The 2019 Harley Davidson Road King.

[ABikerSailor]

Made my ass fall in love.

Come on man!!
Pics and stats will make your post valid.

Not my bike and it was at a dealer. I can post pics of my 08 superglide, but they will be underwhelming. Oh, and it was stock. If you have the cash you will like it. Go to Stubbs and try it out.

Too big, too heavy.

Get a Sportster. I had one that was an 883 that I had bored out to a 1200, and kept the 883 piston arms (for more torque). Then, I put a decent cam kit in it, and had the engine outfitted with adjustable push rods.

For the styling of the bike, I got rid of the standard controls and put in forward controls, put on an extended rear fender, 21 inch chrome spoke on the front, and dropped the shocks from 13 inches to 11. Got rid of the small fuel tank and got a conversion kit so I could put on big twin tanks. Drag bars, a good seat and mini sissy bar finished it out, and it only weighed in at around 425 lbs.

And, not only did people have trouble telling it apart from a big twin Harley (they had to look at the engine to figure it out), but it also ran like a scalded cat. One time a friend of mine tried to drop me while we were riding. He had a big twin, and I was on my Sporty with a passenger on the back (110 lbs). Well, we ended up going down the highway at around 110 mph for 10 miles, and when we got to where we were going, he looked at me and said he didn't know what in the hell I was riding, but he damn sure didn't think it was a Sportster.

Matter of fact, had the engine so well tuned that I rode from Amarillo TX, over all the various passes in CO for a week, ending with a ride to the top of Pike's Peak and then back to Amarillo. My friend kept looking at me funny all week, and when we got to the top of Pike's Peak, he said in an amazed voice, that my bike hadn't sputtered once on the trip. I said so what? Yours didn't either. He then told me that yeah, his didn't, but that was because he had fuel injection. Apparently, carburated engines aren't supposed to do that.

 

[Jarlaxle]

I have a Sportster...though I'll say what you did to yours makes me want to cry.

 

[ABikerSailor]

I have a Sportster...though I'll say what you did to yours makes me want to cry.

Why? Because not only was it the best looking Sportster in Amarillo TX at the time, but it was also the fastest. Had it on a dyno once to find out the top speed, and it was around 130 mph.

And, to tell you the truth, doing all that custom work to it wasn't that expensive. I think I sank a grand total of around 5,000 in engine work, parts and paint to get it that way.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Forward controls, skinny front tire, and lowered the back, making the already-poor rear suspension awful.

 

[Godboy]

Got nothing against Harleys but I'd buy a Goldwing if I wanted comfort,and any number of Jap crotch rockets if I wanted speed and handling.
While I liked my Yamaha Warrior it still failed in out right performance and comfort but it was a decent compromise.

Mine was very similar to this one but with the Tricky Air.
Didnt need a kickstand. When I went to park it I'd hit the air release and it'd sit on the frame.

That bike is fucking sick!

 

[ABikerSailor]

Forward controls, skinny front tire, and lowered the back, making the already-poor rear suspension awful.

Actually, part of what made the bike work so well was the Corbin seat that I had on it. Matter of fact, I have ridden from Ft. Collins CO to Amarillo TX in one day, and I was still able to walk after I got off the bike. And, drag bars with forward controls make for a very comfortable ride IMHO. I didn't like the way the stock controls made me perch on the bike, and I didn't like the ride height with the 13 inch shocks.

 

[Crixus]

Forward controls, skinny front tire, and lowered the back, making the already-poor rear suspension awful.

Actually, part of what made the bike work so well was the Corbin seat that I had on it. Matter of fact, I have ridden from Ft. Collins CO to Amarillo TX in one day, and I was still able to walk after I got off the bike. And, drag bars with forward controls make for a very comfortable ride IMHO. I didn't like the way the stock controls made me perch on the bike, and I didn't like the ride height with the 13 inch shocks.

I found out a sportster is to small for me. It's rideable, but in just to long. The mid controls on my superglide are fine. But on the sportster it just feels weird. Mine is 2005 1200 sportster. My son hits it better so he rides it now and will likely own it. I ride around town and sometimes to New Orleans or some other place in Texas. May ride out to palo duro canyon on vacation and the super glide is fine for that. If I rode to sturgis every year or something like that then the superglide just won't do. It would kick my ass I think. If I rode state to state allot I would have a road King.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Forward controls, skinny front tire, and lowered the back, making the already-poor rear suspension awful.

