Depends on your riding habits what is best for you, I have had and enjoyed many miles on both but have returned to the road glide twice, love the storage in the inner fairing and the frame mounted fairing carves the wind on the highway. It is your call which is better, alot of people say they don't like the looks of the road glide, but when sitting on top I can't see what it looks like. Good Luck which ever way you go and enjoy.

 

Ride them both. Two different animals. Whichever one speaks to you the most is the one for you.

 

Get the Special I test rode it on Sunday demo day at O'tooles HD. Man the ride was silky smooth and that hydraulic clutch felt awesome. The bike just rode way better than my 12 Street Glide and i liked the lope of the new cam too. I am impressed with the moco. Lots of nice upgrades IMO. But damn they are pricey. Lol

 

the model year is unimportant, in my opinion....what's important is SG vs RG. Make that decision first. I thought I wanted the RG and had picked out the '13 orange one....and then I stared at it for over 1 hour and could not get pass the nose on it, so I decided on my original choice of the SG. I rode them both, and for the life of me...I didn't see what was so bad about my fairing and the wind......maybe I need to live in Oklahoma or something where there are tornados, because my SG rides pretty steady to me. I keep hearing how the RG carves the wind. I'm sure it does....but my SG does just fine to me.

 

The way I look at it, I don't see hardly any RG for sale used and there are thousands of SG out there for sale. Why are they all being sold? Why are guys keeping there RG? Educated consumer is the best costumer.
I did a ride with 3500 bikes, more SG then anything else. Why be like everyone else unless you shop at the Gap.

 

First bike? I say none of the above. No, I'm not gonna say you need to go small with your first, it can still be a Touring bike. Just don't go getting new till you know what you want, and you can't know what you want till you see the new RG. Besides, you won't feel as bad about rookie mistakes on a used bike. You also might even be able to get exactly what you paid for it next year.

No matter what though, you need to take some test rides...

 

After a test ride I traded the RG for the Special. I echo the suggestion that you should ride both before you even begin to make a decision.

 

As said before rent both and then decide. I do a lot of touring the the Road Glide was my choice. The more I ride it the better I like it.

 

Street Glide!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!