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[DesertHOG]

Introduction
This review is based on the first 300mi on my new bike. I invite others to share their review of the '15 FLTRUSE as the gain miles in the saddle. I plan to update my observations as I get more miles on my bike. As this is only after 300mi, I will only be covering basics as I have not dug into many of the Rushmore aspects of the bike yet.

Background
My first Harley Davidson was a '07 Road Glide, FLTR. I put 35k miles on her and then traded her for a '11 CVO Ultra Road Glide. After 59k miles, I decided to buy the '15 CVO Ultra Road Glide.

My '11 FLTRUSE had a modified front and rear suspension from Works Performance. Given that HD has increased the size of the front suspension spring from 41mm to 49mm I did not modify the front suspension on the '15 FLTRUSE. However, the rear suspension on the '15 is the Harley Airshock suspension that I already know would not work for me from my '11 experience and the 9 mile demo ride I took on the '15 model. As you who know me know, I am carrying 400+ lbs of driver not to mention a BSR or any cargo for long haul tours. So I ordered the Bitubo 330mm BIT-S-HD004WME from Traxxion (non-reservoir shock). They cost $550 plus $20 shipping (no CVOHARLEY discount offered). I had the dealer install them prior to delivery of my new bike.

Comparison '11 FLTRUSE vs '15 FLTRUSE
Changes to the FLTRUSE are many between the '11 and '15 model years. I think the MoCo is focusing on the new fairing and the Rushmore updates. I won't have too many comments in this area because they did not come into play much in my first 300mi ride.

However, here are some quick observations about the new fairing.
1. Regarding the one-push air-vents, I suspect that I will be keeping those vents closed 99% of the time. I can only see opening them up on really hot summer days and for city riding. On the highway, I think they do nothing but create the kind of air turbulence for the driver up front that many have complained about on the pre-15 yr models.
2. The new fairing included getting rid of the plastic sealer between the fairing inner and outer. That is a plus as my experience is that the plastic deformed in the summer, got stiff in the winter, and made reassembly of the inner/outer fairing difficult.
3. Mounting system for the windshield is a big improvement. No more well-nuts dropping into the fairing. I can hardly wait for the after-market windshields to start showing up.
4. The larger front speakers as a great upgrade and the inward curvature has a sexy styling.
5. The glove box doors - they lift bottom to top now instead of top to bottom. I used the old glove boxes for storing flashlight, pens, keys, and snacks for the road. They were not what I would call handy to use but I could open them and feel around for what I wanted to get out of them. Usually I would place something like a snall camera or snacks right at the top for easy access. With the new glove boxes, I am not sure what I will store in them. They can carry a large fist worth of things in them but the opening slopes back and way down, like a deep hole, so that stuff doesn't fall out when you open the lid. That also means that if you have a large hand, you are going to play hell trying to dig to the bottom of the well for anything small you need that worked it's way down to the bottom. Of course I am talking about this from the perspective of access while you are riding. And if you have gloves on, it will be worst. I am sure once you park and take off your gloves, you'll be able to dig stuff out of the glove box.
6. Control Center Display (the radio/nav system) ergonomics is good. I have not played with it much at all and so I will not comments on features. You are supposed to be able to control and select with the hand controls. I have not had time to master that aspect yet. However, I can tell you that when the sun is overhead and shining down on you, the center display is completely unreadable. So you better just tune it to your favorite XM station or Audio Playlist and forget about making any changes while riding. They need to come out with an add-on hood, like pilots use in their cockpits, to shade the display from the sun. At nighttime, the display is great for you nightriders.

Some Physical/Mechanical Differences
Tires
2015 CVO Ultra Road Glide
Front Specification   BW 130/80B17 65H
Rear Specification    BW 180/65B16 81H

2011 CVO Ultra Road Glide
Front Tire               D408 130/70B18 63H
Rear Tire                D407 180/55B18 80H

Seat
The seat on the '15 is similar to the '11 but not exactly the same. It appears that the seat well for the driver has the crease moved forward an inch or so. At first it's not noticeable but if you try to align the driver portion of the seat with the front of the saddlebag covers, you can tell the seat crease is definitely forward. When you consider that the radio/fairing are angled forward on the '15 is gives the appearance or feel that you are definitely moved closer to the front. For most RG riders that will not be a good feel. RG riders like the fact that they don't have the dash up in their face and they are either taller than average riders or don't mind reaching for some of the controllables on the fairing.

