Long term review of the Road Glide. Regrets?

All right, what's going on everybody? Here it is. This is a 2020 Road Glide Special. This is my long-term review of this motorcycle. I've had it since 2020, and right now we are sitting at 41,205 miles on this motorcycle. It is not my daily driver. I've done most of those miles out in the middle of the country, traveling around the country on this motorcycle. Spoiler alert, this is the best motorcycle I've ever owned. But not to worry, because this video is not all sunshine and rainbows. There are some things on this bike that I believe that Harley Davidson, well either they have addressed it already, or I feel like they need to address it. So let's jump on the bike and let's go. All right, got my notes here. Good to go. Just spent a good day of riding in the back hills of San Diego. It's been a lot of fun. Other motorcyclists out enjoying the day. If you're watching this video you probably are either you're thinking about getting a Road Glide, or maybe you just purchased a Road Glide, or you've had one for a while and you want to see if our our thoughts align. So I thought just to kind of break it down in the beginning, looking at all our controls here if you've never seen it, on the Road Glide you have your fuel in your top left, you've got your voltage top right, you got your speedometer and tachometer, and then your infotainment system. Looking over on the side here in the controls, this has been really good, you know, beautifully set up so that you never have to touch that screen if you don't want to. There's a couple tricks that I've learned along the way that I'll show you here in just a little bit. But this bike firstly has RDRS on it, which is a safety package from Harley-Davidson, which has traction control and all the other computer gadgets and gizmos that you want to be safe out on the road. But looking at the the grips themselves, there's controls on both sides. First is going to be your traction control, and this is what activates your RDRS, or deactivates it rather. So when you turn on this bike, RDRS is already activated, but there's some things that you can do like on this bike, which is you hit it one time, rain mode comes on, and that little doo-dah right there, and if the roads are wet, you can get yourself a little bit more stability with the computer system with the rain. So that's how you do there. You obviously have your brights, your high beams, low beams, and you have your horn, right? So underneath that you have a little center toggle, which is going to be used for your infotainment system, and then your cruise control on the left-hand side. To prime the cruise control, you basically just push it in with your thumb, and that basically primes saying, hey, I'm ready to go into cruise control. You have this little orange beacon here, you can press down on your thumb, and Bob's your uncle, you got cruise control. Then you also have your left turn signal, and a voice activation, that's if you have one of the Harley-Davidson comm systems that you can set it up with that. So moving over to the right side, you have your emergency flashers, you have your kill switch, and you have your start, your right turn signal, your return button for the infotainment system, and then another toggle down here, which we'll get into in a minute. But those are your basic controls. This is what it looks and feels like when you're riding down the road. This bike is extremely comfortable, guys. If you guys follow this channel, you know that I've been through some crazy weather on this bike. We've gone through rain, we've gone through hail, we've gone through a tornado, and just recently that snowstorm, and this bike has handled extremely well. Just so we're, you know, talking apples to apples, I do want to let you guys know of my upgrades that I've done on this motorcycle. So this bike does have the Stage 2 Screamin' Eagle with the Screamin' Eagle tuner on it. And as far as other performance stuff, I've got ProAction suspension all the way around, and the Galfer brake system, and the Galfer brake pads all the way around. That's it as far as performance is concerned. This bike has treated me very, very well. You know, and I will tell you right now that that RDRS and that Traction Control is no joke. I've even tried to get the tire to spin in Traction Control in a stationary position, if you will, and I failed miserably. I ended up causing some damage to the transmission, but that was completely my fault. But that's how good it is. That's a tip of the hat to Harley-Davidson, because that Traction Control definitely works. So as far as the bike's weight, it is a heavy bike. It is 900, and I believe it's 31 pounds with a full tank of gas. You know, definitely not light. But you only really feel that weight when you're at a dead stop, or maybe making, you know, really slow speed turns. And even then, not so much, but at a dead stop. Once the tires start moving, this bike is extremely nimble. I came from the sport bike realm. This is my first Harley-Davidson, and it was the perfect choice for me. Now, truth be told, I went to the dealership looking at a Street Glide, because I liked that fat wing fairing, and I wasn't really digging the looks of the Road Glide, but that grew on me, and now I just think it's a sexy looking bike. Coming from that street bike realm, and having the nimbleness and mobility of a street bike, or a sport bike, I thought that this was going to be the best bet, and I have not been disappointed. You basically subtract the 40 pounds that that fat wing fairing would be on the forks, and this is stationary, so you're free to move about. I mean, there's a reason that they're using these in, you know, the King of the Bagger series, and things like that. Usually when I'm out on my road trips, I try to crush between 400 and 700 miles a day, and I do that on this bike. Zero problems. It dang near rides itself. It is extremely comfortable. It's not performance, but these are the Paul Yaffe 14-inch bars, and that's kind of what I got on the bike here. The pickup power is extremely good with the torque. I do have the torque cam in it with that Stage 2 kit. It really comes to life around that 3500 RPM range, is where you can really start to feel that pull. Now, getting into the infotainment system, we have this beautiful touchscreen display here, but nobody wants to reach all the way out here and hit this info button to kind of get into your information settings, which tells you a lot of info. It took me a long time to figure out this trick. It might be in the manual. I've never checked, but you never have to touch that screen if you don't want to, just so you guys are aware. This little toggle over here, circular toggle, if you press and hold that for approximately three seconds, this comes up and gives you all those outside settings so you can go over into your information and get it