The lovely spouse rented one for me yesterday and I got a chance to put several hundred miles on it.  Sad to say, I'm not an upright seating position rider anymore.  My back started hurting at the couple hundred mile mark and never let up.  My goal was to get to Key West for a photo op with the bike.  Leaving Ft. Myers, I logged some slab miles to get a feel for the bike and play with all the doo-dads.  The GL1800 has nothing on the new Ultra for knobs and buttons.      The nav system was nice to have up front and easily visible without much eye shift.  The whole electronics package was a bit much to learn with just a short time to do it.  I managed to figure out how to change stations, adjust the volume on the fly and do simple routing inputs.

Riding the bike - it's a handful to move around under a couple mph.  Once rolling, the weight simply disappears like every other good touring bike.  Being bone stock (sans loud pipes , it had a pleasing tone without being overwhelmingly obnoxious.  I had issues with foot placement and adjusting to the heel/toe shifting thing again.  Front brake pedal was too far forward to my liking with a 30" inseam.  The highway pegs?  Totally useless to me.  I couldn't reach 'em!  Handlebar positioning was great for me.  Just enough pitch back and wide enough to not torture the shoulders.  The windscreen was totally wrong for me.  The top of the screen was right at eye level - a serious distraction.  Wind management was decent.  It was cool for Florida, but I don't consider 75* cold.      Since all my gear was back home, I was relegated to a HD half shell and NOTGATT.  Shortly after the obligatory Waffle House breakfast break, I tossed the half shell into the tour pack and said screw it.  Too annoying and loose to be of any use.

Rain management was good except for the windshield height tossing all the water right to my face.  I barely got wet in several typical rain showers for the area. 

The engine was nicely set up for low end grunt, but it could use a new fuel map.  It pinged horribly under load at speed when power was rolled on to pass.  There was a noise present that sounded like rockers clattering at all speeds.  The trans had an interesting rattle when slowing for a stop, sounding like a driveshaft u-joint going bad.

The seat was good for a stocker.  I put nearly 400 miles on and could see doing a SS1000 with no problem.  A backrest would be a good idea for me, though. 

Heat management compared to the older Ultras I've ridden is MUCH improved.  My legs never felt a bit of heat, but dropping my hand down, I could feel the radiator heat blowing outside my thigh.  Kudos there for sure. 


Would I own one?  Nope.  Did I enjoy it?  Yep.  I'd like to try a Fat Boy or a Road King like Don's to see if the slow speed stuff is more manageable.


I didn't make it to KW.  When I got to Miami via US-41 from Marco Island, the storm clouds were menacingly horrific, so I ducked north instead.  I took US-27 north to Lake Okeechobee, hoping to get some pics of the bike at the lake.  There's a 20' berm around it, so that also didn't happen.  I rode west across Route 80 back toward Fort Myers and meandered locally for a bit.  There are no "twisty bits" here to test the agility of the lumbering beast.

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In the Waffle House parking lot.

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Looking south towards Key West

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Shots from the casino parking lot in Miami.  Fugly skies.

How do the radiators NOT dump the heat right on your legs?  That was the first thing I thought when I first saw these.
Is the vent on top of the fairing functional?  If so, is there any adjustment to the venting?

I ripped the heel shifter off my Street Glide the day I brought it home and it never went back on. I got used to keeping the balls of my feet at the very back edge of the floorboards for non-shifting riding. as for the back brake pedal... *shrug*  Never used it much. I agree, we shorter-leg people just have to get used to the idea of highway pegs being decoration.

Quote from: Rincewind on December 27, 2013, 08:37:43 AM

Was there noticeably more power compared to the older Ultras that you've ridden?

Yes!  It's noticeable.  When I turned the fun meter up, it actually accelerated nearly briskly. 

So your saying it didn't try to rip your hands of the bars.

Quote from: sleazy rider on December 27, 2013, 10:32:46 AM

Quote from: Rincewind on December 27, 2013, 08:37:43 AM

Was there noticeably more power compared to the older Ultras that you've ridden?

Yes!  It's noticeable.  When I turned the fun meter up, it actually accelerated nearly briskly. 

So your saying it didn't try to rip your hands of the bars.

It's no sportbike, but it was fun in a wrestling with a dirty pig kinda way.   

Quote from: Royal Tiger on December 27, 2013, 01:02:39 PM

Don't all Harley demo rides end up at a bar so you can fully understand the ownership "experience"? 

Does two Amber Bocks with dinner qualify?

Only if you rode home after. 



But that's fairly lightweight for the "real motorcycle" faithful.   

Didn't take long for the Harley bashing to begin.

Me?  Take insult over a rental bike?  Not likely!  It was a fun time, but as you say, not my cuppa tea either.  Gimme my Daytona and let's go have fun.

My other bike is a DR350.  Dirt is good.   

I never hear that from people.  Perhaps because I only stop long enough to fill the gas tank.   


That said, the only bikes I see other than my STOner buddies in the middle of winter tend to be Harley RIDERS.  You know, the ones that don't give a shit what you ride, just that you are out there.