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Streetglide or Roadglide ? Which is better ?

West Coast Struttin

West Coast Struttin

Member
Mar 1, 2016
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By 2023, i will be buying a new bike. Love my streetglide but would a roadglide be better? Or any advantage? When i bought my streetglide, i did it based on the looks. Thought the roadglide was not as cool. But lately i started to like the look and decided i will test ride one before my next bike.

What do you guys think ?
 
'It's better to look good than to feel good' - Fernando Lamas

The SG definitely looks better than the RG, but if, for some unfathomable reason, you prefer the look of the RG, then get one, be happy and ignore the laughter.
 
I think they both are good, aside from front end they are the same bikes. If looks is your thang then dig deep and get one that will make you happy. If you look on the road there are more Street Glide than RG.....I like both, if I have all the money in the world I will have SG, RG & Challenger in my garage!
 
Don't plan on getting a new bike anytime soon but will cross that bridge when I get there also SG vs RG. Have lots of friends who have crossed over from the street glide to the road glide because of how it handles in the wind and on longer rides. Will have to spend some time test riding a road glide before I make that jump. Have done a couple or iron butt rides and friends say they don't get as fatigued with the road glide. My goal every year is to get at least 20,000 plus miles but have fell way short the last couple of years with work and other priorities getting in the way. I have 58,000 miles on the bike now so I have another 40,000 to go before I have to trade out unless the right bike and deal show up. I may go the way of the road glide next time just because of the longer rides I do or the best deal I get on a bike may end up with another street glide or geezer glide.
 
All good points here. I guess the dealer ( if even open) would make me a hell of a deal right now, with all the worries out there. But not ready yet. I like to get 25K or so before i let her go. Should still get a fair price as opposed to riding it till it goes tits up.
 
I started with the road glide. If fact I started the roadglide.org website.
That was back in 2010. However, after they redesigned the fairing in 2016 or so, I found the fairing to be too small.
The fairing does have a couple of empty spots in the front that allows air to blow through. Unfortunately, I find the new fairing provides less protection and more buffeting than the street glide/ ultra fairing. Having ridden both, the street glide fairing for me has less buffeting behind an 18 wheeler, than the new road glide fairing.


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Thanks BillyBob, buffeting is one thing i dont tolerate. Ive had bikes that it was so bad it blurred my vision at certain speeds. Good info. Who knows if the RG fairing will change by 2023, so i will be sure to test it out.
 
I've always liked the Roadglide but when it came time to buy I sat on one and realized that I didn't like the instrument layout as well as the Streetglide.
I also like the fairing mounted mirrors better than bar mounted ones but that isn't a deal breaker...
 
For me, it was the lay out of the RG Fairing, way too far from easy access. It's all personal choice, ride them both and see what you like, for me, it's the SGS.
 
The buffeting on the SGS was gone on once I got the Freedom 8" windshield installed.
 
Fatbob Frank said:
After watching several comparison vids I'm thinking my next bike will be an Indian Challenger
Click to expand...

I would go ride one first. They do demo rides here every year and I went last year. Even though the have larger engines than my 103 the torque is not there and they get very, very hot.
Those bikes even cost more than the harleys now



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The nearest Indian dealership to me has them for $21k standard and $27k for the Dark Horse models.
That's LESS than any Roadglide or Roadglide Special that I've been able to find...
Too bad they are all 2 hours away...:mad:
My Harley dealership is 20 min. from my house.

Sadly, with everything going on in today's market I doubt I'd be able to sell mine without taking a beating so I guess I'll be riding Ol' Blue a while longer...
 
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Yeah....I agreed with BillyBob, go ride one first if/when you have a chance......all that hype who knows. I have been waiting on demo rides in my area, I will not pay $1k down to local Polaris dealer just so I can test ride one. It make zero sense though they said it's fully refundable......I have never heard of that before. I need to actually ride it in order for me to jump ship, if this Challenger is all that they said I will jump ship in a heartbeat. It has higher performance motor with liquid cool, and few other options, now that's thinking on Indian/Polaris part. However since it's so new aftermarket parts are kind of expensive. I will need passenger backrest right away as wife will not be happy if she can't ride with me. I have been invited to go down almost 2 hours to another dealer to do a demo ride but that's a bit far. I will go as soon as there is one close to my location.
 
Streetglide or Roadglide ? Which is better ?

Never heard of depositing 1,000 before a demo ride. Guess they figure you might ride off with it and they need 1,000 to track you down
 
Sure with my SG sitting at their dealership and a copy of my driver license in their possession......the sale director told me they are doing that with all their dealerships and I called 2 other Polaris dealerships and they told me the same......strange but that's what they are doing. If I decide to buy it they place that $1k toward the bike or accessories that worth that much whichever I chose to go with. Not happening with me, if they claim their bike is that much better than other manufacturers then they should not be worried about allowing people to ride it.....I still can't wait for demo ride, probably not going to happen for awhile with this pandemic..... :-(
 
I can see the dealers doing this for their insurance deductible or a bike with miles on it is not consider new anymore depending on the buyer. Bought my bike and it had 5 miles from the test ride after assembly from crate. I did mess with the salesman about it just a little. But a bike with a couple hundred miles from test rides is explainable but not desirable for new buyers. Not sure there are enough of the new challengers out yet to use 1 or 2 just for demo's at dealerships across the country. If the truck with the demo day bikes shows up then yes they sell those as used or employees get some smoking deals.

Just my thoughts
 
Frankly, I think liquid cooling is the way to go anyway...
I said 10 years ago after riding my first V-Rod that Harley should punch it up to 1600 or 1800ccs
and put it in a bagger but no one listened!
Now looks like Indian is listening...
 
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