Bonneville America Forums Forums General Motorcycle Forums Other Bikes New Wide Glide.....

I looked at the new Thunderbird and Rocket Touring yesterday, but still find aspects of both not very appealing. Than, H-D releases a new Wide Glide for '10. It's a little down on power to the T-bird and others, but it sure looks good on paper. Some black pipes and a set of taller bars (chumps?)mmmm?...

I'm just not sure.

It looks good but Harley just doesn't put much
into technologically updating their products.

?

If you like that wide glide,why not just stick with the america or speedy?That bike looks just like both.

America / Speedy with a Big Bore is.....Magnificent and out run/haul only the most tricked out HD....or at least that is my experience........

I do think that is the best looking bike that Hardly has come out with in a long time,i sat on one at the stealership,felt good, but to me it felt no where near as good as sitting on the new Thundebird.I personally am a long ways off from buying a new bike but when i am I definitley will be looking at the T-bird,besides I've talked to much crap about Harley to switch now!lol!

spoked tube type tires and skinny front rubber not my bag..the R3 Roadster will spit those Harleys out and I am sure they are less money..AND the america/speedy will triple the fun over that wide glide..weight,handling,fatigue,looks,etc...park both the wide glide and a triumph in front of a harley dealer and see who gets the attention!!

Man, Id love to see one of those comin at me in a crate on a forklift. Id drive the crate right over to the nearest dumpster and drop it.lol FTF

That sums it up nicely. My buddy's Deuce eats me alive and I can just barely keep on the tail of my nephews Fat Boy.
"Maybe" looking for a bigger bike, but just not 100% enthusiastic about the T-bird, Roadster or Rocket Touring. In the mean time, I'll definitely keep my America and ride it till the wheels fall off.
That Wide Glide is just the first HD that I've found attractive in a long time. Would I enjoy riding it, who knows? It's been years since I've been on a new HD.

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America / Speedy with a Big Bore is.....Magnificent and out run/haul only the most tricked out HD....or at least that is my experience

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I don't think the big bore will get you into the 12s for 1/4 mile times. Stage 2 on that HD will get it to 12.5 or so. Its a size, stroke = torque thing.

The 1200 Sportsters are already just over 13.0 out of the showroom. We are in the mid to high 14s stock.

I wish some of you 904 guys would do a track night. I would love to know the results.

That bike is why they built the T-bird.

Here is your basic out of the box DYNA time

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The ride reviews of the 2010 Victory Cross Roads & Cross Country will be on newsstands soon. Might be worth a look.

Good luck Al, that Dyna looks good.

Yep, looks just about like every other HD out there. Hardly's are really good for blending in...

Actually it kinda looks like a Honda Shadow Sabre with those flames.

need to drop that rear end and get a different headlight, maybe a bullet style... and the fender needs some flames too

It wouldn't matter. Even with more flames on the fender and a different headlight your bike would be able to kick his asterick*.

What was that, a low flying F-16 that blurred by you in Arkansas?

A Harley you say...

For penance, your new toothpaste

The only thing I have against the Wideglide is that a 3.00-21 tire and rim look lost between the fork legs. They looked a lot better back when they used a fat tire and a 16 inch rim with a classic style fender (mudguard). The skinny tire and 21 inch rim fit better with a Superglide size fork.

The new Wide Glide is a sweet looking bike. Pricey. But darned handsome.

Eeh! It looks like an arthritic aardvark!!!

(hey...if Greybeard can say all sportbikes look like a "farting grasshopper", then I certainly can say THIS about that elongated Harley here, RIGHT???!!!)

Actually, I suppose it's not a bad lookin' machine, IF you don't care all that much about how well a motorcycle handles once you place your behind on it and take off.

cuz thats the main thing. cant handle worth a wet blanket and costs two bikes more than its worth, but gawrsh shes pretty.

Yep Craig, I knows me THAT!

However, I'm kind'a reminded of what my dear ol' Pop used to tell me whenever I was smitten by that next pretty girl that came alone out there..."Pretty is, as Pretty does!"