Actually, part of what made the bike work so well was the Corbin seat that I had on it. Matter of fact, I have ridden from Ft. Collins CO to Amarillo TX in one day, and I was still able to walk after I got off the bike. And, drag bars with forward controls make for a very comfortable ride IMHO. I didn't like the way the stock controls made me perch on the bike, and I didn't like the ride height with the 13 inch shocks.

I found out a sportster is to small for me. It's rideable, but in just to long. The mid controls on my superglide are fine. But on the sportster it just feels weird. Mine is 2005 1200 sportster. My son hits it better so he rides it now and will likely own it. I ride around town and sometimes to New Orleans or some other place in Texas. May ride out to palo duro canyon on vacation and the super glide is fine for that. If I rode to sturgis every year or something like that then the superglide just won't do. It would kick my ass I think. If I rode state to state allot I would have a road King.

Try the Tallboy seat. Huge difference on my Sporty.

 

[ABikerSailor]

Forward controls, skinny front tire, and lowered the back, making the already-poor rear suspension awful.

Actually, part of what made the bike work so well was the Corbin seat that I had on it. Matter of fact, I have ridden from Ft. Collins CO to Amarillo TX in one day, and I was still able to walk after I got off the bike. And, drag bars with forward controls make for a very comfortable ride IMHO. I didn't like the way the stock controls made me perch on the bike, and I didn't like the ride height with the 13 inch shocks.

I found out a sportster is to small for me. It's rideable, but in just to long. The mid controls on my superglide are fine. But on the sportster it just feels weird. Mine is 2005 1200 sportster. My son hits it better so he rides it now and will likely own it. I ride around town and sometimes to New Orleans or some other place in Texas. May ride out to palo duro canyon on vacation and the super glide is fine for that. If I rode to sturgis every year or something like that then the superglide just won't do. It would kick my ass I think. If I rode state to state allot I would have a road King.

Well, I'm not that big of a dude, only 5'7" and around 135 lbs soaking wet, so lowering the shocks didn't really mess with me much, matter of fact, it actually made the bike more rideable for me. And, the bonus was, that with the conversion kit and the big twin tanks, if you didn't look at the engine first, you would think it actually was a big twin.

And, when I first started out, it was severely underpowered for what I wanted, because people were making fun of me for not being able to keep up. It was after I did the engine work that people started to look at me different and wonder what in the hell I was riding, because Sportys weren't supposed to be able to beat big twins (according to them).

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

My first street bike.....
FZ750 Genesis.
What an eye opener after riding dirt bikes all my life.
I can't imagine what the new gen sport bikes of today are like,this one scared the living shit out of me the first time I opened it up!

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Forward controls, skinny front tire, and lowered the back, making the already-poor rear suspension awful.

Actually, part of what made the bike work so well was the Corbin seat that I had on it. Matter of fact, I have ridden from Ft. Collins CO to Amarillo TX in one day, and I was still able to walk after I got off the bike. And, drag bars with forward controls make for a very comfortable ride IMHO. I didn't like the way the stock controls made me perch on the bike, and I didn't like the ride height with the 13 inch shocks.

I found out a sportster is to small for me. It's rideable, but in just to long. The mid controls on my superglide are fine. But on the sportster it just feels weird. Mine is 2005 1200 sportster. My son hits it better so he rides it now and will likely own it. I ride around town and sometimes to New Orleans or some other place in Texas. May ride out to palo duro canyon on vacation and the super glide is fine for that. If I rode to sturgis every year or something like that then the superglide just won't do. It would kick my ass I think. If I rode state to state allot I would have a road King.

Well, I'm not that big of a dude, only 5'7" and around 135 lbs soaking wet, so lowering the shocks didn't really mess with me much, matter of fact, it actually made the bike more rideable for me. And, the bonus was, that with the conversion kit and the big twin tanks, if you didn't look at the engine first, you would think it actually was a big twin.

And, when I first started out, it was severely underpowered for what I wanted, because people were making fun of me for not being able to keep up. It was after I did the engine work that people started to look at me different and wonder what in the hell I was riding, because Sportys weren't supposed to be able to beat big twins (according to them).

Thats always been a Harley fault.
Underpowered like a mofo unless you spent gobs of money for an already over priced bike.

 

[ABikerSailor]

Forward controls, skinny front tire, and lowered the back, making the already-poor rear suspension awful.

