Requesting info for a friend '09 Ultra classic

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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?

Bheezy27403_imp said:

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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?

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that is a much bigger bike.

check this link:
Going to look at a 2009 Ultra Classic - Problems? - Harley Davidson Forums

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. :beerchug:

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

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.

He bought an unmolested '07 Road Glide with 13k on the clock today. I will be riding it home from Reidsville tomorrow for him and it will live in may garage for a couple weeks until he gets a cover for it.

Hope the price was right. Note that 2007 has the old frame (not as good handling) and unless the gearing has been changed, really annoying because it was geared much too high. 6th gear not useful until 70 mph or so. Also will hear 5th gear whine unless a compensator was added. I had a 2007 Road King and liked the bike very much except for the gearing, which irritated me every time I rode it.
Oh, and having owned both an Electra Glide and (now) a Road Glide, the RG's airflow management is vastly better, since it has the frame-mounted fairing. It is also much more pleasant to ride and move around, not having all the weight of that batwing fairing on the handlebars.

How about a ride report when you get home Bheezy

Thanks Cookie for your always helpful Harley info! Never thought I'd say that. My friend is a VERY easy rider. He wouldn't know bad handling if it bit him. He just lopes down the road smiling. As for the gear whine we both read about it and are aware. I'll be listening on the ride tonight. I said initially that the bike was unmolested but when speaking with my buddy last night he said it did have slip-ons on it so I the whine may not be noticeable anyway. Now I'm curious to check out the gearing though.

This will be my first experience with a Harley behemoth (I've been on a couple Sportsters...meh, sorry Doc) and I have to say I'm looking forward (no controls pun intended) to seeing why people shell out this kind of cash and what the hype is about.

Report to follow.

You know it's funny, but with motorcycles, what is annoying, or a deal breaker even to some, doesn't bother others one iota. My nephew bought a Versys 650, and a Moto Guzzi V7 recently. I rode them both. He complained about the clunky shifting on the Versys which didnt bother me one bit, it was a deal breaker for him and he sold it, and kept the Moto Guzzi. I complained about the Guzzi which vibrated like crazy all the time, about the gear indicator which didnt know what gear you were in until after you let out the clutch, and the lack of a tach, with the speedometer not in the center of the yoke, none of which bothered him a bit

Different strokes

Bheezy27403_imp said:

Thanks Cookie for your always helpful Harley info! Never thought I'd say that. My friend is a VERY easy rider. He wouldn't know bad handling if it bit him. He just lopes down the road smiling. As for the gear whine we both read about it and are aware. I'll be listening on the ride tonight. I said initially that the bike was unmolested but when speaking with my buddy last night he said it did have slip-ons on it so I the whine may not be noticeable anyway. Now I'm curious to check out the gearing though.

This will be my first experience with a Harley behemoth (I've been on a couple Sportsters...meh, sorry Doc) and I have to say I'm looking forward (no controls pun intended) to seeing why people shell out this kind of cash and what the hype is about.

Report to follow.

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He must be a very good friend of you bringing this bike home for him.....

He is. I got him back into riding and put him on my CBR300R for a couple months until we found a 650 V-Star for him to buy. He trusts my opinions and knowledge of bikes. Heck, I found this bike for him too!

Turns out it's a Road King. Who the heck knows with these things. Rode her home tonight. I'll report in the next couple days when I get a chance. Spoiler alert, I won't be buying a Harley anytime soon.

Bheezy27403_imp said:

Turns out it's a Road King. Who the heck knows with these things. Rode her home tonight. I'll report in the next couple days when I get a chance. Spoiler alert, I won't be buying a Harley anytime soon.

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I did try to warn you without saying it.....

Where would 95% of the internet motorcycle sites be if they couldn’t fill their dead space with Harley comments. I guess that’s one up side to the brand.