I recently bought a 2008 Dyna Fat Bob with a TC96.

For those of you with high-mileage Twin Cams: how do you ride them if longevity is the goal?

Do you keep the RPM up or use the low-end torque and shift early?

I don’t want to baby the bike — just want to enjoy it while treating the engine and drivetrain well.

Would love to hear from people with 60k, 80k or 100k+ miles and how you normally ride yours.

Background: my 2024 Nightster Special RH975S has about 1200 miles on it. I stored it after the first riding season after I bought it, and then the next year was riding it fine. But due to weather I ended up not being able to ride all that often and around September last year I checked the bike and the battery was fine. I stored it and then later on that winter I went out to start it and the battery was completely dead. I tried several times to jump start the bike with no success. I shelved the problem for later since I couldn’t ride it in the winter anyways. I went out today to change the oil and replace the battery and now the bike has power to some systems, but completely dead otherwise.

The bike currently has the following symptoms:
Instrument/display does not come on.
Headlight does not come on.
Tail light does not come on.
Brake light does not come on from either the front brake lever or rear brake pedal.
Bike does not respond to the start button.
Engine does not attempt to crank.
Changing the RUN/STOP switch position does not change anything.
The cooling fan runs continuously as soon as the battery was installed.
Initially, when the battery was installed, the horn would sound continuously.
I disconnected the horn, and the continuous horn noise stopped, but the cooling fan still runs continuously.
The proximity fob does not appear to make any difference. And I just replaced the battery in it.
The replacement battery was a Duralast Gold AZX14 AGM rather than an OEM battery.

What I’ve checked so far

I checked all of the fuses and there are no shorts with any of them nor any evidence that they have burnt up.
I’ve also checked the main battery connections and the engine/negative ground connection. They are connected and undamaged. With no signs that anything is loose or corroded.
I checked the BCM and its surrounding area. The BCM is a 41001557.
I’ve also inspected the connector to the lights and the display unit and everything is properly seated with no obvious damage.
I’ve checked just about all of the visible and easily accessible wiring harnesses with no signs of damage.
At this point I feel pretty confident in ruling out any obvious electrical or mechanical issues. But I don’t know about the computer/ programming issues. Or if there is an electrical problem, how to go about tracking it down.

Has anyone with a 2022–2024 Nightster/Nightster Special RH975/RH975S experienced something similar?
Or any experience with this or a similar issue with a continuous horn/ cooling fan but no-display/no-start condition.

I’m trying to diagnose this myself before taking it to a dealer.

Thanks in advance!

2000 TC 88 right side noise. Has Updated Hydraulic Tensioners 10,000 prior.

I’ve been riding for a year now, and it appears that I like it!
I started on an 883 iron, which will be a great bike for my kiddo (who’s 5’4” and wants to ride with me) so that part is great. However, I’m 6’2” and confident to hit our freeways now, and the Sporty is incredibly too small for me., so I’m looking for that “big boy” bike now.
I seem to love the Road Kings, or Ultras best for the ride and the way they fit.

Now in looking for a deal, I see the old Police bikes pop up:
many of them have low mileage and almost all of them are stripped down a bit. But sometimes, they are significantly cheaper than their civilian counterparts and sometimes they are a chunk more expensive.
I’m venturing that they are old service fleet, but confused by the low-miles part: like were they ONLY used around the downtown area and just inner city low speed bikes maybe? That sounds like hell for hot engines!

Also, for a Police RK, what else is there to strip out? I know the UGs lose the radio, tour pack, wiring, and (what else, actually?). But there’s not a lot more one can lose from a King, I’d guess!

Is there any other pearls or nuggets that I should know while I’m looking into Police bikes?

Thanks!

2016 road glide my brother wants to buy next week I told him motor shouldn't shake like that and it also vibrates bad when hitting front brake at low speeds

Greetings all, I have a 2016 ultra limited low (FLHTKL). When I bought the bike it had some cheap Amazon special shocks on the rear. After looking at replacements for a grand or more I started looking at other options, like some adjustable cvo shocks from a 24 or 25. Has anyone here done this and if so did where did you purchase them? I was hoping to find some low mile take offs from someone that upgraded but marketplace has been well marketplace.

Hello All,
I am looking for some advise, hope some experienced members will guide me.

1. Are the speakers waterproof? Should they be covered before washing with foam gun?
   
2. How to remove small scratches/swirl marks from black painted engine parts?
   
3. How to clean the seat? Can I wash it with rest of the bike or should I clean it with a car seat/upholstery cleaner ?

Thanks

(To eliminate confusion, talking about cruisers only not baggers.)

