2001 Harley-Davidson FLHPI Road King (Police) review from United States of America

Nothing at this time. The previous owner (s) used a lot of braking so I'm having to replace the front pads at only 6,000 miles. I had 13,000 on my '05 Softail before I was going to replace them. This is not a factory problem though.

Today is actually one month to the day that I've had this bike. After a little over 800 miles on the odometer, these are my observations.

One of the first things I noticed compared to my '05 Softail Deluxe was the quicker acceleration in all gears. It's geared lower than my Softail was. The 2001 FLHPI's fifth gear is 3.37 vs. 3.15 for civilian models. The engine sprocket also has 24 teeth vs. my Softail's 25 tooth. This also equates to about 10-15% less gas mileage than I was getting on my Softail with both bikes running synthetic oils in the crankcase, primary, and transmissions.

I noticed that my exhaust pipes (stock) are black, so it appears the engine is running rich. I'll check the mileage after I get the ECM mapping readjusted.

The last thing I noticed was that the owner's manual lists the compression ratio at 9:1 compared to the civilian model 8.9:1, so the police models, at least the 2001 model, gives you slightly more bang for the buck. I don't know that I'd necessarily feel the difference in compression ratios though. Both bikes are fuel injected.

Road stability is much better compared to my Softail. I was happy with the Softail until I road the Police Road King. I noticed that I'm taking familiar freeway corners and turns easily 5 MPH faster with the Road King than I did on my Softail. I'm thinking that is due to the different rake & trail combinations of the two bikes.

I was initially concerned about the unbalanced engine of the Road King compared to the 88B of the Softail. As soon as the Road King comes up to speed above idle, that engine shaking stops and it is surprisingly smooth as silk. On the freeways I feel like I'm just gliding along. It's probably in part due to the air shocks and solo air seat on the FLHPI models, which is really comfortable. The FLHPI is also about 50 or so pounds heavier.

I have rubber handlebar mounts on my bike compared to my friend's 2003 anniversary edition Road King. The handlebar "give" on my handlebars compared to his rock steady handlebars bothered me at first. The mechanic at my local HD dealership explained it was to absorb the engine vibration, and that if it really bothered me, that I could change out the bushings from the rubber to polyurethane type. I've gotten used to them now, and the only time I feel the "give" is when I'm pushing the bike out of the garage onto the driveway.

The FLHPI has run flat tires. I'm thinking that the stiff sidewalls, and I think they are non-radial tires, are why the tires do the highway hula on uneven sections of the roadway. They aren't that bad though.

I felt that I had a smaller turning radius around town with my Softail than the Road King, because the lower center of gravity gave me more confidence leaning into low speed U turns, as my seat height is several inches higher on the FLHPI, because with the air seat front mounting brackets and the rubber air bladder connected to the back of the seat. I've since gotten used to the higher seat height and using my clutch & throttle more on U turns, so my turns on both bikes are probably the same now.

Finally, I enjoy having the "hockey puck" quick releases on top of the saddlebags compared to the civilian model latches, which my friend has on his 2003 Road King.