| Author | Message | ||
     Captainplanet |
I would like to get input from anyone who has experience with HD Softails and Dynas. I am looking to buy a cruiser and need to know the good/bad things between the two models. I plan to use the bike for relatively short cruises, sometimes two-up. Style-wise I like the Dyna Super Glide and the Softail Duece. | ||
| Kenb |
friend of mine just bought a street bob, absolutely loves the bike and he's always been a sportbike kind of guy, I personally haven't ridden it yet but i'm due. | ||
| Djkaplan |
The important difference to know about the bikes is that Dynas have rubber mounted engines and Softails have solid mounted, balanced engines. The rubber mounted engine is smoother on the highway and feels peppier (in my experience). If you plan on changing spring preload for riding two-up, it's a lot easier on the Dyna with its exposed shocks. The Dyna SuperGlide is the only big Harley that appeals to me, and that's after spending a year on a Softail Fatboy. | ||
| 99buellx1 |
The new Dyna models are very nice. They made major changes in all respects and very good ones at that. If it were me I would get a Dyna. | ||
| Dfishman |
Softails ride like #@%^.Dynas ride good. | ||
| Aldaytona |
Dyna absolutely, for 2006 added 6 speed, EFI, new forks, new wheels and a larger rear tire, and more. I know,I know, by now you're wondering what the catch is, OK yes, they bumped the price $200.00  | ||
| Madduck |
I currently own a Heritage Classic Softail. Owned plenty of Dynas, Wide Glide is my favorite as that 21" front wheel really soaks up the small bumps. Basically the softails have "the look" of traditional Harleys and you sit down in them giving a completely different feel from the dynas. the dyna motor can be modded for much better power and higher rpm. when you just want to putt around in a lazy kind of way the Softails rule. Drag racing light to light, get a dyna. Want a combo of the two get a dyna. Oh chicks seem to like softails better as they are easier to get on and they have a more substantial feel going down the highway. Nephew likes sportbikes and his GF loves my Heritage. Either one is a nice bike. | ||
| Beachbuell |
I've owned several HD's and can tell you from experience that Dynas rock! The Dyna lineup is the "sportiest" of the HD Big Twins. All 06 Dynas have been totally revamped. New 6 speed tranny, wide glide style forks, EFI, easy effort clutch, wider tire, new swingarm design........ You get the picture. For the money I'd go with a Superglide and spend the savings on extras. I would recommend a stage 1 kit (pipes, hi-flo a/c and a EFI download). | ||
| Leftcoastal |
Go for the Dyna, all said above is true about them. Softails, in my opinion, are more for the style-consious type, rather than for someone that wants to RIDE. The FL series bikes "geezer glides" actually handle pretty good, once you get the tires changed from the stock Dunlops to Metzlers. Personally, I rarely ride with Softail riders, as I have found they can't keep up with the FLHR or the RS. The softails are really popular with the black t-shirt crowd, and they do have that low seat stance, and a look that is kinda purty. AL | ||
| Grndskpr |
Email RT, he rode a Dyna all weekend, ask him how it was, i belive he also has other Harleys in his stable, so he will have a good perspective to draw from But i was told by my very good dealer that a dyna would be the way to go, it handles, its fun Softtails are poser bikes R | ||
| Mikej |
Dyna or RoadKing. Roger, I asked RT what he thought of your bike Friday up at Appleton. He seemed to be enjoying it very much. I think he would have rode it home if you'd have let him. | ||
| 99buellx1 |
Also for you that have rode or owned an older (prior ot '06) Dyna, you owe it to yourself to take a test ride on a '06, the improvements will not go unnoticed. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Why you not got a softtail then Roger? | ||
| Oldog |
Advice on a HD  get a Buell  | ||
| Jackbequick |
Okay, we got a bunch of good info on the HD's here. This post induces some topic drift here. I hate to mention it but I just took a down payment on my M2 and want to move up to, for lack of a better term and used with no disrespect, a "geezer bike". I am a geezer, I was 64 on 6/6/06, I only want to own one road bike, and I have outgrown sport bikes (and a number of other things too). I want to sit upright, I want to have floorboards, I want to have a windshield at least part of the time. I ride my Buell like a geezer for the most part so riding a geezer bike will be an easy enough transition for me. But I have one problem. Because of my finances and my ignorance of cruiser bikes, I want to buy an intermediate bike before I make a decision on a geezer bike. So I am looking at some used HoKaSuYa V-twins that are around 1,100cc in displacement and sort of H-D like in appearance and configuration. I'm thinking I want to spend one year on one of those and then finalize the decision on my decision on the next keeper. I can do that now for less than half the price of the H-D Dynas and Road Kings that are leading the discussion here. Have any of you spent enough time around the HoKaSuYa models like I considering to say that they are a good or bad idea? I don't see how they could be a real bad idea but am open to opinions. Jack | ||
| Light_keeper |
Will friend+friend let you try some? Also most everyone I have spoken to that has the star stuff seems to be happy with them.  | ||
| Cowboy |