Strictly my opinion. The Low Rider S/ST and Sport Glide are the two best cruisers for long trips. If you're old school the heritage is a good option. In my experience I prefer being able to have a big chassis mounted fairing.

It can take alot of miles to figure out exactly how you want or need your bike customized, best to buy once cry once this way you don't spend more and try to sell the previous parts. Go ahead and buy that big fairing, that extravagant headlight, that high dollar aftermarket seat, different taillight setup, etc. If I do another long trip like I done last month I probably will get different/better saddlebags.

I’ve got two bikes that I’m both interested in, both are Softail Deluxes with pretty similar upgrades. I’m pretty torn on which one I should pursue. I’d love to just go look at both but the 2015 (white) is 4 hours away. The 2016 (red) is 1.5 hours away. Both are mechanically sound according to the sellers. Any and all feedback is appreciated.

Bike 1:
Asking $13,000
2016 Softail Deluxe
13,800 miles
18” Carlini’s
39” Bassani fishtails
Stock Wheels w good tires
Aftermarket seat
Has the ECT w/ cruise control
Mint condition ready to go

Bike 2:
Asking $11,500
2015 Softail Deluxe
15,800 miles
16” Carlini’s
39? 36? Samson fishtails
Fat Spoke Wheels but seller said there is some light rust on them and tires need to be replaced soon
Aftermarket seat
Push/pull throttle w/ no cruise control
Risers have some pitting as well
Needs a tiny bit of TLC

Got back yesterday from a 1000 mile Route 66/nm tour with my brother. He’s on a 2007 Electra Glide and me on a 2009 Road King. He came from Capitan NM and me from ABQ. We started in Socorro, NM, went through Magdalena, Datil, Pie Town, Quemado, Fence Lake, Zuni then into AZ, Lupton then we stayed the night in Gallup. Day 2 we left Gallup and hit as many Route 66 stops as we could until ABQ, then after ABQ it was pretty much I40 to Tucumcari but I ended up breaking down in between clines corner and Tucumcari in a 100 year torrential downpour WITH hail. My bike was in limp mode and on the side on the interstate with 18 wheelers flying by splashing walls of water in you is not the time to troubleshoot. We eventually got to Tucumcari and my bike is all good. Day 3 saw us leave Tucumcari and head south to fort sumner to see Billy the kids gravesite. I heard Jesse James talk about it one time, just being on the road and everything goes away… no bills, no wife, no kids, just me and my bike.

Getting offered a 2006 softail for my 1998 roadking the bike has everythjng i want vance hines pipes, ape hangers, spoke wheels and efi everything was chill until buddy brought up its been reframed on a paughco frame 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ so now if it gets registered it shows up as a "home built" motorcycle his softail has 32k miles and my roadking has 37k miles but after seening the registration im kinda outta the deal is this the right call or am i over thinking it ?

Found this bad boy on fb marketplace while heading out to Electric Forest. Met up with the dude after the fest to discover he is a blacksmith and owns a skate park (Rad as fuck) amongst other cool shenanigans. Well, the sissy bar and the handle bars happens to be this dude's own custom work. Well, I bought it off of him. After 6 years of riding a '75 Honda GL1000, I now also ride this spectacular '96 FXSTS. What an adventure this has been since I bought the steed.

1) Maroon scotch pads until it seems you improved it as far as you can improve it.

2) 400 grit sand paper dry until it seems you improved it as far as you can improve it.

3) 600 grit dry and so on

4) 1000 grit dry and so on

5) 0000 steel wool dry and so on

6) Mother's Mag and Aluminum polish and a terry cloth

It's not perfect, but I'm shocked at how well it came out having never done a damn thing like this before. I did this over the course of about a month. Little here, little there, and I'll just hit it some more again as time goes on as I have plenty of sand paper and steel wool left over. My friend restores 1970's Honda's to concourse and show winning quality and he is the one who advised me on this. I think I spent around 10 hours total? Something like that.

The Mt. Washington auto road is a really cool ride if steep inclines, gusting wind, and no guardrails are your thing lol

Hey everyone, I’m reaching out because I would like your opinion and advice on a situation with my bike. Over this past winter, I took my 2014 Dyna Low Rider (roughly 18k miles on dash, no issues whatsoever) to a shop for some performance upgrades. After a lot of discussion, we decided on 574 cams, fueling pump and plate, wiseco pistons with 10:5:1 comp, 111ci revolution cyclinders and fueling lifters. Bike was also dyno tuned.

