New Bike

Have a buddy wanting to buy a FLH...New or close to it...without a tour pak,or info-tainment...are the 103's better than the 96"ers??
What's the pro's and con's of a new touring bike??Any one year better in the last couple of years??

The 103 is far away better than the 96. My 2 cents.


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have had 2 103's. A 2012 and now a 2015. 103, 6 speed,6 gal tank the sh*t.

Don't hate the infotainment center or the tour pac. Tour pacs can be changed to a docking system so you can take on and off as needed. If on a long trip/ride tour pac worth its weight in gold. Tunes on the road make it more enjoyable. Imagine hitting a scenic area and your favorite song comes on..been there done that a bunch. .GPS even better.

New/used? New is better if you got the $$$. But plenty awsome low miliage used ones. He should first figure out what type of riding he's gonna do and chose from there. And remember its always cheaper to buy with then add on later.

It's going to be a cruising/touring bike...He has a Vrod for days he wants to smell rubber...
Infotainment will be a hard sell for him...He doesn't use computers or even have a cell phone....Are they on all the '14 &'15 fairing bikes??When I mentioned the infotainment,he said"Well,I'll get a Road King."
I mentioned about getting an Electra Glide instead of a Street Glide and just take the tour pak off,then it's there if you want it,I put one on my King and love it
What year did the six speed and 6 gallon tanks go on them??

Yes the Infotainment is on all bikes with fairings now. The 96" is a nice engine, just a stroked 88" and easy to bring to 103" The touring frames were redesigned in 2009 so I am assuming that is what he would want. I think that the 6 speeds became standard in about 2007. 6 gallon tanks about 2010 or 2011.

Why not a newer Road Glide?

That's an option too

It kind of sounds like your buddy is a minimalist, so I wouldn't suggest anything with a tour pak even though you can make them detachable. There is a lot of nice luggage available. The radio and stuff like that, it is nice to have on the long trips but to each their own. Road Kings are a nice bike.

A minimalist would be a good description of him....
It was my King that got him thinking about a touring bike...I loaned it to him last summer to take his niece around the Cabot Trail,and he got hooked....Even with it set up for a short fat bastard like me,and he's a big guy...lol...Says he's 6'2",but I think that's only to his eyebrows....
A set of apes is going on whatever he gets,so I think a King or RG would look better with them than on a batwing bike...

Street Glide- turn the radio off, done. '12 or later for the 103.

One concern of the frame change between 2009-13 is they used the same front end. They beefed the front end up in 2014. Is that a difference maker for the 2009-13 electraglides? It was for my 2012 Ultra...front end wobble.

Here's my new Hog



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Handling nite and day between my '12 and '15, 2015 way better. Among other things...front end wobble...gone.

I thought the frame change in '09 was supposed to take care of the bagger wobble...which I thought was alignment issues,or worn swingarm bushings...
My '03 rode like it was on rails...until I fixed it lol

It should have a horn that goes Oink! Oink!