(and besides...I've been hankerin' to use that there "Arthritic Aardvark" line o' mine for ooooooh so long 'round here ya know, and I figured HERE was MY CHANCE!!!)

I said it LOOKS nice. I haven't ridden it and dunno what the ride is like and wouldn't venture a thought on that until I had. But it d*&ned sure looks nice.

It's not like it's a character flaw to like one bike or another.

I just saw a thread on a Harley forum where some dude asked for advice about buying a new Triumph T-Bird or an HD Dyna. The crap they threw at the guy was worse than rude. It was mean and unnecessary.

I'm reminded of the Dr. Seuss story about Sneetches, some with stars on their bellies and some with plain bellies. It's a parable about prejudice.

I think the Harley guys in the Harley forum should read that story. Might have some application here, too.

Aah! Now THERE's the problem with asking the Harley Faithful* out there about ANYTHING!!!

(*-those who believe, either though overt nationalistic viewpoints OR though sheer lack of motorcycling experience and/or "somebody told 'em so", that the only motorcycle out there worth owning is manufactured in Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA)

Ya SEEEEEE, youse probably AIN'T gonna receive a real intelligent answer...let ALONE a particularly even-handed one!!!

So tell me here Chris: Who WAS this moron who went to THAT SOURCE to supposedly receive an unbiased answer to his little query, HUH???!!! I KNOW it wasn't YOU, 'cuz you've always stuck me as a reasonably intelligent individual, dude!!!

Now, like I was sayin', this softtail isn't a bad lookin' bike at all, IF all you're after is a nice lookin' bike that goes STRAIGHT down a road reasonably well! BUT, when youse gotta go over, say, a MOUNTAIN ROAD, oooooh...youse ain't gonna be likin' it near as much.

(but hey, for those folks who live in, say, Kansas, Nebraska or Florida, THEN youse in LUCK, and I say go visit your nearest Harley-Davidson Boutique...err....I mean DEALERSHIP, and check this puppy out!!!)

deffinately needs a fat 21" Avon on the front but,,,one fine-a.. bike..................................

@Phaedrus: I just had ta mess with ya. And I hate Harleys.

@OldRoadie: I would have to ride the two within minutes of each other to even pretend to believe that. But having ridden an 02 Bonnie, I find it highly implausible, if not impossible. Yes, shes torquier by a long shot, but handling better than a Bonnie??

Having had an 01 Bonnie and the '95 FXDSC in the same garage at the same time I can attest to the handling characteristics. I consider handling a frame geometry/rolling hardware design and this bike matches the Bonnie's 29° neck angle along with the mid pegs that makes it a standard (not cruiser) bike.

My 95 Dyna will stick in a turn as deep as you wish to drive it, far deeper than I am comfortable pushing in fact; the stock suspension is superior to the stock Bonnie (at least the older models) and the belt drive gives solid transfer of power. It's really a good ride for the twisty roads around here, surprisingly flickable for such a big ride. And, it has the power everyone else is big-boring and cam-ing and head-working to achieve with a simple $125 single cam replacement. (Andrews EV-27)

On the downside it is heavy, very heavy; very close to 700 lbs. wet. The engine is huge for amount of power it makes and that old push rod inefficiency speaks for itself. It vibrates uncomfortably in a narrow range that just happens to be right in the middle of in town riding. And, sadly, it loses the butt vote most of the time when I go out to ride...my butt chooses my America and the HD is the garage queen.

The Bonnie? She went to Florida to teach my nephew how to ride :-)

I find that hard to believe Ed, Most HD guys I ride with do fine but can't keep up because they scrape the primary and have to back out of the speed to take a corner.

Ok everyone take a deep breath and read on: I rode the Wide Glide this afternoon and bottom line - I won't be buying this bike.

