Harley Davidson - ROAD KING SPECIAL Review. 'The Five BIG Surprises'

[Music] right traction control I'm pretty sure it's an extra on the road king special I bought the bike used it was 3 months old and it come with it um I wasn't really bothered whether it had it or not but um twice it's really caught me by surprise and um whenever it's wet now or you know just cold damp roads in the morning I flick it on automatically the two times it's really surprised me um once was very cold morning it had been raining the roads were still wet I was coming out of a roundabout and two roads were going into one Lori in front of me and I gave it a little bit too much to overtake the lorri the back slightly come out I mean I would have reacted to it and eased off myself and counter steered eased off the acceleration but before I even thought it just in a split second the bike took the power off the back wheel it straightened up and I saw the little light come on it there's a light come on that says when it's in use and it really surprised me how quick and it was and it was just like well that was nice it was nice for someone to care about me um so that was the first time another time was we were camping in the woods in the mud had to go down a terribly muddy Lane water logged back was sliding in and out and it just kept kicking in and out every time it sort of slipped it just kicked in and out and it made it just easier um so it's something that never thought I needed but I love it so traction control yeah I'm I'm down with it I don't know what you think about it of is it coming to play with you guys um obviously I come from an old bike and um never had anything never had indicators or anything but traction control I really like it and it's definitely you know it's like someone watching out for you which is um you like that don't you don't often get that as motorcyclists we're on our own right the lights on these bikes um the day maker headlight that just the one I think on the older models it didn't come with it but on these newer ones the day maker headlight um I'd read I'd read it was really good and on my old bike one thing about my old bike it had the old fashion bulbs and it was always blowing and even on I mean it was it was a poor light it was a chopper light it was custom and you know I'm sure I could have got a better one but that light was like like having a candle in front of you on a dark Road it was useless it did it didn't the high beam was exactly the same as the low beam it really didn't do anything at all so I was quite um eager when I when I did buy one of these I mean it turned out I could buy the the later model that come with it if I'd bought the older one I was it was one of the things I was going to save up for I really I'd read about the day maker I wanted it I wanted to have good lights I do do a lot of night riding early morning riding the first time I used it um I'd had the bike a couple of weeks hadn't been out at night U me and lecee were away and we come out of some pub at like 11:00 at night in the middle of the countryside had about a 20 M ride back to the hotel or camps like we were staying and it was just pitch black and I remember we set off down these little tiny winding roads the day maker itself on standard was beautiful lit up that road like so far and so wide but but um I forgot about high beam got got like 5 minutes into the journey cracked on the high beam and it was just literally lit up for I don't know a couple hundred yards down the road I just Could See For Miles and um I love it I love it and um I find in the daytime as well people just see it more um so yeah really impressed with the day maker it's a it's a it's just a game changer makes night riding so relaxing you're not kind of like trying to peer through the dark all the time so yeah I love that I I did go overboard and buy a pair of Denali r4s for this um on my old motorcycle I got I got written off someone swp me I was laying splitting in the daytime and uh yeah luckily I come out all right the bike was right off so I thought I want to make myself more visible in the day and especially as I've got this bike so me and lis a could tour in it and I knew we'd be doing thousands of miles and I just wanted to make my odds higher survival for daytime riding so I'd read about the Denali lights and I particularly see I saw a couple of bikes with the yellow lens on them and and I just you spot them for miles away so I I went and got them I walked the camera around in a minute but I went and got these denar lights with the yellow lenses and ever since I've had them um I I can honestly say hand on my heart people just don't know what's coming down the road and and cuz they don't know they don't pull out and and the amount of times normally where I know I mean it's almost ridiculous I'd be there's a car 400 yards down the road waiting to pull out and I'm just thinking pull out you got M you just pull out and they just don't they just sit there like a lemon thinking what is it what's coming is it a bird is it a plane they don't know what's coming cuz of these little yellow light and that's and I've only got them on 10% they're dimmable or the way I've got them set them up you can't have them on 50% they're they're they're blinding so you've got to have um this dimable switch and stuff almost could do another review on the Denali lights alone but anyway on 10% power they they just cut through anything fog and people don't know what's coming down the road and and I've just found that people really do see me along wayway and and just seem to be more light and courteous so again it's just like something else watching out for you like a little another little angel on your wing I guess but um yeah I love the Denali lights and again on at night no matter what the day maker does full beam what they do on full beam is ridiculous it's just they they light up the fields next year yeah you just it's pretty much like the end of the world lighting up