I think any discussion of the current Road King should begin with some discussion on what it is. And, what it is , is a direct descendent from the orginal bagger. Not long after motorcycles became popular and more reliable, somebody put a windshield and a couple of Saddlebags on one and the bagger was born.(FL) As time went by and bikers being bikers attempts at personalizing these baggers begat the dresser. Over time that simple saddlebag/windshield configuration saw the windsheild morph into a fairing shell with a separate windshield. (FLH) A version of the same bike with a radio and a couple speakers tucked into the raw shell plus a tour-pak became the FLHT. By the way, the orginal tour-paks were huge. fully 1/3rd larger than today's models. Time and consumer demand caused the FLT to become more and more laden with "goodies" to where we had several model of the same basic motorcycle. Also around the same time, H-D looked at the Japanese and European bikes and created a model with a frame mounted fairing FLT which also came in different trim levels. I don't know if people realized but there was no basic windshield/saddlebag model for a couple of years after 1984 with the disappearane of the FLH and the FLHS. (In case you don't know what an FLHS was it was an FLH with no windshield or bags and the S stood for Sport. Since the Electra-Glide was dominating the demand in "baggers" The Tour-Glide actually disappeared as well Then as is always the case with motorcycles, what was old was new again and we saw the introduction of the Road King. It was hailed as a return to basics from an Electra-Glide that had grown beyond the basics into the Ultra-Classic. And that is what the Road King should be in my opinion. I'll be the 1st to admit that I tried tacking on a fairing and tour-pak and basically destroying a Road King by turning it into a Electra-King. But with the bike that became known as Elvis I returned to what I believed then and will always believe a Road King should be. A big touring framed motorcycle with nothing more than a windshield and saddlebags. Chrome it, paint it, have custom bags and seat made, trick wheels, huge motors, 7 speed trannys, whatever floats your boat, make it yours any way you want but don't hang a bunch of stuff off it. If you want more than a windhshield and saddlebags buy an Electra-Glide or a Road-GlideTo me, the perfect Road King so far as OEM is concerned are the Road King Classics. They represent that direct line way back to when the first guy figured out a windshield/screen and hung some saddlebags on it. And that's my 2 cents (ok more like 2000 cents LOL)
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