2001 Harley-Davidson FLHRCI Road King® Classic Motorcycles

I bought a 2002 Road King Classic in June of 2002. I now have 3,740 miles on it and I love the bike and I think it is the best value in the Harley line up. Different styles appeal to different folks but for the money, the Road King came out on top. When I first started looking, I was considering the Fat Boy. When I started adding up what it was going to cost to add a windshield, passenger backrest (for my wife) saddle bags and lights, I realized that the Heritage Softail Classic was the same bike as the Fat boy with everything on it. Lace wheels instead of solid and a heftier looking front fender. I liked the look of the fender on the Heritage and without chromed wheels on the Fat Boy, I was leaning toward the Heritage Softail Classic. Once I settled on the Heritage, I realized that I was moving more towards the heavier more classic look and so I started looking at the Road King Classic. Only two drawbacks for the Road King: One, the bags don’t come off. (Well they do, but man I’m talking about one butt ugly bike without ‘em.) Two, no passenger backrest. So why did I get the Road King Classic? Once you add the Backrest and realize that you really wouldn’t ever want to take the bags off, I found some pretty important features that are not on the Softails. All of the Touring models have vibration isolated Twin Cam 88 engines. The Softails have the Twin Cam 88b, which means they are balanced and run very smooth but they still have a tiny bit of vibration at highway speeds. The Road King has Adjustable Air Shock Suspension and is just a better smoother ride with no sacrifice of power. The bonus was that the Road King came with Electronic Cruise Control and even though I did not think I would use it, it is one great feature! When I am on rides longer than an hour I use it all of the time. Trust me, it does not even compare to the throttle lock on other models. Now, what's wrong with the Road King Classic. The handlebars are too far forward and the seat is just not comfortable enough. After a couple of hours on the bike, the combination of leaning forward to reach the handlebars and the contour of the seat is really uncomfortable. So now I will have to replace the handlebars with Chubby Road King II’s and I will have to replace the seat with the new HD Sundowner Classic. I feel like Harley Davidson knows this and just want get into your pocket some more. It is irritating but I guess that is the price you pay. Overall, the ride is smooth, and the Twin Cam 88 runs great. All I have done to the bike is add Samson Rolled Oval pipes, a stage I download and Air intake, a passenger backrest, plus a couple of other cosmetic additions. (Head lamp rings x's 5, chrome covers on the passenger floorboards and a matching fender skirt).Once I get different Bars and a better seat, I will like riding it on longer rides. I hope this is helpful for anyone that is considering a Road King.

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