Why the Harley Davidson Road Glide (Confession)

So I have a confession to make. I want a street glide. Let me explain. What is going on everybody? It is the Full Throttle Hog coming back to you with another video and today we are going to talk about why I am riding a 2020 Road Glide Special. Truth be told, my quest to get back on a motorcycle after several years of being away started in 2017 and that was the time that Harley-Davidson had just released the Milwaukee 8 and the new bikes. And at that time, it was going to be a street glide only for me. In 2017, the Road Glide wasn't even on the radar. Truth be told, I didn't find it aesthetically pleasing to the eye. And it's kind of funny because as we go through and if you're watching this video, you're probably maybe looking into getting a Harley-Davidson and maybe both street glide and road glides are on your radar. But back then for me, I wasn't even interested at all in the Road Glide. I just didn't like the way it looked. But here I am on a 2020 Road Glide Special. I was hooked on this street glide. I went down and I looked at them and before pulling the they came out with their something issues and I decided to hold off to 2018. So in 2018, again, it was the street glide only. I love the way it looks. I still love the way the street glide looks. I just find it really just aesthetically pleasing. I don't know. And in 2018, like most of us, I went to YouTube to look for answers and started doing a lot of research on just Harley-Davidson's something issues. And during that time, something funny happened. The Road Glide started to grow on me a bit. And little by little, I mean, it was subtle things here and there that started catching my attention. And then I started noticing them on the street. And it's kind of like when you're going out and buying a car. As soon as you find out the car that you're thinking about buying, you see them everywhere. So the Road Glide started to to grow on me a bit. And after that, there was there was nothing else really to say because I did like both bikes. I was I was okay getting with, you know, either bike. I still wasn't quite sure which bike I was gonna get, but I knew I was interested in both of them. In 2019, again, they still had some something issues that they, I guess, corrected halfway through the year. And I, you know, was still kind of holding off. So enter 2020. Here's what happened. So I'm now that the Road Glide is has has grown on me. I now know that the something issue is gone with the 2020 models. And it's time for me to go down to the dealership. And, you know, I'm ready to pull the trigger at this point. So I go down there, I had my heart set, believe it or not, at the time, saying, hey, I, I think I'm just gonna, I'm gonna get the Street Glide. You know, I just love the way that that looks. The bikes are essentially the same, minus, you know, from the front fairing back, the bikes are the same, same engine, same frame, everything. So I decided to go down to the dealership. And I'm talking with the dealer as we as we all do, and they're trying to get me on a bike, I let them know my concerns. And here's what we did, we went on a test ride. But we brought both bikes with us, we brought a Street Glide. And then we brought the Road Glide Special. Now for me, just being on a motorcycle after that much time off, I was just leaving the dealership, it just brought back all those, all those fuzzies, you know what I mean? And so I was excited. And we do this big loop, and halfway through the big loop, I jump on the Road Glide Special, and kind of swap the bikes. And I started on the Street Glide, they jumped over the Road Glide. Immediately when I jumped on the Road Glide, I knew, hands down, it's going to be a Road Glide, no more Street Glide. And here's the reasons why. These are my opinions. But this is why I decided to go with the 2020 Road Glide Special. If you were to jump on both bikes, and I would highly recommend doing it in that order, I guess either order would be okay. But for me, when I did it in that order, the weight of that fairing being attached to the forks was immediately noticed. And coming from the sport bike realm, the Street Glide itself was a great bike, great to ride, everything. But there was a lot more weight in the handlebars. It didn't feel as nimble. And I guess that there's a lot to be said when you're looking at these performance baggers and things like that, that they are, you know, road glides, they're just more nimble, you feel just a little bit more in control. Of course, I mean, I absolutely love my 2020 Road Glide Special. But I would have been happy with the Street Glide because it is still a good looking bike. Now you enter in wind and things like that you have to realize from I don't quote me on this, but I believe they say it's about 40 pounds of weight extra that's on your, your handlebars due to the batwing fairing from the Street Glide. You know, when you when you're dealing with crosswind and things like that, that you're you're looking at wind coming through that batwing fairing and causing a little bit more of a headache. I mean, nobody really likes riding in high wind. I don't. And we do get some some Santa Anas here in Southern California, which kind of sucks. But I knew that if I already was feeling a difference in how nimble it was, I know I'd be happier going on the back roads and through some twisties. Number one. And number two, I knew that with any type of high wind situation, I'm just going to feel that much more confident because the the shark fairing is actually not attached to the forks. Therefore, that wind is not pushing the handlebars in any direction. And it just to me feels just feels better. And I don't know if it's one of those things because I came from sport bikes and now going to, you know, a bagger if that's what it was. But I can tell you in 2017, if you told me I was going to get a road glide, I probably would have made a large bet saying that that was not going to happen. I think what it came down for me is watching other YouTube videos and seeing all the additional add ons and things you could do to kind of spice it up. I knew I was going to put bars, but looking at bars on a road glide, I just think it's sexy. I mean, you can it's personal opinion, obviously subjective, but I just think it looks fantastic. So if you're in the market, I highly recommend getting down to your dealership. I would literally say take both bikes with you, have the delivery one, you ride the other and then swap out halfway through. And if you have to swap back and forth three or four times, then do it. They'll they'll be happy to help you out with that. And you can judge it for yourself. But I can tell you at this point, having this bike over a year, 12,000 miles later, I absolutely love the road glide special. I like it in the twisties. And then you throw on some bars and some pro action suspension on your bike. Boom, you got a winner. But that's going to do it for today's video, folks. Thank you for tuning in. And I just wanted to get that that confession out there that man, I was sold on that street glide. But till next time you guys ride safe, be safe and we'll catch you on the next one. Transcribed by https://otter.ai