[dcstrng]

As with most bikes, when buying (used or otherwise) it is good to be cautious about buying one that was the first of a model run... of course I seldom follow that advice, but where Harley is concerned it is worth noting – so late `80s Evos and late `90s-early `00 Twinkies should be looked at closely – bike for bike...

But to your central question, Ultras are pretty good scoots – and once you set it up for you, very, very good for long-pavement running... Surprisingly, if anything my Ultra has proven to be smoother at highway speeds than my V-twin Nomad and seems more nimble, at least at low speeds... but both share the same carb and appetite for 87-octane, so in many ways, after over 90K between the two of `em, I really don’t notice much difference – but because I’ve tweaked `em both to suit me... I have nothing against the well renowned buttery-smooth Wing, just can’t get past that made by Singer purr...

If you’re shopping for a mid-90s (Evo) Ultra, there is no reason you should expect to pay much over $8500 for a garage-queen to mid-mileage bike... those bikes will run 90-100K miles with little or no heartache, and at least from my experience are as oil-tight as any bike on the planet (my Nomad seeps oil occasionally, my HD is tight, tight... but does use about half a quart of Mobile One 50W ever 3K miles... depending on how hard I run). Don’t know a lot about newer Twinkies from personal experience, but I’d expect to pay $2-4K more for an early twin-cam Ultra (as versus the later Evos). I favor my Ultra for solo running (better fuel economy, runs happily on 87-octane, runs upwards of 175 miles before hitting reserve depending on speed...), but for two up I take the Nomad, because my wife prefers the Nad’s accommodations better (both have the same saddle builder, and I have the King-Pak on both, but for whatever reason, she is not as comfortable on the slightly shorter Ultra – even with the Pak moved well back...).

As for fitting a bike to a less than 6’ frame, saddles and shox will accommodate almost any reasonable height... As I’ve set mine up, however, my Ultra actually sits a tad higher in the saddle, but that’s because I was trying to mimic the leg-room of my slightly more roomy Nomad (a reasonable option by the way – saddle-height wise at least – but doesn’t begin to have the farkles and techno-gizmos of the Wing or Ultra).

In any case, for commuting as well as the long-pavement, I use my Ultra for both (as well as my Nad...) and between `em have something over 90K miles, so I’d say they do wonderfully at either/both...