(continued in next post)

[DesertHOG]

Handlebars
The '15 handlebars are taller and the sweep is less than on the stock '11 handlebars. For me the stock '11 handlebars were completely useless and I replaced them with 12" Yaffee Monkey Bars. As far as the '15 handlebars, for me they are much better. I had the shop pull the forward position pin at the yoke interface and they got an extra 1/2" of travel forward before the bars interfered with the windshield. My Yaffes are still more comfortable because their sweep is even less pronounced. However, if I can easily survive 300mi on the new bars maybe I can survive 800-1000 in a day. Time will tell.

Hand Controls
Cruise Control - The Cruise Control is on the left control now. The thought, per the tech, was that you can set the speed without having to move your throttle hand. Never was a problem for me but maybe it makes a different for others.
Volume Control - The Volume and Station Control is a round knob now. You toggle up and down for volume and left and right for stations. I find the control knob to be too far down to reach from standard riding position for my hand. I actually have to release the grip and move my thumb to align with the knob better, sort of cumbersome. I will learn to live with it.
Clutch Lever - a big improvement between '11 and '15 as the '15 is much easier to pull for me. My '11 was always super stiff and you would hurt your hand sitting at a stop light with the clutch lever pulled in. Not so with the '15 clutch lever.

Mounting, Sitting, Stabilizing the Bike
Many people have mentioned that the feel like the sitting position it higher on the '15 than on the '11. I can't say that is my impression. I seem to mount the bike with the same amount of ease and/or difficulty. I do not feel higher on the bike. In fact, it feels (I have not measured) that the effort to move my feet from the ground to the floor boards is slightly easier on the '15. Once my feet are on the floor boards, my feet seem to have more room to move forward and backward. Also, my legs seem to be at 90 degrees to my tighs, whereas on the '11 my legs always seemed to be a bit back of 90 degrees. That makes my riding position more comfortable for me. That could mean the distance from the floorboard to the seat is greater (if I remember my geometry) and maybe that is why some riders feel higher in the seat on the '15. When I roll to a stop and get my legs to the ground to stabilize the bike I find it easy to do so.

Backrest
So the backrest on the '15 is a bit different and new to me. I am used to bracing my weight with my right-hand on the backrest as I dismount. Can't do that with this new backrest, If seems to flop forward and backward free and easy without much spring-back at all. However, when you seat in the seat the backrest works just wonderfully and it provides stiff support for your back. It also seems that you can position is backward and when you apply pressure it will hold in place. Very different and it will take me some time to figure out.

Foot Brake Lever
I had heard that the foot brake peddle can't be adjusted. The tech tells me this is due to the Reflex Linked Brakes with ABS feature. At 35mph and higher, when you activate either the handbrake or the footbrake both brakes are activated. I like the idea of this feature as I tend to rely on my front brakes too much.

(continued in next post)

[DesertHOG]

The Riding Experience
My ride started out in Albuquerque and went as far north as Taos, NM. The road conditions were quite varied and consisted of Interstate Highways, State Highways, State Roads, small town bumpy, rutted roads with speed bumps and even some dirt/gravel section in pull-offs. There are significant changes in elevation along the route.


