Nothing wrong with a glide, but before you do anything, try this: put both your feet up on top the crash bar, pinching the tank with your legs. If the turbulence gets much less, than you have air coming up from under your windshield causing the problem. If so, than spend $70.00 and buy the ugly chrome wind deflectors that run down your forks. They easily bolt to your forks using the spot light / windshield brackets, and are one of the best things I've done for long term comfort on my Road Kings. So much so, that I put up with the way they look. They should also work on glides.
They're a little louder when cruising at Highway speeds but not bad at all to me when you hammer the throttle is when I notice the most noise increase. No problem hearing the radio and these are the same make I had on my Road King; Fuelmoto Jackpot mufflers with the standard baffle, they also make a quiet baffle and a competition baffle. To me it sounds just a little louder than HD Screaming Eagle Mufflers that my friend as on his Road Glide.
I have the Jackpot 4 inch with standard baffels along with the Jackpot header. It's not bad db wise unless you're really on the throttle. Sure they're louder than stock but totally managable. You can still listen to tunes and if you have the intercom set up you just need to turn down the VOX feature as it'll key under overpasses. If they don't work for you they sell quite baffels.
I've done just that, well didn't really get the Glide dirty but I've been riding it. I've had the Glide for 5 1/2 months and rode 7k miles, besides changing the oil the bike as been great. Gas mileage as been averaging 37mpg with a high of 43mpg and a low of 32mpg. Speed as been the determining factor, with my highs at speeds less than 70mph and the lows above that. I've rode to Lake Havasu, Oatman Town twice, Tombstone, Laughlin twice, Borrego Springs, Julian and a few others. I have no complaints with the bike and the weight as become a non-issue. I need to change the windshield to a lower one, I can barley see over it. I added highway pegs right away and also added the riders backrest; I had the rideres backrest on my Road King so I knew I wanted it. Not much if anything I really want to do except add MotoLights for better visibility, not much of a bling guy unless it as a function too. I can not speak much about older HD's but the current 09 and later touring models seem to be very good bikes. Between the Road King and the Glide I've put 69k miles on them, the RK had some issues all covered under warranty but overall both have been very good bikes. Some pictures from my travels Cool Springs Route 66 Road side attraction with one of my Buds. Oatman Town Borrego Springs Ocotilo Wells State Vehicle Recreation Area Seligman Route 66
Yawn...been there and doing it and I can say that it is truely boatloads of fun! Had a 2005 GS and sold it because it did not seem to do anything real well. It did everything good but the operative word is that it really did do ANYTHING. My Ultra has been down gravel roads and it handles that very well too but it isn't something I care to explore on the Ultra. However, in all the years I had my GS I went exploring once and the rest of the time spent all my time on the road where it had less protection from the elements than a real tourer, the gearing is strange for a road bike, and 75 MPH + was not real good in the fuel economy area. So, I sold it and bought another road bike; one that was different enough from the Ultra to still make sense - my K1200GT. Now if I feel like zipping along looking at the scenery and enjoying the sun, wind, and the smells I take the Ultra. If I want to fly and not care about stupid flowers I take the K1200GT. And, unlike the GS, this thing comes ALIVE at 75 MPH and growls like a hungry panther when you wind it up! Someone once said that when a person has 2 bikes neither gets much use. Well, that is an opinion because when you have 2 that are dissimilar they become fun in their own rite. I have the K1200GT at work with me today but the Ultra may come with me tomorrow...depends on my mood! Good luck, beautiful bike, and above all else, have fun with it!
Oneday I'd still like to own a second bike but I know what you mean, there are a lot of nice roads here either off-road or street but it will have to wait till I have the extra funds. I've had two bikes at once and one always got rode more than the other; had a Honda and the Harley for a while and the Honda got sold. I miss "go fast bikes" but it does keep me out of trouble not owning one, I also remember my days of dirt riding and miss that too. Time to ride
The Geezer Glide is almost 9 months, rode it for more than 12k miles. Bike is running great no problems and my gas mileage is even getting a little better or I'm slowing down. This is my second Harley and between the two I've rode 75k miles with very few problems and what problems I've had happened early on and was taken care of under warranty. There's a thread why buy a Harley, because Harley makes a pretty good bike! Mt. Evans Pikes Peak summit Million Dollar Highway 550 North Rim Grand Canyon Boros Oatman Town
For a big heavy V-Twin it's still fun to ride on a twisty road. <IFRAME height=315 src="//www.youtube.com/embed/h_7UdLfCQaY" frameBorder=0 width=560 allowfullscreen></IFRAME>
No stock head pipe cat in place, just slipons. I'm giving it some thought I might replace the head pipe in the future but so far I've not had a problem with the heat, I stay away from traffic prone areas.