Congrats on the swap! IMHO the RKC is best damn looking Harley ever made. I love my Ultra, but still would love to add an RKC to the stable.

 

Okay I have to chime in, the Road King is a fine, fine looking machine.
I road one during a demo day and feel in love with the Touring bikes.
But I went with the Street Glide for style, form and function.

But then that's just me.

 

Congrats on the '09 Roadie! You'll love it.

To answer your question, I definitely think the mod's will give you more of that "in the bike" feeling you're looking for. Still, it'll probably never feel quite like a Softail.

I'm 5'9". I Sat on both the '08 & '09 stock bikes side by side. For some reason, I seemed to sit more "in" the '08 & more "on top of" the '09. When I ordered my '09, I had the rear lowered 1" and changed the handlebars to Wild 1's Road Glide chubby mini-apes P/N 0601-0782. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1-1-4...tem#ht_725wt_0 (love them!). Kept the Stock seat. Tried it for about 100 miles, but wasn't as comfortable as I'd like. Feet weren't quite flat w/o some effort.
Next, I tried the Reach Seat. It put me too close. I pretty much hated it and exchanged it for the Badlander. That made a big difference. Even so, I went back and had the front lowered 1" to go along with the rear. VIOLA! Perfection. It's amazing how much of a difference all that made. I've since sat on a stock bike and it's nothing like mine. Huge difference. I also own a Sundowner seat, which is super comfortable (but ugly IMO) to use it for longer rides. FYI, Mustang just now released the solo seat w/ backrest available for the '09 RKC. I will be getting that w/ Xmas $! The stock seat is going on eBay.
My sig has a pic of all the mods. You can see a better pic of the bike if you go to my website through my profile. It's my blog. If you click on "about me", it'll take you to my website which is actually a bunch of photos. The bike is at the end of page 2.

Hope that helps.

 

Ya might take a look at the wild 1 518s. Wider but less pullback. I think I would like the 518's better but have the 508s. Good luck

 

I went with the same color scheme as yours. Not sure how much I'll like it in 6 months but I really didn't like any of the 09' colors. I can't even spell touquoise.

 

I also came from a softail, and have a lowered RKC and a cut down Street Glade seat and 518's. I still don't feel like I'm in the bike like my softail, but I'vew gotten used to it and it no longer feels strange. I like it better actually, now that I have more seat time.
Marsh

 

Congrats on the trade. Long as your happy with the ride is all that matters. I traded my SG for my Ultra and no regrets at all.

 

Went from an Electra Glide to a Road King...for the same reasons... Don't feel like you have to explain what you did.. someday they will understand...

Hogback

 

That why Harley makes so many different bikes.I have had a sporty and road kinf before I got my street glide.I loved them all