https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Albuquerque,+NM/Tijeras,+NM/Los+Cerrillos,+NM/Santa+Fe+Harley-Davidson,+4360+Rodeo+Rd,+Santa+Fe,+NM+87507/New+Mexico+599,+Santa+Fe,+NM+87501/Nambe,+NM/Truchas,+NM/Taos,+NM/Espa%C3%B1ola,+NM/Albuquerque,+NM/@35.91537,-106.0994001,8z/am=t/data=!4m62!4m61!1m5!1m1!1s0x87220addd309837b:0xc0d3f8ceb8d9f6fd!2m2!1d-106.609991!2d35.110703!1m5!1m1!1s0x8718a305ebc7938d:0x280f9e47899ac965!2m2!1d-106.3878905!2d35.0795244!1m5!1m1!1s0x8718f49bb5425945:0x4019420c6a246ea6!2m2!1d-106.1245907!2d35.4375198!1m5!1m1!1s0x87185a4af2b1eaf5:0x25aa94d6d2a5196a!2m2!1d-106.011096!2d35.638092!1m5!1m1!1s0x87185a50c004788d:0xab925d8b1269505a!2m2!1d-106.015764!2d35.682826!1m5!1m1!1s0x8718381770bd50a3:0x420aa104a42ef85a!2m2!1d-105.9825221!2d35.8933592!1m5!1m1!1s0x871832e8eb7744c3:0x2ec71cdde2af7d33!2m2!1d-105.8127561!2d36.0441834!1m5!1m1!1s0x871764da7f11fcb1:0x90ea918361a9b782!2m2!1d-105.5730665!2d36.4072485!1m5!1m1!1s0x87183c881ff03b13:0x4407bc0826d83d69!2m2!1d-106.0818233!2d35.9910383!1m5!1m1!1s0x87220addd309837b:0xc0d3f8ceb8d9f6fd!2m2!1d-106.609991!2d35.110703!3e0

Pulling a climb out of Albuquerque up Tijeras Canyon was uneventful and passing semi-trailers and cars was not an issue. I experimented with cruise control and found it easy to use. The path from Tijeras, NM north on Highway 14 is easy twisties, some straight-aways and along with climbs and descents with traffic slowed to a crawl around Madrid, NM. The turns were very comfortable and acceleration/deceleration was easy and trouble free.

After visiting Santa Fe Harley, I took Airport Road to the 599 Bypass Route. Big sweepers on this route that were navigated easily at speeds in excess of the posted limited. This is mostly higher speed riding until you get to Nambe and the "High Road to Taos" turnoff.

The High Road to Taos is a scenic state road route with lots of twisties and climb/descent changes resulting in a total elevation climb of around 800' feet. You also end up in some small towns like Truchas, NM. I found the handling in the turns to be quite impressive. The 49mm front suspension along with my Bitubos made for a very responsive ride that made it feel like I was in control through curves. I was able to hold a clean line and it seems as though the suspension was supporting my weight well with great stability. This is probably the most comfortable I have ever felt in twisties. I am still not going to be a speed racer through turns but I felt in control and safe with every curve transition.

The bumps and speed humps in Trucas, NM were handled easily and while I took some at an aggressive speed the suspension reacted well and my back did not suffer. Of course I felt the bumps but it was not anything that came close to making me or my spine uncomfortable.

Along the route I pulled off several times into gravel covered or rutted dirt pull-offs. I maneuvered the bike carefully and never felt out of control. Since the suspension was stiff enough I never felt like I was wallowing in a rut.

After a late lunch/early dinner in Taos, I decided to scoot home quickly. I took the short and faster route that runs next to the Rio Grande River. This route had straight and curvy section with downhill twisties as you descend from the high mesa of Taos down into the Rio Grande basin. Passing cars and trucks on the route was easy. Once getting out of the river area and onto straight-aways it was easy cruising until Espanola, NM were you hit traffic. Heading back into Santa Fe area, I took the 599 bypass again to I-25 and then sped home. I reached as high as 100 mph going home without issue or troopers. Outran many cars and trucks along the way. Good solid power in the few climbs on I-25. I hit some light rain along the way back home and it didn't have any effect on the ride with regard to control of the bike.

Windshield
As I am just shy of 6'4" the windshield is too short for me. At speeds below 65mph, the wind effect is really not noticeable to me. However at higher speeds and especially with the helmet shield down, the effects of the wind can be noticed primarily with the helmet noise as the wind rushes by and through the face shield gaps and under the chin area. I am on the email list with National to get one of their V-Stream windshields once they come out with the '15 RG Model.

