In a move that should catapult the Low Rider back into the hearts and minds of those who had posters of the 1977 FXS Low Rider on their bedroom walls as kids – and onto the phone and tablet desktops of the next generation – Harley-Davidson have taken their new recently revived Low Rider and done with it what some would say they should have done in the first place. I would say they’ve exceeded that.
At its heart is a meaty 110-inch Twin Cam motor complete with a Heavy Breather air cleaner and the exhausts off a Fat Bob (blacked-out, of course), dressed with flat bars on 5-inch straight risers behind a bikini fairing, twin discs on the cast wheels that we didn’t get on the regular model in this country, a premium suspension package, bobbed rear mudguard and a sporty solo seat. It looks like it’s ready to pounce, if not actually in flight.
While the 2015 Low Rider was a masterpiece of clever adjustability, the Low Rider S is primal, unapologetic and a thing of great beauty. There are Night Rod Special and XLCR references in there as well as the original Low Rider (and, bizarrely, Yamaha’s XS1.1S), and I want one so badly that it hurts.
You want raw objectivity? Buy Which Bike! This is lust!
It’s also very nearly the Sturgis that we didn’t get in 2001 or 2011.
Let’s get the necessary negatives out of the way first.
At £14,995 it’s £2,450 more expensive than the base Low Rider in vivid black, but the engine, suspension package and the finish of the engine and the ‘Magnum Gold’ wheels – inspired by the mag wheels of 1960s race cars – would cost a lot more as upgrades. And it’s only a matter of time before some wit points out they’ve seen that the styling on some American biker show, in which case you can either politely explain that the NorCal/Thug-style look predates EastEnders on Wheels … or else whip out a 1911 .45 and add them to this week’s bodycount.
Director of Styling, Brad Richards, said “Riders have been asking when Harley-Davidson would build another aggressive, performance-based bike like the legendary FXR models. This is our answer to that question. The Low Rider S is informed by the current tall-bike custom trend and our own custom styling, but also seeks to redefine Harley-Davidson performance for a new generation of riders. We really wanted to connect the rider to the road by delivering instantaneous power and agile handling with a bike that is trimmed to the essentials.”
While ‘tall-bike’ seems to be at odds with a Low Rider, it refers to the height of the ’bars not the seat, which is still a lowly 26.6-inches.
Dais Nagao, Senior Stylist and veteran of the Tokyo custom scene – who we met on the launch of the Iron and Forty-Eight – had a hand in this too, and his eye for detail combined with the riding dynamics shows: “When you ride fast in this upright position, you need a little wind protection,” he offered, explaining the bikini fairing “Then the way we inset the headlamp deeper into the speed screen gives the Low Rider S an aggressive face. It’s a powerful way to communicate the personality of the motorcycle.”
It also goes some way to explaining Harley’s first cruise control on a street model: this is a bike that should be comfortable over distance.
With its mid-mount foot controls, cast wheels, uncluttered back end, trademark tandem clocks, it’s a Low Rider worthy of the name. It’s also perhaps worthy of a name first applied to the 1971 Super Glide and resurrected on a Softail in the nineties, but which hasn’t been used to a few years: could this be the new Night Train?
2016 Low Rider S
Length:
2,390mm
Seat Height:
685mm
Fuel Capacity:
17.8l
Dry Weight:
293kg
Engine:
Air-cooled Twin Cam 110
Displacement:
1801cc
Torque:
156Nm/115ftlb@3,500rpm
Wheels/Tyres:
Front: Magnum Gold cast aluminium, 100/90B19
Rear: Magnum Gold cast aluminium, 160/70B17
Colour:
Black