Don't mean to hijack the thread but something for OP to consider and I wonder about myself. I have a Road King and would love to have a simple fairing without all the bells and whistles, simply for the added wind protection. When I scrub my bike I take the shield off which makes it much easier to properly clean the nacelle and surrounding parts. I recently saw and talked to a guy with a detachable fairing on his Fatboy. He said it took him about 20 minutes to take his fairing off but he had the stereo. I doubt I would ever take the fairing off except for cleaning so wondering thoughts on that. If I could do it I would have a Road Glide but the money tree has not bloomed for quite some time.

 

I have a 09 RoadKing Classic w/ detatchable fairing that I installed my own radio and speakers. I love how versatile the RoadKing is. Just my opinion good luck with what ever you go with.

 

+1 for the Street Glide you wont be sorry.

 

If you really have to have a stereo get a glide. I had a RK with a detachable fairing and never left it on. It did not have a stereo so it wasn't very exciting. I got rid of it. The closeness of the fairing on the RK made me claustrophobic. I like my RKC with just a windshield. I agree about leather bags not as cool as hard bags and a tour pak looks better with hard bags. I like the Road Glide, the Ugly Toad works for me.

 

While it may not be exactly apples to apples, I can pretty reasonably state that my '02 RK is more comfy than my '12 SG. No real changes to either bike, but the ride is smoother on the old bike, and much less buffeting on the old bike. My view.

 

I've been thinking about that setup myself lately. Love my Ultra, Love my King, but sheesh - what if I could have both in one bike? Someday, I may go for it. Probably a FLHR (like the hard bags) with a Dead Center faring, modest stereo and GPS. I'll have the best of all worlds: no windshield, windshield, faring - what's not to like?

 

That's the way I felt on my short test ride. Is it the 1" longer shock?

 

I had the same problem you have except I already had a Road King. I wanted the tunes only but after thinking about it and looking at the street glide to make the conversion I decided to just get a Ultra Classic as it has the vintage look like the road king but the nice meters, radio, and fairing like a street glide....best of both worlds. haha...

 

I had an Electra Glide with an upgraded radio and speakers, personally I never really liked the way the fairing looked. I ended up buying a Road King and it came with both a fairing and windshield, thinking that I could have the best of all worlds. The fairing was a very nice Hoppe fairing and it had a better stereo system than my old Electra Glide. My problem was I found out how much I loved riding without the fairing, so it just sat in my shop. I used it one time just to try it out. My preference was/is to ride without a fairing or windshield at all, but for longer trips I still liked the clear windshield much better than the fairing. Even after owning an EG and then the RK with a fairing, I found I just prefer not to have that blocking my view.

I sold the fairing this past spring as it never was going to get any use. I don't regret selling it at all.

 

I had a 2000 FLHRCI for 10 years before I bought my CVO Road Glide...the RK had a detachable Dragonfly fairing with stereo and hand conntrols, loved the bike but I wouldn't trade my RG for it......the RG is so much smoother, and yes it is 9 years newer but still. I had 0 problems out of my RK, bought it brand new in 2000 and sold it on Ebay 10 years later with 80,000 miles on it.