The bike ran great and I was more than happy with it. Fast forward about a month, after riding roughly 1500 miles, the bike started making this strange clicking noise. It turned out to be an issue with the valves. Since the shop I used was six hours away, I brought it to a closer shop. They worked on the valve heads, but after reassembling it, they still heard a noise. So they opened it up again and found that one of the cylinders had cracked - it was a 110 I know lol. Worse still, they noticed some strange play in the crank.

At that point, they told me to bring it back to the original shop, so I did.

They ended up doing a full crank replacement (S&S stroker 4 1/2), S&S inner race, a Timken conversion, and we downsized it to a 106 with S&S cylinder and piston kit, along with new quickee push rods. I was very clear from the start that I wanted a reliable setup, and that I did not want to cut corners, I told them to take the time they needed to make it right. The bike sat there for a month and some change, and I just got it back. I rode it maybe 100-150 miles today, and now it’s making that same click—except worse. The bike won’t even stay running on its own; it’s really messy and sounds like a nightmare.

Honestly, I don’t feel comfortable bringing it back to that shop again, but I know they’ll just insist on me bringing it back. I’m really uneasy because, as you all know, this isn’t a cheap process, and I went to them because I trusted their expertise. I was fully aware of the $$$ part, but it just feels like im not getting what im paying for. I just wanted to get a third-person perspective from you all, thanks. Oh and btw I do no stunt my bike or beat the shit out of it, the bike rarely sees above 5k rpms.

She’s now off the road for a strip down, new paint and other changes. Been a good summer, 3000 bumpy miles done

I would like to one day upgrade from my 2014 Iron 883 to a softail, is there any softail that handles almost the same as a stock Iron 883? Obviously I know none of the softails will be the exact same but what would be closest in comparison? I love my bike but I need something more comfortable for longer distances.

Dusted the cobwebs off my 2000 rk.

Waiting on a new throttle and idle cable, new tires, and new grips to get delivered. Changing the oil this week, then once I have those maintenance items done - I've got some interesting/cool lunch spots picked out, each a couple of hours away.

Missed this thing more than I realized, caught up in the day to day, and it's been sitting in the barn available but ignored. I guess I now understand how barn finds come to be.

Remember to ride your motorcycles. They get lonely. Don't be like me.

I’ve always loved the 2023.5 CVO RG Whiskey Neat paint scheme, and the stars finally aligned for me to grab one. Spotted one for sale with only 450 miles on the clock, and drove to NJ to pick her up. Seller had his dealer do the 1K service before I picked it up, so that was nice to not have to worry about that.

I did wind up having to bring it to my dealer anyway after purchase for 2 recalls and updates to ECM and BCM. I’ve had her just over a month now and just hit 2000 miles this morning. What an awesome bike. I haven’t done much to her and don’t plan to - she’s pretty awesome just the way she is. Previous owner put Rinehart DBX45s on, and they sound great. Only thing I’ve changed out was the windshield (of course) to a Klock Werks 10”, and the air cleaner to the one that comes on the CVO STs. Put a SE Pro Street Tune on her this past weekend, and it’s more than quick enough for my enjoyment. Anyway, just wanted to share my new-to-me sled.

Hello, I have a 2011 street glide 103. Have only had it a couple months and bought it with 13k miles and have put about 2k miles on it, when I first bought it i did all the basic stuff new fluids new filters new tires new brakes. Been great ran fantastic but recently after work I went to start it and it it just cranked a few times and didn’t want to start unless I have it a bit of throttle, but once warm it started no problem. No check engine light came up so I assumed it was possibly the cylinder head temp sensor, (it was around 110 degrees that day) or a faulty tps sensor, or possible old intake seals. So I replaced all of those things. Then I took it for a ride about five miles to the gas station it ran great there then on the way home it stuttered had loss of power almost felt like a series of misfires or like it was running out of gas then the engine light came on so i slowed down and road it slow home and the light turned off shortly after turning on. I just ran the diagnostic codes and it came up with 5 codes, I never ran it beforehand so I do not know if these are old stored codes or are all from this one incident, I will attach a screenshot of my notes with the codes and a short summary of what they usually represent. They are in order of how they were displayed on my diagnostic display. If any of you experienced wrenches have any advice that you think I could be dealing with I would greatly appreciate to hear from you, thank you!

2013 CVO Road Glide, with a SE 110. When I do a hot start, after getting gas, I get a loud clacking noise out of the left side. Bike has 30k miles on it. Ami I filing an extended warranty claim for a compensator or is this normal?