Does the bike you're looking at have ABS?

If so it will be subject to this recently announced recall:

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/touri...rake-fail.html

 

 

I would get the 09, or if you can swing it an 11 with the 103

 

I have an 09 FLHTCU with stock 96tc and the original oem compensator went bad @ 9,700miles which is when i installed a new SE comp kit.

I currently have a little over 25k miles on my HD and other then front & rear wheel bearings requiring replacement nothing else has gone wrong with the bike and it's running well.

Also,my 09 was running very hot (esp in summer heat) so i installed Wards cooling fans (like love jugs new Mity-mite cooling fans) along with a fan assisted Ultracool oil cooler that collectively together reduced oil temp up to 50deg f in summer heat & reducing oil temp up to 50deg f also significantly reduces engine temp @ same time too.

I also installed Night rider enrichment resistors set to 50% enrichment which smoothed out the lean idle roughness along with the slight lean surge when at lower part throttle position @ steady cruise too.

But the slight enrichment in fuel the resistors provided had little to no affect in reducing heat coming from motor or in reducing oil temp.

That was best money & mods i have installed on the bike thus far because they resulted in multiple improvements in overall engine perf & rider comfort too.

With that said it's a no brainer to go for an 09 over an 02 because of the multiple advancements HD made with the 09 to name a couple was :

* New frame for better handling.

* Larger rear wheel & Tire.

* 6spd trans on an 09 HD though not new for 09 thats better then an 02HD with a 5spd trans.

* Think 09 has a better EFI system too.

And i know there are even more improvements an 09 HD has over an 02 HD that i can't remember off the top of my head at this time too.

Scott

 

I had no trouble with mine. It had just under 46,000 miles on it and other than general maintenance I had no problems. It does run hot as previously mentioned but there's ways to combat that. It never had the loose spokes thing you mentioned and I think I may have gotten lucky with the compensator because it gave me no trouble.

 

My 09 RKC has 182,000 miles on the ODO. Other than the usual wear parts, e.g. clutch, pads, etc., replaced two main shaft bearings, valve guides, oil pump, compensator. It withstood being rear-ended at a light (~$6500 damage) and being hit by a feral boar hog (~$1800 front disk + wheel, and engine guard,, but stayed up and able to continue to safe area to inspect damage despite an unnerving vibration and all).

 

Wow! Glad you are still with us.

Glad to hear you have that many miles on it. Was the main shaft the trans main shaft or crankshaft bearings?

Thanks.

 

my 2011 ultra compensator went out at 5000 miles , put the 2014 one in great improvement, also changed the primary cover, new one has an oil deflector.

 

It was the transmission main shaft bearings both times.

 

Good to know. It seems the 09s are pretty trouble free. You hear stuff wrong with all the years. My 05 was the shitty valve stem seals that leaked early on.

Thanks to all for their info on 09 and later touring models.

Seems overall that people are very happy with them.

Hoping to join the 09 RKC family.