Att: Jack try teling some one what bike to ride is a touchy subject. I know you will curse the day you get rid of your Buell, having said that I will say I have no idea how I could get by with out my Buell but the wife and I rode her 750 Valcan till we felt we need a bigger bike and we went with a V-Rod but it is not a real cruiser both the wife and I are adicted to speed is why we went with a Rod and hey you are not as old as I | ||
| Buellgirlie |
i have a dyna street bob. love it. and its a big twin for $13K which, in relative H-D terms, is a steal. especially incl the new frame, bigger forks, 6 speed, etc. i bought my 06 dyna last fall. i rode some older dynas while home in texas over christmas and again in march - there is a *noticeable* difference in handling between the 06 and prior year dynas. the street bob comes with a solo seat, so you'd have to get a different seat for your passenger, or get a different bike in the dyna family. personally, i really like the mean, stripped down, blacked out look of the street bob. and its one of h-d's biggest hits in years as far as new bike introductions. you may run into some availability problems with the street bob, i have a friend here who had to search from dealer to dealer to get a street bob. some dealerships are starting to run low on model year 2006 bikes as the 2007 bikes are going to debut next month, then again, the ones you find, you might be able to deal on  good luck, D | ||
| Light_keeper |
Dora Glad to hear you like it. I am sort of leaning towards one. | ||
| Doon |
Jackbequick: My brother has a Yamaha Vstar 1100 classic. It seems to be a pretty nice bike. He picked it up as a leftover end of the last year for a good price. It is fun to ride. The addition of the pipe,big air kit, and jets (it is carb), has made it much more powerful. Here are some pictures of it http://patrick.muldoon.us/gallery/TheGang/IMG_1446 and http://patrick.muldoon.us/gallery/TheGang/IMG_1456 I myself am looking at a RoadKing, probably in the next year or so. Hoping I can squeeze another year out of my metric cruiser. My brother is 26, but rides like he is 60 (or so I tell him ) If you have any questions, let me know and I can bounce them off him. | ||
| 99buellx1 |
I would look for something from Yamaha. And something without a shaft. All the Suzukis that I have rode have used a shaft drive system, and it just sucked. The shaft jack on a softly sprung cruiser is terrible. | ||
| Bigdaddy |
Jack, I understand what you're saying. I know next to nothing about the metric cruisers, but my father in law had the Vulcan and it was 100% bullet proof for 40K miles. Smooth as glass, plenty of power, plenty of accessories, decent following. The only downside I witnessed was resale value was terrible. I've had, at one time or the other, just about every big twin offering the MoCo has and the only one I didn't like was the Road King Custom -- should've got the standard/classic RK. So I sold it. If I were getting a cruiser, using the specs you've given, I'd take a very serious look at a used RK with low miles. ..--.. G2 | ||
| Jackbequick |
Good inputs, thanks guys. I know I'm going to miss the Buell. And badly. I love riding it, the torque and power is just just the most enjoyable thing I've ever experienced in a bike. But I get a little stiffened up in a few hours on it and it will not work for me as an all day/long distance ride. It's that simple. The terrible resale value on the stuff I'm looking at is going to make this a pretty inexpensive experiment for me. I'm not going to buy new and probably won't lose too much of what I put into it if I keep it for the year. The original new bike buyers will have taken the biggest loss on depreciation. I'm not mean, that's just the way the world is. Jack | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
three words: ROAD KING! FB | ||
| Blake |
•••• you! I've wanted one since I laid eyes on the very first advertisement for it in Cycle World magazine; when was that, back in 1992? | ||
| Sgtbuell |
Any thoughts on the Springer Softtail. I've always liked the looks of the Springer front end but heard it doesn't ride to well. Plus that rear 200mm tire out back just makes the bike look so bad a$$. If I were to get a Dyna I'd have to go with the Wide Glide, thats another just sweet as sh!t looking HD. | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
Blake, i wanted one since then, too. a guy i used to work with at NAPA up in Washington and i both saw the new RK when it came out and said, "Some day, some day..." i haven't seem him in eons, i hope his "someday" came, too. FB | ||
| Djkaplan |
Jack, My 64 year old father rides a 2000 Kawasaki Nomad 1500. It's one of those blatant copies of an Electra Glide.  He absolutely loves this bike and he's had a very good run with it. When the bike had 40,000 miles on it, an oil-pump drive gear broke (sound familiar?) and the engine locked up. Kawasaki recognized that the bike had a defective plastic gear and they rebuilt his engine free of charge three years after the warranty expired. It's incredible that a company would go to those lengths, especially on a 4 year old motorcycle with so many miles on it. He rides this bike totally stock, except for every bauble and chrome doo-dad you can get (no fringe, though... thankfully). | ||
| Tramp |
stick with a conventional swingarm machine. softtails aren't for serious riders- the softtail technology exists strictly for appearance. dyna's a great machine- the FXR is still my all-time favourite, by a long shot, unfortunately, it hasn't been manufactured for 7 or so years....Erik Buell had considerable input on the FXR, in the dawn of the eighties. | ||
| Rich |
I'm gonna put a couple thousand miles on my RoadGlide this weekend... ...if you pass me in the mountains, wave. |
