General net research on the pricing of the Harley Davidson Road King at bikesales and bikepoint came up fine, it seemed on the money. As an aside it seems that Harley Davidsons might be cheaper in Queensland. I wonder why that is?
Googling the Road King came up with some interesting stuff. I'd do a quick review that does not profess to be accurate, expert or something that can be relied on. The review is just part of my own decision making process.
1998 seemed a transition year that delivered the Harley Davidson Road King in its "current form" according to and article at Ballpoint.com that professed to be the full version of a Road Test published in American Iron. Some specs located at Bikebiz provided me with an alleged top speed for the Road King at 150kph. This shook me a bit, I haven't owned anything that slow since I had a Fiat 850 in the late 70's. Yeah yeah, I know the speed limit is 110kph but you aren't ever going to convince me there's no point owning my 6 litre V8 car!
There was talk on the net about issues with the Fuel Injection system pre 2000ish as well. Mention of a possible recall and an alarming issue involving sensors in the head burning out and having the bike get stuck on 3000rpm. None of it was enough to scare me off, however it made me realise that if I was to buy something like this I would need to locate a Harley Davidson Guru who could go right over it, bring it up to par and keep me informed about the things that I would need to do ensure the best ownership experience.
It was clear during my research that people loved their Road Kings and that part of owning one were accepting of the fact the that it was different owning a Harley Davidson. Other things popped up, and I'll provide some links to them on the links page if I get a chance. Nothing I read lessened my determination to test ride the Blue and Silver Road King tomorrow morning. If it sucked the plan was to ride the Royal Star and either buy it or keep looking. Let's wait and see eh?