Springer Soft tail vs. Dyna Wide Glide ???
Thoughts , pros , cons , suggestions ???

VR1000 (if they ever make it for the street)
[img]http://www.motorcycle.com/mo/mcharley/mcphotos/vr_right.jpg[/img]

Not familiar with those models but just about any Harley except the foreign made ones like the 250 Sprint are awesome. My choice would be one with the Split tanks and the Sportster Front end with the ball cap over the headlight. If you want to rake out the front end then springers are excellent since you still maintain your fork action If you want to keep your front end stock then I would go with the glide front end. Tube forks work better but springers look real good. I was mostly into Sportsters but I also used to ride a one of the first FX Superglides.  The only other bike that is worth throwing your leg over is a BMW. Unless you want a nice dirt bike which is a hole different thing. By the way I really love Pan Heads.  So have some good riding.

Wha? Harley owners on AR15.com... never! We drive Geo Metros, and nothing else. Bah!

radioman

I've got a '96 FXDWG with about 30+k on it.  I love it and plan to keep it forever.

I've ridden the Springer just a few times and for short amounts of time.  My impression is the front end is heavy even compared to a Wide Glide/Softail Custom/Standard.  This is despite the extra rake on the Glide and Custom.  There is also very little travel in the front fork of a springer.  You can bottom it out just grabbing the front brake at low speed in a parking lot.  The Springer front end also has to be rebuilt far more often that other models.  I want to say it needs service every 10K but it may be less often than that.

I will say that with the intoducton of the counter balanced twin cam 88, there is less difference in the ride quality of the softail line and the dyna line.  If I were in the market today, I'd have to take a hard look at the Softail Standard.  It's a budget leader and I've seen some nice customs built on them for not much more than if you'd bought a higher end bike to start.

Harley-Davidson budget leader?
I smell a oxymoron.

Really?  I paid $6500 for a 94 Sportster and sold it two years later for $7000.  I could have gotten more at the time, but I wanted to sell quick as my Wide Glide had arrived.

My '96 would sell today for about what I paid for it 6 years ago(MSRP).  Of course I'd be out about $3k in custom work.  What other bike comes close to that performace when it comes time to sell?

Anyway, the point was the Softail Standard is about $2K less than its bretheren, and with some imagination, that $2K could buy some custom stuff to make your bike a very cool one of a kind(few?) bike.

I "wannabe" a Harley-Davidson owner!

My current fantasy in this regard is the 2001 ROAD GLIDE...

Eventually, I will have one.
Then there's the big deisel GMC CrewCab I'm hankering for...

I'm currently Buell shopping!

I guess it counts since it's got a Harley 1203 in it...

There was nothing wrong with the 2-stroke Harley-Davidsons.
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[img]http://home.swipnet.se/catalog/italia/catalog/1/z90-2.jpg[/img]
1974 Aermacchi Harley Davidson Z90
Harley Davidson wanted a slice of the small bore bike market back in the 60's, so they went 50/50 with Aermacchi to produce small 2 stroke bikes.
Aermacchi Harley-Davidson's are true Harley's made in Varese, Italy. In 1960 Harley-Davidson bought 50% of Aermacchi motorcycle company in order to produce lightweight motorcycles. At the end of 1972, Harley-Davidson finally acquired the remaining shareholdings retained by Aermacchi to make it 100% Harley-Davidson. By May, 1978, the Varese subsidiary was put into liquidation and sold to Cagiva. No additional Harley-Davidson lightweights would ever be produced.

What is interesting is that in the 90's Harley Davidson became the sales leader in big displacement bikes and a financial powerhouse.
While Aermacchi was sold to Cagiva (who in turn bought Ducati) and that name slipped from the mainstream, the Cagiva company became a sales leader in mid displacement bikes and the second largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world (before Cagiva sold off Ducati).
It seems that both of these companies know what they are doing.
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98 flhtci, wouldn't go back to the sportsters or panheads i'ved owned. A buddy of mine bought a new softtail with the detachables, it's a nice ride. I don't like the handling of the softtail springers, although it did handle better than the 58 panhead i had with a 12" over springer but back then i didn't care about handling just keeping it on the highway as fast as it would go!!!! What the hell is a geo??

[beer]
keep your face in the wind

Now a 1999 Ultra Classic, with sidecar for my dawg.  Also, a 1993 FXLR.  But, I really miss my Fat Boy.  You may find the fat front tire on the Fat Boy to be better handling than the thin 21" on either of your choices.

Never liked HD's.  

Too slow, too heavy, and cost too damned much for a bike that has some of the lowest quality on the road.

I will take performance, handling, quality and reliability, over a fabricated "image" any day of the week.

RICE IS NICE!  hehehe

Hey ClearFire,  I made a Harley owner's fatal mistake...got both my rides JUST LIKE I WANTED THEM!  Had no recourse but to sell them and start over.  Said 'bye to an early '84 shovel Wide Glide and a '92 Geezer Glide.  Moped around a couple of months but couldn't find a deal on anything desirable.  I mean nobody was getting a divorce or out of jail.  One night the doorbell rings at 3am.  Answer it and blocking my front door is a 1975 SX175 with 700 miles on the clock.  I got strange friends.  Still haven't got it running but the brothers always have a cold beer waiting to help.

Arock out.

I have a 2001 Soft Tail Standard and love it.  It was a lot cheaper than a dynaglide and I like the clean front end compared to a springer.  Also some have rust problems with the chrome coming off the springs over time.  It really comes down to whether you want to look or ride.  

Thanks for the info. guys , I'm still torn between the soft tail standard and the wide glide. How far away from MSRP did ya'll hafta pay ??

I've noticed all those "RiceRocketJockey" guys with all those nice babes sitting behind them---YEAH, RIGHT!!!

I've also noticed the motorcycle wrecks in and around the city do NOT, repeat, NOT involve Harley-Davidsons.  They have been, every one I've seen (after the fact, of course), a Japanese Road Race style bike.

Which leads me to conclude that the MEN with the Harleys are:
Better riders.
Care about their bikes more than riding foolishly.
Get more BABES!!!

I also sat behind a new "Jap Cruiser" and a Harley-Davidson at a stop light.
I'm sitting at the wheel of a Bus, looking down and listening to the HOG, because I couldn't hear the feeble exhaust tone of the "YAMAKAZUKI".
The two riders were vastly different in the way they prepared for the now inevitable drag race that was about to ensue.
Pretender on the the Left, nervous, unsure, looking at the opponent.
Real Deal on the Right, confident, patient, staring ahead for the "go".
When the light changed, the HOG ROARED!
The two took off and the low-end grunt and puff of smoke from the Harley was evidence that the race was WON at the start.  The Harley just flat out did the job.
I don't know what happened down the road, but, I'll bet the new guy was wishing he'd spent the money on a MOTORCYCLE, instead of a "bike"!!!
Damn, watching that made me feel good the rest of the day!

I've also noticed the motorcycle wrecks in and around the city do NOT, repeat, NOT involve Harley-Davidsons.  They have been, every one I've seen (after the fact, of course), a Japanese Road Race style bike.

It's harder to wreck something that stays in the garage!!!  LOL!!

I've seen plenty of harley wrecks, and rice wrecks for that matter.

I can't believe harley is still in business. The jap companies have taken the "harley" design and improved on it, plus sell it at a lower price tag that whenever I see a harley rider I just think "chump".

There will always be those that enjoy spending time and money tinkering with a tempermental bike just to get it to work though.

98 Annv Road Glide. Hence the handle "FLTRI98"
16,000 mi. No oil leaks. Must be lucky.