Thanks for this feedback. I LOVE my Road King. Bought new in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. We lived in Columbia SC at the time. Every year (until two years ago) we rode up to the Smoky Mountains for well over a decade. IN 2014 my wife and I on our annual summer trip rode up on our VStar 1300 tourer. Last day of vacation, in the pouring rain we pulled into a Harley Dealer on our Start 1300 in Pigeon Forge and rode out on a new 2014 Road King.
I was scared to death *LOL* told myself slow and easy. Mountain roads, rain, never test drove the bike, never was on a Harley. Loaded with luggage and my wife on the back. It rained the entire time from TN to NC to SC on the interstate until we hit the SC border. We even bought rain suits at the Harley dealer before we left. Even at the dealership they had the weather radar pulled on their computer and were watching the storm. I knew sooner or later we would hit sunshine but it took a long time*LOL*
The dealership was also curious how we made out.
Ok, anyway. to the point, I still have that bike, my riding has fallen off the last 3 years as we bought a new home 2 years ago and really just getting settled in. But now on the NC coast I guess the trips up there will be little to none, however looking to maybe cruise the coast line soon.
TO date - almost 35,000 miles on the 2014 Road King now. The bike has NEVER (true story) been in the shop for any kind of repair.
I do my own, oil, gear case, primary fluid changes. However I did have (at the time) my local HD dealer do front and back brakes and any new tires I always used the Harley branded ones because they have take us through dozens of rain storms, never stopping, some so bad the raindrops would sting your hands, other times we thought we saw a funnel cloud. My wife counted one time up to 12 cars pulled off the side of the interstate, slow and steady we drove by. So I have faith in those tires. Also the rear tire makes it about 14,000 miles before needing replacement which is much loner than the metric cruisers and I dont know why.
Believe it or not. I find the cost of going to the dealership no worse than that of any professional service. I actually like bring the bike there for those things because they know what they are doing and I never had an issue.
With all the above said. I had nothing against my first bike, a Suzuki and my second bike the Star 1300 each one was a step up. I like them all.
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. A former MSF student turned young friend of mine has a V-Star (it’s admittedly old!) that has been eating up his time and finances on repairs. He bit the bullet and bought a very nice used Kawi Concours so he could still ride while the V-Star is down for repairs. 