no more squinting through the dark you can see see if something's going to run out some drunk idiot in the road stumbling about like a mad man um yeah the lights are great um on the subject to lights I did swap out the indicators for LEDs the others were useless um these are really bright too and the back lights I put the um switch it on on the back I did put the tri bar light on down here which is again it's a bit more of a brake light these are brake lights and indicator lights Allin one but again I swapped them for Led right another thing really uh caught me by surprise was just how good good this engine is the miluk 8 engine um it's a beast and you know it's a beast when you buy it it's a 114 you know it's a massive lump but um I just can't get over how good this engine is it all sort of make I mean it's obvious things that I didn't think about um but this massive engine for touring is just fantastic 99% of the time I'm too up on this bike Lisa's on the back we've got luggage on a as well so there's a you know there's a big bit of weight on the bike and it just it just doesn't affect it it's like a this thing's like a stallion and it will pull and pull um mountain roads that we've been on I mean i' you know just don't matter how steep they are you just don't you've always got it there you want to overtake on the Mountain Road with a really steep incline two up with all you like it just just pulls and pulls you haven't got always drop down you know the motorway way cruising speeds are fantastic um you know I mean sitting around 90 mph or whatever you know it's not even trying um that's what really surprises me and I mean I guess it's obvious it's almost a 2 L engine um but a couple of times I've pulled away in third by accident and I've not even had to really give it much more acceleration you re I realized and then just obviously giving a bit more but just effortless power always on tap and um and like I said going high speeds doing 90 M an hour or you know 100 or whatever it just doesn't even sound like it's trying it's just purring and you know around town it's just like it's I just find it's such a smooth engine you know it's all this power it's not like that nippy power even in first you you know you you can open it up it's not like on a sport bike obviously where you've just got you're worried about flipping it or the back coming out all the time but it's just a lovely sort of power um it's got guts pulling away at the lights you want to kind of you kind as a as a motorcyclist you kind of don't want to be around car you kind of always I always jump to the front of the queue and you know often you got someone there like wants to kind of get in front of you but um you've always got that power to be be in front you know I guess that's why it's called a robe King you are king of our road but yeah I love the power and and and I mean I guess it's obvious I did I didn't but it's another thing I didn't really think about I wanted I wanted the 114 um obviously I'm I'm human I'm a man you want you want the big engine but I didn't really think about what it would be like and um yeah it's a beautifully smooth powerful engine and for two U riding and touring it's just it just makes life so easy um it's fantastic I love the engine the space on the bike all over and by space I just mean the space you have as a rider to stretch out on this bike is ridiculous um the the way you can change your positions as a rider and me for example you know obviously the footboards aren't that far forward so if you have your feet in the back you're riding mid if you put them further forward you've got more stretched out you can put them on the bars but also what I often do if Le is not on the bike is you can utilize the pans you know and ride in a in a real kind of like Fast position bending your knees it's just nice to be able to change position and also if you're off-roading you can use the pons to stand up easier with these pulled back bars you know you can ride if you're doing bumps and stuff whereas with the slightly forward foot floor balls it's very hard to stand up on them you're not in a good place also if you just want to stretch out which I have done before this throw this lid out of the way I have actually rode sitting on the Pion just to stretch my back out I mean I'm talking when you're doing long long days and putting the miles in I've sat there riding along like this just to stretch out but um I mean I guess you could just sit back here and cruise and put the cruise control on that's not me um but yeah this has come in handy though this position utilizing the pum pegs but the space as a rider it's got tons of space you can just change your leg position so much and back position Etc so I'm loving the space and also by space I mean space for carrying having the rack on the back being able to stack so much luggage the paniers are really good siiz paniers and um just I've I've really enjoyed being able to put so much on it and load up going on trips and you know I mean obviously you've always got to cut down what you take um but you know getting two bags on the back filling the paniers up you really don't even notice the difference in weight um it's just on on my old bike I would I would still strap on a couple of bags but I didn't have paniers but I'd strap on stuff but everything was always it wasn't built for carrying loads of stuff so although I had a bar strapped the bags on um it wasn't designed to carry that weight and the bike never really handled right for it this bike as long as you distribute the weight evenly it really is um it's got tons of space two people you don't feel cramped on here it's made for two people um once you throw away that useless back seat that comes with the other one um it's a really good bike for two people and the space is the space is fantastic right cruise control it wasn't something I've ever had um in a car or a motorcycle and it wasn't something I thought I'd use um I falling in love with