2011 Harley-Davidson Road King

The other day I was at the local Harley-Davidson^® dealership and was lucky enough to clap eyes on a nice shiny new 2011 Harley-Davidson Road King®.  The colour was described to me as "Root Beer" which was a little confusing because I couldn't find it in the colours that were supposed to be available here, maybe it was the "Merlot".  Anyhow it was quite sexy dark maroon with a gold metallic finish and I believe it was snapped up by a new owner quick smart.

Some things I noticed. Obviously it has a 103 engine as standard fitment now in the touring models.  It was made obvious on the air cleaner cover and the derby cover that the bigger engine was present.  The other thing I noticed straight up was the oil cooler that was fitted to it.  Other than that, to my untrained eye it looked just like an 2009 0r 2010 Road King.  Here's a link to the official specs and the key features sadly there isn't a photo of the derby cover sporting a big 103 on it in the gallery!

For what it's worth, imho,  the switch to the 103 is a great idea.  I put a Screamin' Eagle^® Phase II 103 Kit in mine with a Super Tuner about 13,000k's ago and for touring, particularly loaded or two up on a on a trip it made a great tourer even better.  I did however find out soon enough that the 103 I put in ran hotter than the 96ci, particularly in traffic. As s a result needed to put an oil cooler on, which sorted it out in most circumstances so HD's decision to put on this new Road King was very wise.

My 2009 Road King hasn't taken me everywhere I want it to yet so Im not thinking of trading up, but if I was in the market for a new one the 2011 Harley Davidson Road King is a winner for me.  I'm really looking forward to seeing a couple of the new CVO's, the CVO Street Glide^® and the CVO Ultra in the near future too, this time of year's always exciting!