Went to Kutter Harley in Janesville, WI to see the what they had of the new '14's.
They only had the three I mentioned, but one was already sold. The two left (on the floor) were Limited's. One was whiskey and black (or whatever color that is); and a blue one with graphics. I like the whiskey color bike better.
Having an Ultra, the design changes stood out quite blatantly to me. These bikes really look great regarding their paint, fitment, and chrome. All latches and brackets are substantial and rock-solid. All latches open with one hand now.
The new fairing is different in size, shape, and contour. They had two next to each other for comparison. I like the new look. Better for wind-flow they claim.
The radiator is concealed extremely well within the lowers; though you can see it if you simply look. The lowers are wider now; but remain in scale to the bike and fairing -- however that is mostly because of the change in size and shape of the fairing.
The Limited is lighter by around 20-25 pounds than previously; however it was my opinion the bike's front-end felt heavier to turn; although not by much. Several people were making the similar comment. One person thought maybe the new fork-neck and bearing design might be part of the difference and that it might start to turn easier once ridden a bit. Either way... we noticed a slight difference there.
The trunk, while it holds more, is an entirely new design... flatter, wider and longer. Clearly this was done so the saddle-bags can open the opposite way from previous years.
The seat appears bigger; especially the passenger area where it is more noticeable.
The rear turn signals are integrated into the trunks LED lighting... so no more turn signal bar by the license plate. Looks a lot cleaner now.
Front signals are bullets (LED's as all of the lights are now), which look better than the old light bar they had. Again, much cleaner design. The brackets holding the bullets and fog-lights looks considerable stronger and thicker now. Good clean look and design -- a good improvement.
While there are more comments I could make, I will stop with that.
In my opinion, if the water-cooling system works as planned... I believe Harley is back in the game with the new tourer design changes.
The Limited I liked was sticker-priced at $27,994 (not including tax, title, and license).
I told the salesman, who I knew, he would have to wait a bit for me to come around to that price. He said to wait until the dust settled a bit and that they would be more willing to deal later when it starts getting colder. I asked him how much colder does it need to get... hell just froze-over with a water-cooled Harley introduced... he just laughed.
Personally, I am tempted to wait one more year... This year is a test-year for HD... I can just tell. Do not know what, but I believe next year, some additional things are going to happen to the line-up. Who knows...