that as well um I just find on on you know it's so easy to get pulled over nowadays and especially abroad I don't want to be pulled over and um if I'm on a trip somewhere I just find I get on that road and if it's 120 K kilometers an hour or 80 or whatever it is it's so quick and easy to just set it and I do set it in the UK on so many of our roads there's so many speed traps now there's so many cameras you just got to set that speed limit and and you know you call um so I I I really do use that all the time and I never thought I would I really didn't um and it just makes life so easy and also just can like stretch your arms and stretch your your right hand from the accelerator I mean on days where you're doing you know hundreds and hundreds of miles just nice to switch off sometimes and have a rest and sit back relax um so yeah I love the cruise control and it's so simple to use um once I figured it out um I really love that and again I don't I don't want to get loads of tickets and points point it's so easy to lose your license and on long trips especially abroad where you really don't want to be pulled over I just find the minute you get on that them big roads it's so easy to overdo the speed and you know we all do at [Music] times oh man oh Jesus well I'm going to quickly tell you something that I really hate and I really hate this and um this has only just happened on this bike but it's happened before and it's happened coming here today um it just happened again I didn't even notice till I was making this video and this is really winding me up now but the first time it happened I went into Harley had the bars changed um come out of the dealership and there's normally a little um cover plate that goes over here just underneath this there's a cover plate that's got Road King written on it and it covers the two holes that clamp on The Handlebar clamp and it says Rog King anyway when I come out of the dealers when I come out of the dealers last time this cover plate we pulled onto the motorway just I pulled on the motorway pouring down with rain obviously cuz it's middle of winter but um pouring down with rain pull on the motorway gun it up to speed and just as I get into the off the slip Road onto the motorway I just see the road king badge fly off past my head and there's a lorry behind me and it's gone straight under there's no way I'm pulling over on that Motorway to go and retrieve it even if I could find it and run around the motorway like a lemon trying to find it um so I just had to let it go anyway I got home I just figured the guy who who mounted the bars hadn't pushed it on properly you know cuz hence why else would it come off um so anyway I got straight back onto the phone to him had a little bit of an argument cuz I just said I want another one it's it's obviously your fault she was first trying to say I um I should have gone and got it um on the motorway so I said no I'm not I'm not going to put myself in that danger um then there was a little mutter about I might have to pay for it um and I let her know there's no way I'd be paying for it and um just send me one or you know put me through to the higher Powers anyway they were fair fair play they they just sent me one and sent me one they took one off another bike first they said I'd have to wait six or eight weeks to get one but they very kindly took one off another bike and sent me it and it come through the post absolutely free and I clipped it on and it's been on there for 10 months or so and it's been fine I've never had to pull it off to do anything or adjust anything so I kind of didn't want to touch it again cuz I was worried about maybe if it you know just playing about with them would weaken the the clips on anyway on the way here today I didn't know it but it's flown off again it was there when I left for sure um cuz as I put the ignition in I saw but on the way here today it's flown off in the wind somewhere I didn't see it fly off so now I've got no cover plate for the clamp it's gone so and I know now there's no way they give me another one free I think I did look them up they're kind of expensive for a stupid bit of plastic I think I read somewhere they're like 40 quid and I've probably got pay shipping and that's me off it's me off that something that is this nice it's such a nice high quality bike has got an issue right so who else has had it cuz I know someone else has had it cuz I saw it on a forum but I'm just wondering if anyone else has lost theirs um that's got to be a fault that needs fixing you know you don't want a 25,000 motorcycle with Badges and emblems just flying off in the wind when they feel like it so that's a downer ran over so lights traction control cruise control that beautiful engine and the space this bike all five things I love the one gripe this stupid stupid thing that keeps falling off oh wish harly open now I want to go and have a rail um I know it's going to be a rail I don't want to pay 40 gr for one um but if I have to I have to but um this time what am I going to do I guess this time I'm going to get some really um strong adesive double-sided stuff to help it stay there I will just um ride the same way I went home see if I can find it but you know what's the odds on that I'll probably more likely crash trying to look on the road and uh find it then actually find it but I will go back that way

Channel: Lean Into The Wind

Views: 9,431

Keywords: Harley Davidson review, harley davidson, road king, road king special, road king special review, traction control, Harley Davidson touring model, harley davidson controls, road king review, new Harley Davidson, motorcycle review, Harley Davidson problems, best harley davidson, Denali lights, Harley Davidson cruise control, harley davidson Milwaukee 8, harley engine, day maker light, harley best head light, auxiliary lights, best points road king special

Id: cHUgptdeUiQ

Length: 21min 44sec (1304 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 28 2023