am thinking about replacing my o1 electra glide standard with a new road king. just because i like the looks of the road king better. but i have gotten used to riding behind a fairing especially on road trips. i have seen aftermarket bat wing fairings for sell, and was just wondering if they work as well as a factory glide, do they rattle, do they go on and off easy, or should i just stay with the glides?
am thinking about replacing my o1 electra glide standard with a new road king. just because i like the looks of the road king better. but i have gotten used to riding behind a fairing especially on road trips. i have seen aftermarket bat wing fairings for sell, and was just wondering if they work as well as a factory glide, do they rattle, do they go on and off easy, or should i just stay with the glides?
If you put a batwing fairing on a Road King, wouldn’t it look like a electra Glide?
Are you wanting to be able to take it off?
Is that what you are striving for?
Was there an AIM article about puting a batwing fairing on a road king or fatboy, or something?
If not there should be.
WSG if you do this make sure you come in and make a product report.
So you get a fairing that's detachable, with a stereo and big 6"x9" speakers. Of course I can get behind anything that means louder music. They can match all the factory paint colors, paint the inner fairing for you, and they might even be able to do some custom pin striping or something.
Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Russ and I am the production manager for Dragonfly Cycle Concepts. One of your moderators, Harley Cruiser, invited me over to this thread. I would be happy to answer your questions about detachable fairings in general or specifics about our products if needed. I am very aware however that this is an internet forum and not a market place, so I would like to try to avoid direct comparisons to my competitors if at all possible.
To answer the original poster, aftermarket detachable fairings are a great choice if you love the look of a Road King, but can't give up the stereo and wind protection of a fairing for long trips. The fairings that I have personal experience with do not rattle when installed and aftermarket fairings often have better stereos than the factory Harmon-Kardon. All of the detachable fairings on the market that I have experience with easily attach and detach from the motorcycle. I would like to mention that most customers do not remove their fairing after it is installed. Being able to detach the fairing easily is a selling point, but in my experience almost all customers prefer their bike with the fairing installed.
Sleepineagle mentioned Centerline, but I believe he was thinking Dead Center. Other reputable companies include Hoppe, Corbin and Memphis Shades. Many offer complete inner shells with stereo packages, while some like Memphis Shades, are outer shells only with no provisions for a radio and speakers.
I'll try to check in on this thread every few days so please feel free to post your questions.
I totally agree with everything hilts had to say. I installed a hoppe quadzilla on my 04 road king last summer, and i haven't had it off since. the stereo and speakers are awesome and there are no rattles or vibration whatsoever. BTW the only reason that i ended up with a hoppe, was that i found someone that was getting rid of they're RK and i got a great price. When i was looking for new, i had it narrowed down to Dragonfly, Deadcenter and Hoppe. The unit comes off in less than 5 min. It's my streetglide with a removeable fairing.