Summary
WOW! What a great ride. I am sure the new suspension up front and the Bitubos in the rear are the primary reason. However, the seat worked extraordinarily well too. I could feel the trampoline effect pushing back on me along with the suspension through the turns and bumps. This is the best riding machine I have ever owned.

DesertHOG aka Simon

Notes:
1. If you own a '15 FLTRUSE, please share your riding experience in this Topic area.
2. If there are any factual errors with regard to features and so on, please let me know so I can correct them.

[OBB]

Thanks for the review so far Simon. Can't wait to contribute to the thread whenever mine gets here.

[CVODON]

Concerning the radio being visible in the sun. I am in Florida, very sunny the last month and I have no problem seeing the radio at any time. I didn't like the night dimming feature and turned that off, but daytime visibility is great. Maybe yours has been dimmed??
Also not sure where you live but the vents in mine are always open, so far, no helmet buffetting, just a great system. They appear to be very well thought out and I can not see ever closing them unless temps drop into the 40's or lower.
Just my opinions

[DesertHOG]

Concerning the radio being visible in the sun. I am in Florida, very sunny the last month and I have no problem seeing the radio at any time. I didn't like the night dimming feature and turned that off, but daytime visibility is great. Maybe yours has been dimmed??
Also not sure where you live but the vents in mine are always open, so far, no helmet buffetting, just a great system. They appear to be very well thought out and I can not see ever closing them unless temps drop into the 40's or lower.
Just my opinions

Don, I'll check for the dimmer feature. Regarding the helmet buffetting, how tall are you?

DH

[FLSTFI Dave]

My previous Road Glides, a 09 CVO Road Glide and put 42K on the bike, put Progressive 940's on the back and Mono shocks up front.  Great ride, hated the factory 12 air shocks.  Next a 12 CVO Road glide and put 45,540 miles on the bike.  Left suspension stock, it had the premium hand adjustable shock, which were much better than the factory air.

All three bikes had or have the Fullsac head pipe, and 2.25 cores with a TTS tuner and Fullsac map.

2015 CVO Road Glide Ultra, I have 2100 miles on mine.

I fully agree with power, ease of passing and the seat.

I feel the engine is a little bit cooler running, even with lowers.  I feel the engine is a little smoother when rolling on the power.  However the fullsac map has a deceleration pop sometimes that it never had on the other two.  Will have bike tuned by Doc in FL during biketoberfest.

Curves I am not quite able to run this bike as hard or fast thru the curves as I could my 09, 12 or 13 CVO King.  I think the reason is two fold, with the biggest reason being the Air shock in the back and it being 1 inch taller.  The back just does not feel as planted.  I can easily still run the curves much faster than posted, but just not as fast as I could on the customs.  I think the other part could be the extra weight, and it is up higher and farther back.  I ran chopped tour packs on the other two, and in the solo position, and only when traveling or in winter.  The king is back much father, is also heavier.

I will be setting the tour pack up solo on this bike, and detachable.  So that may improve the way I feel it runs the curves.  I may also add 12 performance shocks such as progressive, ohlin or such.  I do not think the handling from my perspective is an issue with the Bike, as my guess its like other Ultra Road Glides.  Its just not quite the handling of a custom.

Straight roads, loves to eat the miles.  Pure pleasure.

Fairing, in my opinion is way better on the 15, both visually from the drivers seat, and functionally when Moving.  The fairing is a little closer, not much.  It has more curves, and just looks better from drivers seat.  The head unit is easier to reach.   Air management is much better in my opinion.  Took me 5 windshields to figure out what worked on the 09, used the same one on the 12.  I had more buffeting on the 12 at 75mph than I do on this bike, with the stock shield.  The stock shield is about 1~2 inches to short for me at 6'1".  I get zero buffeting, but I do get some laminar air going by my helmet.  If I duck about two inches I get almost no air.  I run with all three  vents open, if I close them in any combination I get buffeting around my helmet.  I am planning on changing tour pack to solo, so the solo corbin I will be running like on my 12, will lower me about 1.5 to 2 inches so then the stock shield might be perfect.  Will find out later this month for sure.

