty good and honest assesment of the 2. I couldn't help but wonder as I read your description of the acceleration difference of the RG vs UG if you were keeping in mind you said the RG wasn't packing and the UG was. That poundage is significant to a point, especially with acceleration, IMHO.

I went from some antiquated iron to 2 used Ultra's in a matter of months. Took a little while to adjust but I enjoy the 2001 Ultra more so then the 1998 Utra w/ SC. Side cars are a different breed not necessarily better either. But it allows a safe way to tote the grandkids about.

 

Nice comparison.

I wanted an Ultra. I love the bat wing look. But I just really liked the way the Road Glide 'drove'. But I've spent WAY too much money adding Ultra stuff to the Road Glide, and it's still not quite ultra. 40W vs 80W stereo. Fairing lowers aren't vented. Intercom'ing the RG has been kind of a mess, and the CB would be handy, but I probably wouldn't use just like I haven't used the CD player. Hell, I don't use the radio, but I might if it was 80 Watts.

I really wish that HD would make a Road Glide Ultra before I get my next bike.

 

Well before when it was a Tour Glide , you could get it in the Ultra , then they dropped it all together for a couple years and brought it back without the TourPak ..

Marketing I guess , but I cant see a flown blown Tourer and Harley's best kept secret without the TourPak .. They have never been made in the numbers of the EG either which I think is another good thing , not many out there , you see EG's everywhere ..

I have always wanted a hack .. I love 'em ..

 

I've only ridden 3000+- miles on the sidecar Ultra and the things that bother me the most about it is 1)you don't get the use of the whole lane like a non side car bike 2)Whether you turn left or turn right the sidecar is always working/fighting against the bike 3) scenario...serious crown in the road thats banking either left or right.4)sidecar shakes the bike in a disturbing way and that took a little while to get use to.