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Harley-Davidson Model Explanations
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FLHR, FLHRC, FLHRS The Road King Family
Story by Mark Barnett, Photos courtesy of Harley-Davidson Photography & Imaging
The Road King is the SUV or Crossover vehicle in the Harley-Davidson line up. It is part of the touring family since it shares the same frame with the touring bikes. It comes with the 96” Twin Cam motor rubber mounted like the dressers, with the same six-speed transmission. The Road King is really a stripped dresser, with a quick release windshield. Its on the road manners are thus great, but it offers riders the option of much easier city riding since the windshield can be removed in seconds leaving a bike that is 34 pounds lighter than an Electra Glide Standard and a whopping 74 pounds lighter than an Ultra Classic.
Many people had been stripping dressers to make something like a Road King for years. Harley-Davidson’s first effort to make a factory stripper was the FLHS model of the 1980’s. It had the right idea, but wasn’t wildly attractive. The triple clamps on a Harley-Davidson are very unusual, they are “backward” to those of most motorcycles and have a lot of rake in the trees themselves. Exposed, they are flat out funny to look at. So the secret to a successful stripper was in the treatment of this area of the bike. In 1994, Harely-Davidson nailed the styling bringing back a huge aluminum headlamp nacelle from the Shovelhead days. This nacelle held the headlamp and covered up the unusual fork trees. The Road King hit the showroom selling and has never let off since.
FLHRC Road King Classic |
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There have been three models in its history, two of which are still with us. The FLHR Road King has hard saddlebags, exactly like the Electra Glide touring family. The FLHRC Road King Classic fitted stylized leather bags that made the bike look a little more like its 1950’s cousins. It has been very successful. From 2004 to 2007, the factory offered an FLHRS model or Road King Custom that had been lowered, stripped of many trim pieces and modeled after some of the smooth customs it saw coming out California. It had a chrome bubble-type piece over the headlamp instead of a removable windshield. This model sold well but was eventually dropped, many riders preferring to modify their own Road King instead of buying the custom one already done. They sure were slick looking though. The three bikes are thus very similar, with just aesthetics separating them.
This is a very good, all-around, do everything bike. You can ride it in stop and go traffic in warm weather, popping off the windshield gives you the full breeze. It can be loaded down with a passenger and lots of luggage and will tour absolutely well. The windshield offers less protection from the wind than the Electra Glide or Road Glide fairings, but many prefer this more elemental ride. Embarrassing or not, we’ve found the Road King is what we direct people to who are having trouble making up their mind which model of Harley-Davidson to get, I’d say it is clearly the best all-around bike in the line up.