Actually, part of what made the bike work so well was the Corbin seat that I had on it. Matter of fact, I have ridden from Ft. Collins CO to Amarillo TX in one day, and I was still able to walk after I got off the bike. And, drag bars with forward controls make for a very comfortable ride IMHO. I didn't like the way the stock controls made me perch on the bike, and I didn't like the ride height with the 13 inch shocks.

I found out a sportster is to small for me. It's rideable, but in just to long. The mid controls on my superglide are fine. But on the sportster it just feels weird. Mine is 2005 1200 sportster. My son hits it better so he rides it now and will likely own it. I ride around town and sometimes to New Orleans or some other place in Texas. May ride out to palo duro canyon on vacation and the super glide is fine for that. If I rode to sturgis every year or something like that then the superglide just won't do. It would kick my ass I think. If I rode state to state allot I would have a road King.

Well, I'm not that big of a dude, only 5'7" and around 135 lbs soaking wet, so lowering the shocks didn't really mess with me much, matter of fact, it actually made the bike more rideable for me. And, the bonus was, that with the conversion kit and the big twin tanks, if you didn't look at the engine first, you would think it actually was a big twin.

And, when I first started out, it was severely underpowered for what I wanted, because people were making fun of me for not being able to keep up. It was after I did the engine work that people started to look at me different and wonder what in the hell I was riding, because Sportys weren't supposed to be able to beat big twins (according to them).

Thats always been a Harley fault.
Underpowered like a mofo unless you spent gobs of money for an already over priced bike.

To tell you the truth, doing all the stuff I did to the engine only ran me around 1500 bucks. Oh..................and the other thing you gotta do to a Harley if it's stock is get rid of the Harley carb and replace it with an S and S. Not only are they cheaper for parts if you need them, but they are also much easier to maintain and tune.

And that teardrop shape looks really cool on the side of the bike.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Got nothing against Harleys but I'd buy a Goldwing if I wanted comfort,and any number of Jap crotch rockets if I wanted speed and handling.
While I liked my Yamaha Warrior it still failed in out right performance and comfort but it was a decent compromise.

Mine was very similar to this one but with the Tricky Air.
Didnt need a kickstand. When I went to park it I'd hit the air release and it'd sit on the frame.

That bike is fucking sick!

With 102 cubic inches it would beat every Harley I encountered.

 

[Godboy]

Got nothing against Harleys but I'd buy a Goldwing if I wanted comfort,and any number of Jap crotch rockets if I wanted speed and handling.
While I liked my Yamaha Warrior it still failed in out right performance and comfort but it was a decent compromise.

Mine was very similar to this one but with the Tricky Air.
Didnt need a kickstand. When I went to park it I'd hit the air release and it'd sit on the frame.

That bike is fucking sick!

With 102 cubic inches it would beat every Harley I encountered.

Im not big a motorcycle guy, but thats one of the coolest bikes ive seen. Its not overdone; its perfect.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Forward controls, skinny front tire, and lowered the back, making the already-poor rear suspension awful.

Actually, part of what made the bike work so well was the Corbin seat that I had on it. Matter of fact, I have ridden from Ft. Collins CO to Amarillo TX in one day, and I was still able to walk after I got off the bike. And, drag bars with forward controls make for a very comfortable ride IMHO. I didn't like the way the stock controls made me perch on the bike, and I didn't like the ride height with the 13 inch shocks.

I found out a sportster is to small for me. It's rideable, but in just to long. The mid controls on my superglide are fine. But on the sportster it just feels weird. Mine is 2005 1200 sportster. My son hits it better so he rides it now and will likely own it. I ride around town and sometimes to New Orleans or some other place in Texas. May ride out to palo duro canyon on vacation and the super glide is fine for that. If I rode to sturgis every year or something like that then the superglide just won't do. It would kick my ass I think. If I rode state to state allot I would have a road King.

Well, I'm not that big of a dude, only 5'7" and around 135 lbs soaking wet, so lowering the shocks didn't really mess with me much, matter of fact, it actually made the bike more rideable for me. And, the bonus was, that with the conversion kit and the big twin tanks, if you didn't look at the engine first, you would think it actually was a big twin.

And, when I first started out, it was severely underpowered for what I wanted, because people were making fun of me for not being able to keep up. It was after I did the engine work that people started to look at me different and wonder what in the hell I was riding, because Sportys weren't supposed to be able to beat big twins (according to them).

