Time for a little rant.

Since I bought this 18 RGU I have not really been thrilled with the way it fits me. My 11 basically fits me like a glove as delivered.

I have made some changes to the 18 and have some more stuff in mind, but never really did a hard comparison between the two scooters till now. And I got a bum ankle/foot so I got nothing better to do then look at them.

First up is the bars. The bars on the 18 are higher and pulled back further

The bars on the 11 lean back just a little from the fork centerline and the grips are over the front of the fuel lid.

The 18 bars are leaning a tad forward of the fork centerline and the grips are to the rear of the fuel door. And they are about 5 inches higher. To get them to lean that far forward I had to pull the safety pin, and the lever housings are against the locating pins. They could stand to be rotated a little further for comfort. The bars are designed to be pulled back at least another inch.




The seat is another issue, the MoCo moved the seat forward on the 18's. Adding a Tallboy seat just gets you back to the pre Rushmore riding position.

2011 oem seat. For reference I added the red box. Box marks the location of the rear peg mount, and the relation ship of the rear of the seat with the front of the saddle bag.



And the 2018 with a Tallboy seat.



And to make it worse, the MoCo moved the floorboard to the rear a little, then moved the break pedal to the rear even further.

2011 board and brake, with a reference box marking the center line of the motor in relation to the board and pedal pad.



And the 2018



And the Rushmore pedal is higher at rest, making it a little hard to get your toe on it without lifting your foot. And when you do lift your foot, it bangs into the cooling box on the inside of the lower fairing.

Now I'm not sure what the MoCo sees as an average sized rider. I'm a schosh under 6 feet with a 29 inch inseam. And I'm cramped as shit on this Rushmore scooter. And I don't know who had the final say on the ergonomics for these scooters. But I'd bet a few bucks that its either a woman or a man under 5 foot 8.

And it peeves me that they don't make a lower bar (old style) for these Rushmore Roadies. Not everyone wants to ride with apes.

I’m a bit surprised at your comments, as I always thought MoCo built bikes for the 6-footer. At 5’8”, I purchased a ‘17 RGU, and in order to make it fit, I sent the seat to Mean City to have it lowered and moved slightly forward, installed a 12” Freedom touring shield, rolled the bars back slightly (without removing the pin), and moved the floorboards out slightly with extenders. This is very interesting as I assumed you 6-footers to be the lucky ones with a bike fitting perfectly off the showroom floor.

Have had the same question.
I am 5’11” with a 34” inseam on 2017 FLTRU and it fits good from factory. OEM seat leaves a bit to be desired and once highway pegs were added I can change position enough to be comfy. But I will say that I always assumed that they built these for 5’6”-5’8” just because I feel like I’m on top of the tank sometimes. But I don’t notice it most times.



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The stock ultra seat is cramped for me, I only considered an Ultra until i test drove it; The only thing I liked about the Ultra was the Bars; they do give more leverage in the turns, but are narrow (which is one of the reasons I went with the Tallboy Bars, kept “locating pin” pushed bars to middle groove as opposed to having bars rest forward on the pin. Didn’t require further adjustment or I would have removed pin). At my Height 6’3” 35-36” inseam the stock boards on the Ultra are too square and I can’t comfortably shift; went with the Special.

After some modifications(that failed) the best modification is my LePera Maverick DLL, sits me back far enough the comfortably stretch out and/or use my highway Pegs(H-D short with stock streamliner black pegs).


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That's one nice thing about having an older bike (mine's 2009). I have it set up for me and it works and I fit it (at 6'2" with 35" inseam). I have it set up nicely for solo riding and also for when the Mrs. is with me and we roll 2 up. I have ridden the newer bikes and will say that I feel like I am on top of the tank when riding a stock one. There is lots that would need to change on a new one to have me as comfy as I am on mine now, but I am sure it's possible, just time and $$.

I'm 5'8", 30 inch inseam. I agree, HD make bikes perfect for my height. I don't know how tall guys ride a stock bike.

It's true that these bikes have been downsized to fit those who are 5'8" and 168 lbs., with a 30" inseam. My girl friend's uncle lives just up the street from a gal whose heroin addled ex-boyfriend, was dating a gal who works in a coffee shop just across the street from HD's main office in Milwaukee, and she was told by someone "way up the corporate ladder" that in a cost saving move, they now put all touring bikes through an atomic shrinker so that the new bikes are now actually 7/8ths scale. She swears by it.

When i test rode the pre-rushmore bike i felt cramped and the ergos felt strange. When i test rode the Rushmore Ultra i felt like Harley got it right enough to open my wallet.

5'11" with 32 inseam

I addressed the brake pedal today.

Replaced it with one from Softbrake.

Before:



After:

Your post are spot on. My 05 was great. 17 RGU put a Daddy Long Legs seat on it & still not happy the way it feels.