95 Honda Shadow ACE 1100

78 Honda CX500 - for $ale

 

 - Martin Luther King Jr. 

 

 "To be nobody-but-yourself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."

 

 

Visually the bike was a typical H-D-superbly finished, but functionally.....  The test ride did reinforce my strong feelings for my '04 1200R as a bike that I will be keeping and keeping.  DFO

-Richard.

 

"but yond man is ever angry. Go, let him have a table by himself; for he does neither afffect company nor is he fit for't indeed". -Shakesphere, Timon of Athens.

95 Honda Shadow ACE 1100

78 Honda CX500 - for $ale

 

 - Martin Luther King Jr. 

 

 "To be nobody-but-yourself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."

 

The standard Road King and even the Classic serve well in long tours, and even reasonable twisty action, but not this one.

---

I think its the best looking RK yet!!  If I get the cash, the custom is what Ill get!!

 

Ken

Spring

02' Kaw 1500

Mean Streak

I bought a 04 RK Custom on 4-14-04 and by June I had 5200 miles. With the addition of a windshield

and a new Mustang seat, it's great. There is no excuse for the stock seat, HD really can do better.

Yes, more power is better (is there ever enough?) but I get enought trouble as it is on my own.

I find the bike takes curves quite well and the usual double the speed limit sign rule seems to be it's

limit. I drive back and forth to my cabin in AR which is 250 miles each way and it's a dream. Once you

set the air pressure in the rear shocks right, it is a very comfortable bike. The price on the bike seems

high, but compared to any boat or car it's all realitive.

Howdy all. I'm new to this board but belong to a couple of others that I greatly enjoy. On one board there was a link to here and talk about the new 04 Road King Custom.

Just wanted to add my $.02 and thoughts since I own one of these fine machines. I got my RK in late May of 04  and would have to say that it is by far one of the sweetest handling and nicest riding bikes I have ever had the pleasure of being on. I have been riding for 40 or so years and doing my won wrenching since I was old enough to hold one in my hand. May not have always fixed the problem but sure have kept a few techs in job security. I do all my own engine builds and about anything else I can do without taking the bike to a dealer unless it's warranty work.

What I have discovered about the Road King Custom is that anyone that can ride a motorcycle and would get on this bike and claim to have any problems with riding it should probably NOT! be riding a motorcycle of any kind. IMHO, the RK is that sweet of a bike to ride.

The pros are the ease of handling, center of gravity, the wider tire on the back, the fit and finish.

The cons are the brakes sound like a freight train coming to an emergency stop with every one screaming to the point of embaressment at a stop of any kind. The seat is like setting on a rock and the handlebars are about the most uncomfortable things I have ever rode. They look nice but IMHO that is about all they are good for especially if you suffer from any kind of carpal tunnel like I do in both hands.

Other than that it is a phenominal piece of macheniery and I truly do love it. I would say that Harley did some good homework on this model and aside from the cons being probably the MoCo's way of keeping us paying Harley Tax, I give it 3 Thumbs up. Sorry couldn't figure out how to get the thumbs up to post. LOL

The other thing that I am quite disappointed with the MoCo is them putting the El Cheapo offshore POS crank bearings in the 03 and up TC engines. WTF is that supposed to be all about? So if they build 300,000 bikes and save one dollar per crank bearing thent hat's $300,000 they saved, now if they have to fix say 1000 bikes at the tune of $1500-2500 that would be $2,500,000 it will cost the MoCo to fix this problem so how in any forum did the MoCo really save any money.

Word of caution. Before doing any super high performance mods to any 03 and up TC you should think about changing out the crank bearings to Timken bearings. Yes it will require complete engine removal and case splitting but for any super high performance builds it will sure save trashing the bottom end.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, Spiderman.