Harley-Davidson Road King Motorcycle Experience Road Test

this is one of the most popular touring motorcycles in Harley Davidsons line up the road King recently this classic underwent a complete overhaul thanks to what HD called Project rushmore a special skunkworks project the saw company engineers compiling a ton of direct customer feedback and implementing as many subtle tweaks and revisions possible without changing the motorcycles original heart and soul some of the results from this process included a hefty bump in the Kings air-cooled 103 v-twins torque and horsepower and speaking of B check out the new 49 mil front fork then there's the new abs assistant linked braking system the redesigned saddle revised hand controls and hard luggage complete with a new one touch latching system and that's just the tip of the iceberg pretty much everything has been breathed on and yet from a distance it still looks like a road King how does a ride well here's what longtime Harley owner and firefighter Jim Young has to say you know Jim harley-davidson did all kinds of refinements to the road King this year with their new Rushmore program but it's still to me looks like a Harley it looks like a road King what was your first impression that traditional Harley Davidson you know the full fenders the lots of chrome the big front end on them long and low just that traditional what everyone fell in love with what I fell in love with when I first seen him as a kid you know yeah you hit the starter you fired it up what did you think of the 103 loved it I have an older 88 cubic inch ultralight and it's this is the way to go yeah and it works well mine but this one just the pull it's so smooth and it's an even pull from start to finish and once you get up there just levels off and let Chuck down there you go again they've also worked on the suspension new Fork etc how did it just feel as far as hitting some of those back roads today it has a very soft suspension on it rigid enough to take the good bumps we were have to get across him today but yeah a very smooth and I believe it's an air / hydraulic shock package but very smooth and it's adjustable - let's talk about that riding position you've got the floorboards saddle pullback handlebars do you like that riding position how was it just need a TV remote like sitting at home on the couch yeah very comfortable they change the bars a little bit they're up a little higher and back very comfortable and long-haul bike yeah you could sit on this and ride for hours and be comfortable but no issues whatsoever yeah Carly has really worked hard on improving paint chrome fit finish with some new pieces involved there with the the panier bags what did you think about the overall fit and finish they've really cleaned a lot of little things up but I don't you know you don't really notice that first but the more we wrote it today you're right the saddlebags a huge improvement yeah nice and round it off bars in front for the for the saddlebags yeah I've dipped down while you're passenger a little more knee room and they've opened up the front fender you can see that big meaty tire on the front right yeah every stop why just you see other little things well that's a little different so they've a lot of little changes and tweaks but all for the best they've done a beautiful job one of the other little refinements have been the the OneTouch panier bags new hinges new levers to open you up what do you think of the bags that is nice yeah you get back to some of the other models and the old opening systems where was the reflector on the outside play around that one touch that is super slick they did a nice job clean up the inside of the bag with the mounts as well mm-hmm they've done a great job and improving the bag itself so who would you recommend this motorcycle to for anyone that wants to do the cruising or you know just a little short runs mm-hmm very comfortable for that and if you need to get out on the highway and take the day and ride not look back be ideally for that as well so Road King still king of the road any thoughts about maybe moving up yes yeah it's still king of the road yeah they've kept that traditional harley-davidson that Road Kings been around and just they've refined it that much better mm-hmm but still king of the road for sure nice job Jim thank you very much thanks for coming out today and

Channel: Motorcycle Experience

Views: 216,967

Keywords: Harlery-Davidson, Road King, Dave Hatch, Motorcycle Experience, Motorcycles, Road Test, Motorcycle Review, Motorcycling, Harley Davidson Road-King Road Test, project rushmore, air vooled 103 v twin, 49mm front fork, Hard luggage

Id: kNkd9QeeBTw

Length: 5min 9sec (309 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 08 2016