Thats always been a Harley fault.
Underpowered like a mofo unless you spent gobs of money for an already over priced bike.

To tell you the truth, doing all the stuff I did to the engine only ran me around 1500 bucks. Oh..................and the other thing you gotta do to a Harley if it's stock is get rid of the Harley carb and replace it with an S and S. Not only are they cheaper for parts if you need them, but they are also much easier to maintain and tune.

And that teardrop shape looks really cool on the side of the bike.

Thats all well and good but my stock Warrior would smoke any Harley other than the V-rod.
After a few mods it made the V-rod look weak.....

And if I remember correctly I paid around $14 for the Warrior brand new.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Got nothing against Harleys but I'd buy a Goldwing if I wanted comfort,and any number of Jap crotch rockets if I wanted speed and handling.
While I liked my Yamaha Warrior it still failed in out right performance and comfort but it was a decent compromise.

Mine was very similar to this one but with the Tricky Air.
Didnt need a kickstand. When I went to park it I'd hit the air release and it'd sit on the frame.

That bike is fucking sick!

With 102 cubic inches it would beat every Harley I encountered.

Im not big a motorcycle guy, but thats one of the coolest bikes ive seen. Its not overdone; its perfect.

Thats what caught my eye. That and it was a cross between a cruiser and a crotch rocket,it was very fast for a twin and handled damn good on the twisties.
And the mods are endless.

 

[007]

Forward controls, skinny front tire, and lowered the back, making the already-poor rear suspension awful.

Actually, part of what made the bike work so well was the Corbin seat that I had on it. Matter of fact, I have ridden from Ft. Collins CO to Amarillo TX in one day, and I was still able to walk after I got off the bike. And, drag bars with forward controls make for a very comfortable ride IMHO. I didn't like the way the stock controls made me perch on the bike, and I didn't like the ride height with the 13 inch shocks.

I found out a sportster is to small for me. It's rideable, but in just to long. The mid controls on my superglide are fine. But on the sportster it just feels weird. Mine is 2005 1200 sportster. My son hits it better so he rides it now and will likely own it. I ride around town and sometimes to New Orleans or some other place in Texas. May ride out to palo duro canyon on vacation and the super glide is fine for that. If I rode to sturgis every year or something like that then the superglide just won't do. It would kick my ass I think. If I rode state to state allot I would have a road King.

Well, I'm not that big of a dude, only 5'7" and around 135 lbs soaking wet, so lowering the shocks didn't really mess with me much, matter of fact, it actually made the bike more rideable for me. And, the bonus was, that with the conversion kit and the big twin tanks, if you didn't look at the engine first, you would think it actually was a big twin.

And, when I first started out, it was severely underpowered for what I wanted, because people were making fun of me for not being able to keep up. It was after I did the engine work that people started to look at me different and wonder what in the hell I was riding, because Sportys weren't supposed to be able to beat big twins (according to them).

Thats always been a Harley fault.
Underpowered like a mofo unless you spent gobs of money for an already over priced bike.

To tell you the truth, doing all the stuff I did to the engine only ran me around 1500 bucks. Oh..................and the other thing you gotta do to a Harley if it's stock is get rid of the Harley carb and replace it with an S and S. Not only are they cheaper for parts if you need them, but they are also much easier to maintain and tune.

And that teardrop shape looks really cool on the side of the bike.

What the hell are you talking about?

 

[DGS49]

I have owned and ridden a lot of different bikes, and rented several Ultra's on vacation, but for my money and for my purposes, there is nothing that compares with an 1800 Goldwing.

When people talk about Harley's being "fast" it is ALL relative. None of them is actually fast for a motorcycle. A nice 600 crotch rocket will leave any Harley in the dust, including the late, great V-Rod.

My Goldwing is ultra-comfortable, smooth, powerful, and has a laundry list of accessories as standard equipment. When I first got my 1800 (I had a 1500 a few years ago), I thought it was geared too low (and lacking a 6th gear). But riding it on the highway reveals why they geared it the way they did; at 70 mph you are right in the middle of the torque curve. When you want to pass someone, all you have to do is think it, and you are gone. I can only imagine that adding a trike kit wouldn't be any strain on anything.

Not wanting to spend a lot of money on my last bike (i'm 70 years old), I bought a high-miles GW for $5,000. As expected, it still runs like new, and the only sign of its age (2004) is some peeling on the chrome.