I had no intentions of riding the bike this soon and even meant to reply I'd probably never get a chance to ride one, since I don't hang at HD open houses, etc. But, I'm coming home from NY thru PA today and my GPS takes me off 81 to grab lunch. I drive past White's HD in Lebanon and they have a big banner out front "Demo Rides Today" and underneath is a new Wide Glide. I figured that was Karma calling, so I stopped and within 10 minutes, I'm ready for a test ride in my loafers, my Bonneville 50th Anniversary zipup and a borrowed helmet. The temps were in the high 50's.
I had to follow the sales guy, who took me on a 10 minute ride thru the country. Unfortunately, I really couldn't wring it out like I would have liked but got a general idea of the bike. Btw, this bike was used with 500 miles. The guy bought it, put on a set of Screaming Eagle pipes and had it for one month before trading on a Lowrider. The sales guy even thought that was weird since he test rode NEITHER BIKE. They wanted $15,999 for it, which is $500 off the new price plus the pipes were worth about $500.

My thoughts on the bike:
- looks are not as good up close. You can tell this is the lower level Big Twin. It would take a lot of new bits to make it look sharp. The flame paint job looks better in person, but an all black one would probably be better. The forks, etc. look cheap to me and not in the finish level of the T-bird or Rocket III Touring.
- I love the black wheels and have since they put them on the Nightser
- The footpegs are waaaaaayyyyy to far forward for my tastes, I guess standard HD fare. The pegs on the T-bird are much closer under your butt - +1 for the T-bird
- The seat is hard as a rock and forces you into one position. With the foot controls so far forward and a bend over reach to the drag-style bars, it almost feels like you are riding in a position after being kicked in the stomach by a UFC fighter. Keep in mind I have taller Heritage bars on my America and have been used to them. I also didn't much like the T-bird bars. But that's an easy switch on eithe bike.
- Clutch pull was light, this new HD clutch is nice.
- Motor: wow, this thing felt gutless. I was very disappointed. Cycle World says it will do 13.2 in the 1/4 mile, but it sure felt weak. The "Screaming Eagle" pipes are anything but, you can barely hear the bike running, what a waste of money, plus they looked strange, some kidn of machine gun tips.
- The transmission shifted nicely, but the six speed doesn't seem right. It's geared WAY TOO HIGH in all six speeds. I guess that can be changed, but why should it have to be? I did hit 65 mph in 5th, but it needed a kickdown to 4th for any pull. Disappointed by the legendary HD torque, at least with that 96 in twin cam.
- You can punch it up to 103 ci for $1,500 and as mentioned earlier here, the sales guy said a simple cam swap with a set of performance pipes would really wake it up.
- Getting my short leg around that air cleaned for the brake is bothersome. Speaking of brakes, yeah, they were awful. "Wooden" might be a word to describe them. I guess you can get better pads and my stock America brakes weren't nothing to brag about.
- Suspension: This thing is squashed way down. Even small asphalt seams were brutal. The forks don't seem to do much to absorb road shock. I guess the stock shocks could be swapped for some nice Progressive units.
- Handling was better than I anticpated. There seems to be a good deal of clearance.

I think I would have to invest about $20k in that bike to make it fit me and I'm not much interested in that. So, maybe I'll get a chance to ride a T-bird if a dealer ever decides they'd like to sell one. So far, T-bird rides around here have only been avaiable during demo truck days, which I've missed. Triumph is missing the boat here. Maybe that radiator will grow on me over the winter.

Uh huh. BUT Ed said he has a Dyna, Ian. There's a pretty big difference between that and a softtail, which has what, maybe 3 inches of travel at the back, MAYBE, and which usually sit lower than do most Dynas with their twin shock setup.

Ya know, the Dyna Sport model of a few years back was probably the best Big Twin Harley ever made, BUT seein' as how a lot if not MOST Harley riders just seem to want to "cruise along" and "look cool" and sit looooooow, that Dyna Sport model was discontinued after only a couple of years because it didn't sell to the "Faithful" out there.

My friend Tammy has a Dyna and drags in corners when trying to follow me.

Gotchya, Daemon. Not a problem.

Hey, ssjones, that's a super report. Detailed. Thanks.

As far as I know it is just a Dyna, never heard of the sport. My friends that ride shovels or pans really scrape badly. I always had to slow down on my old chopper for them and same is true on my SM.

Ed and Al...Thanks for the ride reviews. Nicely stated, both!

(...as usual)

Yes I have the Dyna Sport it was made from 99-05 and yes its was a better bike from HD.