Meet REX my new 2022 FLHR Road King

For the past few weeks, I have been looking for my next bike, #32. Triumph has stopped making the big touring cruiser I have now and appears they will not make another. The current R3s are fun as hell for sure, but they do not meet my needs. The big four from Japan have also ended their run of big touring cruisers without a fairing. So, I narrowed the list to just five others: BMW's R18 Classic, Indian's Super Chief and Springfield, and Harley-Davidson's Road King and Heritage.

All five are quite worthy for sure, but I have to cut them down to one. The first two I removed are the Heritage and Super Chief. They are excellent competition for each other and if they were the only two left, I would go with the Heritage. It has a bigger tank and bigger bags. But alas, neither bike is big enough to carry me and all my work gear when I am on the road so neither make the cut.

Next to go is the R18. Of all these bikes, it has the best feel off the line. Its bags are big enough for my lunchbox and other goodies, but it does not come with a luggage rack. They don't even make one. It does not come with engine guards either and if any of these need them the most, it is the bike with big jugs sticking out the sides. It does have the most price incentives for a guy like me, but once I source the few things it must have, it is on par with the Road King in price.

I love the look of the Black and tan Springfield. Nut no one on the East coast have any though. I can order one and it would come in sometime in September. And talk about sticker shock. $27K+ out the door. I have to pass on it.

That brings me to the FLHR Road King. It took me home Saturday afternoon. I got the black one (fastest color for a bike you know) and added the back rests and luggage rack only. It rides great and can haul all my stuff when needed. Fuel range is around 235+ miles according to its computer.

And Hazel got me the gremlin bell...

The V-Twin does get hot for sure, but it can't hold a candle to Brahma with his unshielded Viking headers. So today, I added some mid frame heat deflectors.
The shield goes here on the right side.

This is an "insert-a-nut" or so i hear it called online. It has to feed in from the back side exactly where the engineers want you to drop it.

And when you do drop it, it will fall down here.

I can be taught! I used the magnet to feed into the whole from the front. Then moved the insert-a-nut close from behind. Once attached to the magnet, I pulled it through.

By the way, thsi is an air-cooled engine. Air cooling is not so effective

You have to move the sparkplug wire from its nesting place, but they conveniently added this new place for it on the shield.

And there it is, right side complete.

Nice, looks identical to my bro-in-laws 2015 Road King. He constantly messes with the pipes. He was on his third or fourth iteration of drilling, removing, adding, deleting baffles.
Now he is on his 2nd or 3rd set of new mufflers. Rush and other brands. He is going to end up spending what you did for a new bike, just like a true Harley owner.

Wait, what? 32? So unfair. Me, only 6.

I’m partial to Indian so I’d have gone with the SF. Ride happy bro.

Very glad you’ve found the right bike for you.

You live in a good place to enjoy that Road King. Enjoy the ride.
Remember, shiny side up.

CanberraR3 said:

Very glad you’ve found the right bike for you.

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Now watch, Triumph will pull a fast one on me and release a new R3T next year...

Nice bike but ahem...... it must be sacrilege to use a 10mmm metric spanner on a HD surely?

Ishrub said:

Nice bike but ahem...... it must be sacrilege to use a 10mmm metric spanner on a HD surely?

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I still feel betrayed. I have all these tired, metric wrenches from working on Triumph and Yamahas, the Standard wrenches wanted their turn. But alas, it is not to be with HD any longer...

This is probably going to surprise most of you; I joined a Harley forum last week much like I do for each bike I own. So far, I have one welcome response and one like. That got me to wondering about the difference there to here.
1. Do HD riders have no time to read the forum because they are in their garage cleaning their bikes?
2. Are HD riders just not as welcoming as folks here?
3. Do folks here simply give a hoot more than others?
4. Is it simply that so many Harleys are around that our other bikes are rarer thus more special?

Inquiring minds want to know...

I've got 2 Sportsters growing mold, in my barn. I was on a Harley site too. In my opinion, a lot of the people in that arena, seem to "know it all" and sort of disregard anyone else's opinion. Kinda like when you go into a Harley prominent bar, you might feel out of place if your not wearing a doo rag and a vest of some sorts. Probably need a chain on your wallet, etc. etc. Where this bunch here, is like, "come on in, have a drink, how'er ya doin" Dress attire has nothing to do with anything. Just a bunch of nice people.