Why would anyone spend $20g+ on a Road King? To sound good? Seriously?

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Forward controls, skinny front tire, and lowered the back, making the already-poor rear suspension awful.

Actually, part of what made the bike work so well was the Corbin seat that I had on it. Matter of fact, I have ridden from Ft. Collins CO to Amarillo TX in one day, and I was still able to walk after I got off the bike. And, drag bars with forward controls make for a very comfortable ride IMHO. I didn't like the way the stock controls made me perch on the bike, and I didn't like the ride height with the 13 inch shocks.

I found out a sportster is to small for me. It's rideable, but in just to long. The mid controls on my superglide are fine. But on the sportster it just feels weird. Mine is 2005 1200 sportster. My son hits it better so he rides it now and will likely own it. I ride around town and sometimes to New Orleans or some other place in Texas. May ride out to palo duro canyon on vacation and the super glide is fine for that. If I rode to sturgis every year or something like that then the superglide just won't do. It would kick my ass I think. If I rode state to state allot I would have a road King.

Well, I'm not that big of a dude, only 5'7" and around 135 lbs soaking wet, so lowering the shocks didn't really mess with me much, matter of fact, it actually made the bike more rideable for me. And, the bonus was, that with the conversion kit and the big twin tanks, if you didn't look at the engine first, you would think it actually was a big twin.

And, when I first started out, it was severely underpowered for what I wanted, because people were making fun of me for not being able to keep up. It was after I did the engine work that people started to look at me different and wonder what in the hell I was riding, because Sportys weren't supposed to be able to beat big twins (according to them).

Thats always been a Harley fault.
Underpowered like a mofo unless you spent gobs of money for an already over priced bike.

To tell you the truth, doing all the stuff I did to the engine only ran me around 1500 bucks. Oh..................and the other thing you gotta do to a Harley if it's stock is get rid of the Harley carb and replace it with an S and S. Not only are they cheaper for parts if you need them, but they are also much easier to maintain and tune.

And that teardrop shape looks really cool on the side of the bike.

Thing is it's still slow as hell compared to a Japanese sports bike which costs half of what a Harley does.
Harley's are all about image. The only people who ride them are biker types and wanna be biker types who are accountants and bankers by day.
Just not an image I wish to portray.

 

[ABikerSailor]

Actually, part of what made the bike work so well was the Corbin seat that I had on it. Matter of fact, I have ridden from Ft. Collins CO to Amarillo TX in one day, and I was still able to walk after I got off the bike. And, drag bars with forward controls make for a very comfortable ride IMHO. I didn't like the way the stock controls made me perch on the bike, and I didn't like the ride height with the 13 inch shocks.

I found out a sportster is to small for me. It's rideable, but in just to long. The mid controls on my superglide are fine. But on the sportster it just feels weird. Mine is 2005 1200 sportster. My son hits it better so he rides it now and will likely own it. I ride around town and sometimes to New Orleans or some other place in Texas. May ride out to palo duro canyon on vacation and the super glide is fine for that. If I rode to sturgis every year or something like that then the superglide just won't do. It would kick my ass I think. If I rode state to state allot I would have a road King.

Well, I'm not that big of a dude, only 5'7" and around 135 lbs soaking wet, so lowering the shocks didn't really mess with me much, matter of fact, it actually made the bike more rideable for me. And, the bonus was, that with the conversion kit and the big twin tanks, if you didn't look at the engine first, you would think it actually was a big twin.

And, when I first started out, it was severely underpowered for what I wanted, because people were making fun of me for not being able to keep up. It was after I did the engine work that people started to look at me different and wonder what in the hell I was riding, because Sportys weren't supposed to be able to beat big twins (according to them).

Thats always been a Harley fault.
Underpowered like a mofo unless you spent gobs of money for an already over priced bike.

To tell you the truth, doing all the stuff I did to the engine only ran me around 1500 bucks. Oh..................and the other thing you gotta do to a Harley if it's stock is get rid of the Harley carb and replace it with an S and S. Not only are they cheaper for parts if you need them, but they are also much easier to maintain and tune.

And that teardrop shape looks really cool on the side of the bike.

What the hell are you talking about?

How to make a Sportster fast. Drop in a cam kit, get rid of the stock carb and replace it with an S and S. The comment about the teardrop shape was because of the way the filter cover is shaped.