Head Unit/ sounds system  Best stock Harley Stereo to date for me.  Sound is really good and clear.  Once you learn the two thumb joy sticks there is almost no reason to have to reach the head unit.  There are however some issues with the Software for the unit.  1.  The speed sensitive volume does not work unless you go to the setting for it, after you start the bike, turn it down, then up.  It will now work until you shut the bike off.  2.  The left joy stick does not skip on song forward or back like is is suppose to.  3.  If the head unit auto dims going through a tunnel, it does not get bright again until you turn the bike off and re start.  4.  The iPod just drops out some times for no reason.  You can go right back to the head unit and select it again and it starts playing where it left off.  6. Thinks the Central Time Zone starts at the TN state line, not 150 miles into the state where it starts.  HD knows there are issues as the 1.18.1 software is block from down load on the site, they pulled it about 3 weeks after it was released.  Hopefully a fix soon.

New Bag design.  Love it, was long over due.  One hand to open and close!  Love it.  Same with Tour pack, one latch.  all premium hard ware, not the cheese hinges that were replaced right when you got the bike.

Handle barsHad mine rolled forward before delivery.  I am not sure I like the wrist angle but at least rolled forward I can ride the bike.  The 625 mile one way to daytona will let me know if I will live with them.  If not, it will be 14" Yaffee Monkey bars like I had on the 12, and have on my 13 King.

I will follow up after my Daytona trip.  Should be about 1600 or more mile trip.  It will give me an Idea on how it is loaded for travel and if I can live with bars.  When I get back from Daytona I will be setting the tour pack up in solo position also.

[CVODON]

5"11", wear a full face helmet at all times and this is the first bike I have ever ridden and felt minimal air movement with the shield open. Almost still. Road home last nite about 65 on cruise, listening to the tunes and both of us commented when we got home how quite and pleasant it was and how we enjoyed the music and sometimes no wind was a good thing when you are just motoring along, so we both like it, no plans for a new windshield, seat, handlebars, hi-pwr radio amp, improved speakers etc that I have always bought in the past. You can reach out around the frt of the tank and feel fairly strong air movement, but it goes up, somehow and mixes with the dash vents and just goes, apparently, over our heads. Nothing like the 09 SERG, even with the SERG having a Windvest W/S which I always loved. This is much better.

[DesertHOG]

Thanks for the great write up Dave. Enjoy your ride.

Don/Dave, sounds like I need to try and run with the fairing vents open and also check my dimmer settings on the display.

[FLH91]

Great info, thanks!

[FLSTFI Dave]

Thanks for the great write up Dave. Enjoy your ride.

Don/Dave, sounds like I need to try and run with the fairing vents open and also check my dimmer settings on the display.

Simon, do try with all 3 Vents open.  That is what seems to have the least buffeting.  It does have air, but its laminar or smooth.

My head unit is set on auto dimming.  A few times the sun was so much I could not see it  but not often.

[Robmay]

I too turn the auto feature off on the display. Makes it much easier to see most of the time.

[TNCarters]

Thanks Guys for the input.  Thinking of moving to the CVO RGU sometime this year and this info helps.  Just met Simon when he came thru Nashville headed to MV GTG.  He's a big man both in height and size so does not surprise me the suspension and windshield may fit him differently.  I'm not much of a long distance rider but do like my music and GPS display when I ride so very interested in any added info.  I'm probably closer to Dave's size at 6'2" and 220 lbs so will have to see how windshield and bars fit. 

[doublerunner]

Thanks for the detailed write up. Since I own a 2011 FLTRUSE now, this helps me understand some of the differences. I am still planning on waiting a couple more years before trading in as I want to see how they work out some of the kinks

Some notes that are interesting to me:

1. The tires now are not 18's like I have on my '11. This means more of a marketplace for something other than the stock Dunlop's. With the 18's on my '11 my only choice is Dunlops

2. With the smaller tires I am surprised to hear the bike rides higher. It would seem like it would be lower, especially given HD's push right now for more lower height bikes.

[TNCarters]

Look up the OD of both tires and I'm not sure they are that different in overall diameter.