https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/ite...874004688/
A friend of mine had me go look at an '03 V-Star 650 a few months back that he purchased to get back into riding. He is thrilled with being back on the road and the V-Star has been a good bike for him to get his feet wet. He is planning a epic ride next year with the destination being his friends vineyard in Oregon but pretty much circling the country and as much as he likes the 650 he is thinking a little more bike would be worthy of having on this 6k mile 6 monthish journey. He just sent me this. I know nothing about Harley's. Anyone have any input on this particular model?
(08-12-2020, 10:58 AM)Bheezy27403_imp Wrote: [ -> ]https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/ite...874004688/
A friend of mine had me go look at an '03 V-Star 650 a few months back that he purchased to get back into riding. He is thrilled with being back on the road and the V-Star has been a good bike for him to get his feet wet. He is planning a epic ride next year with the destination being his friends vineyard in Oregon but pretty much circling the country and as much as he likes the 650 he is thinking a little more bike would be worthy of having on this 6k mile 6 monthish journey. He just sent me this. I know nothing about Harley's. Anyone have any input on this particular model?
that is a much bigger bike.
check this link:
https://www.hdforums.com/forum/touring-m...blems.html
What would you like to know, specifically? I owned a 2009 Ultra Classic for eight years, but only about 27K miles. It is very heavy, though above parking lot speeds the feeling of mass disappears. Though I like Harley Touring (capitalized, as this is one of their lines) bikes very much and continue to own two (2017 Road King and 2017 Road Glide Ultra), I never "bonded" with my 09 Ultra. That batwing fairing is considered to be iconic, but my opinion is that it is junk, as it does not manage airflow well at all. Harley forums have numerous threads about the buffeting of the head and various fixes. I will say that above 50 or 55 mph with the stock windshield, it rattled my helmeted head such that I could not read road signs. Turns out that the less helmet you wear (or no helmet), the less buffeting (such a surprise on a Harley!) I did not try going helmetless; I found that a certain windshield and some "fangs" on the forks brought the buffeting to a manageable level.
Power on a stock 09 Ultra is adequate with the 96 cubic inch engine. Just adequate. Gearing on the 2009 and up models is good; the 2007 and 2008 bikes were geared too high, making sixth gear useless below 70 mph. The 2009 and up bikes have the new and improved frame, so they handle better (still using that frame in 2020).
My opinion is that if you leave these bikes stock, they are comfortable and reliable machines.
Thanks guys. I believe this particular bike has a cut down shield (most likely for the reasons you spoke of). He was just wondering if they're any glaring faults in this particular model. He did do some reading and spoke about a few changes on the '09 that helped from the previous years (exhaust heat and frame geometry).
No glaring faults. The 96 inch motor had been around since 2007 in Touring bikes and was well-sorted (no cam chain tensioner issues). The fifth gear noise (it's a six-speed) in the 07 and 08 models was addressed with the IDS in the rear wheel (the noise was not a flaw, but riders complained; had to do with straight-cut gears in the transmission).
2009 was a good year. No catalytic converters on non-California models (all models had them in 2010).
Thank you Cookie.
Thinking even harder about my experience with 2009 Ultras (since I had one and my friend just down the street bought a very nice used one a couple of years ago), one minor problem area was wheel bearings. H-D went to metric sealed bearings in 2009 and sourced some poor quality ones, so many if not most owners experienced bearing failures. I replaced all of mine (two in front wheel, two in rear wheel, two in IDS unit) and all of my friend's as well. No catastrophic failures for either, just roughness that could be felt with wheels off. If you have the tool, it's not a big deal to change them. Recommend All Balls Racing bearings, which are readily available and relatively cheap. H-D changed suppliers of their bearings after this problem surfaced, though of course the H-D bearings are much more expensive and not better quality than the All Balls ones.
Thanks for the update. I am familiar with All Balls as i use their stuff on my dirtbike.
this may help..or not
[url=https://www.google.com/search?q=problems+with+2009+harley+davidson+ultra+classic&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS736US736&oq=issues+with+2009+Harley+Ultra+Classic&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l2.40054j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8]https://www.google.com/search?q=problems...e&ie=UTF-8
We went to look this eve. I don't have enough time to type the story we got from the seller. He's only owned it for 2 months, mixed up titles, no knowledge of maintenance or history of any kind. It was comical. Needless to say he will not be buying it. It looked nice though.
Thank all that replied for your knowledge.