Glad you bought the bike you wanted. I also have an 11 RKC and absolutely love it! Post some pics of yours.

 

John, congrats on the new ride. Enjoy the hell out of it.
All roads lead to anywhere.

 

Being new to Touring bikes why not try to find a nice low milage RKC for $15K or less as your first bagger? You could ride it, say for a year or so, and then sell or trade it for your dream bike. That would let you test the water without jumping into the deep end right away. If you buy it right you would not take that big a hit on depreciation and after some time on it you would know if the RKC is your dream bike for sure or if its a batwing or shark nose.

 

My new black RKC was delivered today. It rained hard here all day. I sat on it a dozen times in my garage and read the manual cover to cover. Wore my helmut and hi visibility jacket and fingerless gloves a couple of hours. Will take photo as soon as the sun shines and will do some riding. What a wonderful feeling! Just like a kid waiting for Santa. Maybe I'll wake up in the middle of the night and walk downstairs to the garage a take another peek.

 

My first bike of any kind was a FLH. 45 years later I'm still on Harleys. A RKC is a big bike but I wouldn't get something else if that was what I really wanted. Any bike you get will require a learning curve especially since you are a new rider. Why learn on something else just so you can take a depreciation beating later on when you get what you really want? If you want a RKC, get a RKC. Be careful with it and learn how to ride it and enjoy the hell out of having a bike you really want. If it were me, I'd hold a couple of that 15K back because there are going to be other things you will want for the bike. Bars, exhaust, chrome, whatever. Don't forget to get the service manual no matter what bike you get. It's worth every penny.

 

Congrats John! Your gonna love it!. I rented several Harleys of various sizes before buying my first 9 years ago a 98 Road King Classic. Road the hell out of that for 5 years and now have an 05 Ultra.
So sorry for your loss, the ride can be very therapeutic...
Peace to you, ride safe!
John

 

Congrats on the new RKC. Wish I would have read this earlier. I'm 54 and my first bike ever was a 2010 Road King Standard. Like you I took the MSF classes 5 years before I bought my bike and again a couple weeks after. Best thing I ever did for myself. I had some minor difficulties learning how to push the bike around and making low speed U-turns but by the end of last riding season I was riding like I was born on one. It was a little intimadating at first. I would say the biggest concern I have for you is the unexpected. People cutting you off. Deer running in front of you. Unexpected emergency. I had all these happen to me and they will contiunue to happen. But I am no longer intimidated. I put 5000 miles on the bike last year and will probably do at least that and more this year. I would suggest that once you start to feel comfortable on your bike you should start thinking about the advanced MSF course. I would like to take the course myself but just haven't found the time yet. There are web sites that explain the theory behind slow speed handling and other advanced manuveuring so I would seek that out also. It has helped me but experience is the only true teacher. Hope this helps!

Ride Safe and Enjoy!

 

Slip Kid,
You seem to want to learn, so let me suggest "Proficient Motorcycling - The Ultimate Guide to Riding Well" by David Hough. There are a few versions and all are great reading.......and pretty cheap.

 

My first bike was a bagger Harley in 1962.Over the years have owned couple of dozen Harleys several new ones,the last half dozen or so ground up built.Never wanted any other brand.

 

Do the RK, great interest rates till the end of the month. No matter what bike you start with the road experience is what counts, the more miles under your belt the better you can handle/identify motorcycle road hazards. The bigger the bike the better people can see you.