2018 Harley-Davidson Street Glide / Street Glide Special
Harley-Davidson showed the Softail lineup a lot of love this year (and the Dyna family none at all), but its increasingly popular Street Glide expanded its family tree to include the custom blackout Street Glide Special, which sees quite a few updates for 2018, and the 115th Anniversary Edition that pays homage to its long history. The Milwaukee-Eight powerplant makes its sophomore appearance in the touring lineup with 111 pound-feet o’ grunt and vibrations that are easy on both ear and rear. New body details, features and paint schemes abound across the board as Harley focuses on refining its fork-mount fairing baggers as part of its new market strategy. So without further ado, let’s jump right on in and get to it, shall we?
Continue reading for my review of the Harley-Davidson Street Glide stable.
2017 Harley-Davidson Street Glide - Street Glide Special
Harley-Davidson updates its popular Street Glide family for MY17 with a few much-needed tweaks that make it as suitable for the superslab as it is for the boulevard. The earlier generation suffered from lack of power, uninspired suspension and a definite heat-to-rider transfer problem to boot. Harley addressed these problems to make the Street Glide into the bike it always should have been. Dual Bending Valve Forks and rear emulsion shocks take care of the suspension problems, while the Milwaukee-Eight engine brings 6.7 additional pounds of torque to help it push that front fairing into the wind comfortably at highway speeds and above. Adjustments made to manage the heat problem results in a whole new animal in the bagger stable. So, let’s check out the new models and try to act like we’re seeing the family for the first time, because in a way we are.
Continue reading for my review of the Harley-Davidson Street Glide and Street Glide Special.
Harley-Davidson calls it a “stripped-down bagger.” I prefer to think of it as half-a-bagger or a boulevard bruiser because of the trade off between storage space and low, mean good looks.
Whatever you call it, the Street Glide Special — one of Harley’s Project Rushmore bikes — is a compromise between carrying capacity and vanity, and I mean that in the best possible way. It retains the capacity of the big side bags and the comfort of the front fairing, so this ride can serve as a bar hopper, grocery getter or open-road tourer right off the lot.
Continue reading for my review of the Harley-Davidson Street Glide and Street Glide Special.
