13 Years With the Electra Glide

On the Plus Side

• Enough carrying capacity for all my requirements.

• Very comfortable - I could come home from a full day of riding and still want to go out for a ride. Great leg room, more than adequate seat, and only the right kind of vibrations.

• Excellent people hauler - my kids rode with me from an early age, and they were cocooned safely by the TourPak backrest. Full size (normal) passengers had plenty of room, and did not encroach on my space. Excellent low end torque made carrying additional weight barely noticeable (except when racing).

• Fairly good all weather protection (except for heavy rain - see below), particularly if crash bar covers were used. Made a huge difference in combating wind chill.

• Good low speed handling, and great stability at legal highway speeds. As long as the opening was big enough, I could weave through rush hour traffic effortlessly.

• Classic good looks.

• Reliable (if not pushed too hard, and with minimal performance enhancements to the power-plant). If I had kept it basically stock, I suspect I would have had fewer problems. I say this based on others I know who have had excellent reliability on their unmodified E Glides of the same age (oil leaks excepted).

• Always put a smile on your face.

On the Minus Side

• Bat wing fairing was affected by slipstreams from larger vehicles, though not dangerously. The bike became less confidence inspiring as the speeds hovered near the ton

• Poor aerodynamics became quite evident in strong headwinds.

• Rain water collected at the bottom edge of the fairing, only to be picked up by the wind and directed squarely at my face.

• Below average brakes, especially when wet.

• Heat from the oil tank could make things quite toasty when stuck in traffic. Probably helped shorten battery life.

• Bulky and heavy to push around (like in a garage), but then again it's not a Sportster, is it?

• Power as it came from the factory was only adequate (but adequate doesn't cut it for me).

• False neutrals most often found under hard acceleration, especially between third and fourth gears.

• Radio when played loud enough to hear at highway speeds became very flat and tinny. Cutting down the windshield only made things worse. I eventually stopped using the radio altogether preferring the sweet sounds coming out along with the exhaust..

• Short battery life - usually two years. Nothing I tried (Battery Tender, more vibration padding) seemed to make a difference.

• Oil leaks and vibration related failures (such as exhaust shields and brackets, and TourPak carrier).

• TourPak cracked near the hinge from excessive flex when opening the lid.

• PITA to access the fairing's innards. And the drive belt would have eventually been a major job to replace (if I had kept the bike).

• Accessories got scarce real fast (all the really new cool stuff fit only the newer models). But I suppose that was to be expected.

• Some mechanical design shortcomings like the keyed clutch basket (that plagued me more than once).

• Not easy to personalize. Except for custom paint, most Electra Glides look basically the same (with generally typical "senior" riders to boot).

• Too much work to wax and polish.