WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT THE NEW 2017 ROAD KING?

Published 02/24/2017 | By Roger Joseph

WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT THE NEW ROAD KING?

H-D’s 2017 Road King Special is getting a lot of attention, but why?

Jon Mcdevitt February 13, 2017
REPOSTED FROM http://www.motorcyclecruiser.com/whats-so-special-about-new-road-king

Harley-Davidson just released the new Road King Special for 2017. This is a huge deal for a few reasons. One being the poor Road King always got the short end of the stick when it came to advancements in technology and style because as H-D said “It is meant to have the classic look.” It was last to get the hydraulic clutch in the Touring family, even the ultras got the new styled lighting in the rear and the poor old Road King was still rocking that dookie giant chrome cross bar honeycomb turn signal setup.

Harley-Davidson

2017 Harley-Davidson Road King Special

The reason the Road King needed to be brought up to the current times, is it is the smallest in the Touring family which means it can serve as an entry level to some who can handle bigger bikes, but are timid around the fairings and extra weight they bring. Now they could have always gotten the road king of course, but no young person would want that thing. I am the only person I knew back when I got mine at age 23 that saw the potential. It wasn’t cheap, easy or basic by any means but I saw what the Road King could be.

Jon Mcdevitt

Jon’s Road King when he first bought it. It is hard to look at this and picture what he built, this is why the Road King Special is important to the younger crowd

I am not trying to say I invented the modern Road King or set the wheels in motion by any means, there are tons of great looking custom Road King Builds out there and have been for years. Here lies the problem, not everyone can look at something and see its potential, this would drive a lot of people away from the Road King because it was so far in the past, it only appealed to old dinosaurs, no offense.

Jon McDevitt

This is what happens when you have a vision of what something can be, night and day difference in Jon’s stock Road King

The future of any business is dependent on new customers. New customers are young customers and the youngsters clowned hard on me when I rolled up on a chromed out tip to tail, giant light, ugly ass fender looking bike, and told them I had a vision. Now I get people asking me to build them a road King like mine. Well now with the Special being released these young bucks coming into their local dealers around the states who would immediately go to the Sportster Iron because it’s all black, or the Dyna’s, now have a viable alternative in the Touring family. You get the Sportster you out grow it, then you get the Dyna and outgrow that and eventually go to Touring. Now you can skip ahead learn on a Road King and look good at the same time.H-D

2017 H-D Road Glide Special

I think it was a long overdue upgrade, some don’t see what the fuss is all about. I tell you this though, the guys saying it is just a Road King are the guys who have vision and have known exactly what the Road King had been hiding deep, deep down in its bones. Like I said earlier though not everyone has that ability and that is ok, they now see a glimpse of what we have been able to see, an actual hip viable addition to the Touring lineup that will bring in young customers to the Touring family which was for the longest time, either only a Road Glide or a Street Glide and all those old dude bikes.

I say congratulations on the face lift old friend, I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the Road King and I am happy to see it getting some much needed attention for the factory.

REPOSTED FROM http://www.motorcyclecruiser.com/whats-so-special-about-new-road-king