right there without even touching anything, which is nice. Who wants to have to reach out? Now, when I'm traveling across the country and have this bike loaded down with camera gear and camping gear and all of my luggage, I really haven't had any problems on that end either. Obviously, you feel a little bit more of the top heaviness to it, but it's handled just fine even going through those crazy road conditions. It's a very well-designed motorcycle. Now, I will tell you, getting into the Milwaukee 8 engine, one of the things that I did discover over time was in the beginning, I was using standard motor oil. I was told by a mechanic at the dealership, they're like, but over time, I started hearing some very obnoxious noises coming from like the lifter area of the bike, and if you guys have motorcycles, you know. When you're riding, you know every sound your bike makes, and when something's off, you pretty much can tell quickly that there's something just doesn't sound right because you've memorized what it should sound like. So, I do believe that the Milwaukee 8 is meant for synthetic oil. As soon as I switched over to the SYN 3 synthetic, this bike, I feel, just performs better. Might be a placebo effect, but it's definitely quieter. That lifter noise is all but gone. I would say just gone, and it makes a huge difference. So, any Milwaukee 8, I would definitely say go with the synthetic oil, and you're not going to be disappointed. Definitely keeps the bike quieter. So, I love the bike, we get that, but let's kind of talk about the not-so-great things. I told you it's not going to be all sunshine and rainbows. There are some things that I've gone through with this bike that I was hoping Harley would address, and they have addressed a couple of them. One of them being is this hydraulic clutch system. So, twice now, because of the different elevation changes I've gone through, the different temperatures, you know, quickly, this reservoir right here is prone for, I guess, obtaining some moisture. And when that gets in there, what happens is that your clutch lever, the friction point, gets all the way down to the grip here. And that friction point is, that friction area, is so minute and small that you actually have to go and get this thing completely flushed out, get all the air out of there, and any type of moisture. And it's, you know, running great again. I've had to do that twice. But now, with the newer models, anything after 2020, Harley-Davidson went back to the cable clutch system. So, if you have one like that, you wouldn't have to worry about it. One of the the biggest complaints I have about this bike would be its oil consumption. More specifically, when I'm out there on the road, like I said, most of my miles are done on these longer trips. And I will tell you, anywhere between 18 and 2,300 miles, if I'm riding hard and different heat, and especially if it's been hot, I'm gonna need to add probably a quart of oil and monitor that. It's not so much when I'm driving around town for 2,200 miles. It is usually on those longer trips where the engine's been running for quite some time. The manufacturer's website states that that is normal, but it's a little bit annoying, to be honest with you. But it's something that you should know. Just continue to monitor your your oil levels, especially if you're going on longer trips, because this thing is just known to eat up some oil. And I know it's on some bikes, and some bikes, they don't have any problems with it. It just, it is what it is. Not that big of a deal, but I'm hoping they figure that out. So now that also leads me to my other complaint about this, is the infotainment system in itself is okay. I think they could do a lot with it. And the GPS is useless. It's garbage. I can't tell you how many times that I've been traveling around the country, needing a gas station, and I go over here and I try to search for a gas station, and it would tell me, hey, in 0.1 miles, there's a 76 station. Now, in this case, it does exist. But there has been several times where I've gotten to the location, dependent that there was a gas station there, and that gas station hadn't been there in 10 years. So I'm hoping they're able to do an update to the infotainment system all the way around, just because it just, it needs a facelift. But I absolutely love the handling of the bike. I do like the center of gravity of the bike. It just feels extremely comfortable. Now, as far as gas and mileage is concerned, this bike does have a 5.8 gallon tank, and I typically can get around 215 to 225 miles if I'm just cruising through town. However, when I'm out on my trips and long stretches of road, and I'm not pushing it too hard, I can get that up to the 300 mark. So there's no doubt that I absolutely love this motorcycle. It is the best motorcycle that I've owned. It is something that I hope stays with me. I know that I will never get rid of this bike. I'm actually on a mission to try to get to 100,000 miles on this engine as fast as I possibly can. But even when all my warranties are out, I probably will put a, you know, 131 or 135 crate motor in it and just keep it going. It's got some sentimental values to me that I just don't want to ever be without this motorcycle. So I'll have it forever. You know, I know some people talk about, hey, it's, you know, having, I just want to have a motorcycle just so I can go cruising around, you know, town and, you know, having a bagger is a little too much for that. Maybe so, but I, I've never had a problem with just jumping on the bike to go down the street real quick. I mean, any excuse to get out on two wheels, I'm down, you know, and if you made it this far in this video, you might as well consider hitting subscribe. If you haven't already leave a like, leave me a comment. Let me know if you were riding a road glide or thinking about a road glide and your thoughts on this video. Now the wife and I ride two up. I did add the tour pack to this motorcycle, which is much more comfortable for her. You know, she feels like she's just sitting in a lazy boy and just having a great old time. So writing two up is fantastic. I don't even know that she's back there to be honest with you. If I didn't feel like her arms on me, I would probably forget that this bike has got a lot of torque, a lot of power and just real easy with a passenger. If you're looking to go down that route and ride two up, if you want to see a little bit more about the documentaries and traveling I've done around the country, you can check out this video right here. This is our latest documentary, Every Mile a Memory. I did almost 6,000 miles around the country. It's cinematic. I'm very proud of this film and you guys can check that one out next, but that's going to do it for this review. I hope you guys enjoyed it and until next time, I hope you all ride safe, you be safe and we'll catch you on the next one.