Harley-Davidson Motorcycle reviews

The Harley-Davidson lineup underwent some serious changes for MY2018, and the chopped-down, Dyna-based Street Bob was rebuilt and reintroduced as a Softail model. Not only did it switch to Harley’s faux-rigid style frame, but the frame itself was completely reinvented to the point where it bears little resemblance to the original that saw the light of day for the first time back in ’84. Sure, it still has that classic Softail visage, but the factory achieved it in a totally different way this time, and any perceived similarities are only skin deep. To add to the revamp, the Street Bob was on the receiving end of a beating-heart transplant with the addition of the then-new-to-cruisers, Milwaukee-Eight 107 powerplant that brings over 100 pounds of grunt to the table. The Street Bob has more power, new frame, and a new family/model combination as it rolls through to 2020.

A little sparse, a little spare, and an exercise in understatement describes the new-in-2016 Harley-Davidson Roadster, at least in appearance. Performance-wise, it’s agile with a greater lean angle than what you typically find in the Sportster stable. Not just a cut-down Sportster, the Roadster features a different frame and enhanced suspension along with the tried-and-true air-cooled Evolution engine.

Powered by the Milwaukee-Eight engine with a total of 110 pound-feet of torque, the agile Softail frame brings heretofore unseen performance to the Low Rider. Harley-Davidson is digging deep to give us better handling and more power and the Low Rider is a prime example.

Powered by a Revolution V-twin engine, the Street 500 and 750 are premium Harley-Davidson even though they’re geared toward the budget-minded, entry-level crowd. Just because the price is low doesn’t mean they skimped on quality. The Street siblings come with a steel teardrop tank and fenders covered in the deep, rich color, and flawless finish that long ago made Harley-Davidson the benchmark for premium paint on a motorcycle. The cherry on top is the chrome tank badge — not a decal, as you might expect in an economy-priced bike, but a three-dimensional tank medallion — as Harley’s pledge to you that you are riding a premium quality machine.

Traffic-carving performance wasn’t the first thing I thought of when hearing the name Harley-Davidson, but the MoCo started changing that perception with the new-in-2017 Street Rod 750. While it is, in fact, based on the Street 750, multiple changes in the setup and equipment turn it into another animal entirely. Shorter steering geometry, a more aggressive rider triangle and a more powerful engine come together in H-D’s decisive push into the sport-standard market.

The Harley-Davidson Motor Company has been making progress on its “100 new bikes” initiative, and while some of them have been variations on existing platforms, the new-for-next-year Pan America represents a net-new direction for Milwaukee. This marks a radical departure from the norm for The MoCo as it’s what you might call an actual proper adventure bike. It’s built with an off-road bias to a degree far beyond the flat-track bike or any Sportster-with-knobbies homemade scrambler, and it sports plenty of that rally-type style with a brand-new V-Twin powerplant as the icing on the cake.

Harley-Davidson makes some progress on its “100 new bikes” promise with the mid-year release of the new Softail Standard. The Standard presents a combination of old-school and custom features over a rather minimalist design, and that has the effect of keeping the price down to make this the least expensive Big Twin the MoCo has to offer. It also makes for a great starting point for you would-be bike customizers out there who are looking for a suitable platform.

Harley-Davidson marks three decades of production for one of its most-iconic families with the release of the 2020 Fat Boy 114 30th Anniversary model. This machine proudly displays DNA from H-D’s immediate post-WWII era all the way down to the old-school frame geometry that mimics the rigid rear ends from way back in the day. Harley powers it with its largest production engine and wraps the whole project in a unique graphics package complete with a limited-edition serial number and 2,500-unit limited production run for an extra bit of exclusivity.

Sometimes a motorcycle tells a story, and the Rikuo RT2 spins a tale of cooperation and national interdependency that preceded a period of strife with connections that contemporary readers may find surprising. It takes us back to the Great Depression, when the Harley-Davidson Motor Company struck a deal with Japanese manufacturer, the Sankyo Seiyako Corporation, and sold them the plans and tooling to produce their VL model in-country. The rest, as they say, is history, and this machine was named by The Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan as one of the 240 landmark machines of the Japanese Automotive Technology. It also has the distinction of having served armies on both sides of the Pacific theater during World War II.

Harley-Davidson goes to the top shelf for the goodies on its 2020 Road Glide Special. The Milwaukee-Eight 114 powerplant carries over from the previous year, as does the well-rounded infotainment system and ABS protection. Harley’s Reflex™ Defensive Rider System (RDRS) is available as optional equipment, but if you like your paint to be a little on the wild side, the Special Edition model carries it as part of the standard equipment.

Becoming a part of the Softail range in 2018, the Fat Boy received a massive upgrade on the reinvented Softail chassis, powered by the Milwaukee-Eight engines. Celebrating 30 years of this monster, the 2020 model gets a blacked-out theme, converting the satin-chrome outlook to a sinful looking “Vivid-Black” theme. And running this evil hooligan is the thumping Milwaukee-Eight 114 V-twin engine.

The venerable Road Glide Special has been one of HD’s iconic tourers ever since it was launched back in 2017. The bike takes the touring must-haves and wraps them in a no-apologies style, making it the motorcycle of choice for the high-mileage road warrior. It is sophisticated and technologically packed while keeping the core values of its predecessors intact.

For 2020, the Bar & Shield Company continues rolling with the Road Glide Special, now with a new Eagle Eye Special Edition Paint Option giving the customers “an attainable custom paint option that eliminates the need to either re-paint the original components or install an accessory paint set that leaves take-off painted parts on the shop floor.”

Also running under the hood this time is the brilliant Milwaukee-Eight 114, an upgrade from the 107 that ran point all this while, delivering power and reliability unlike any time before. Harley will also let you enjoy the optional Reflex Defensive Rider Systems that help give you confidence and control in less-than-ideal situations.

Harley-Davidson updated its sharknosed Road Glide in 2017 and replaced the little-loved Twin Cam engine with its new Milwaukee-Eight powerplant, a combination that persists into model-year 2020. There were a handful of aesthetic adjustments made over that span, but the model remains pretty much as it was when it hit the showroom floors in MY17. On the current-year model, top-shelf infotainment capabilities join with a plush suspension system and a half-dozen paint packages to deliver the comfort and style H-D riders expect, and the Mil-8 107 engine turns out the torque that we demand.

Harley-Davidson makes progress on its 100-new-bikes promise with the mid-year release of the updated CVO Road Glide. Built with a bagger-tastic bent, the revamped custom Road Glide carries the largest production Big Twin the MoCo has built to date. Under the hood you’ll find H-D’s new safety and ride-quality electronics along with the usual top-shelf infotainment goodies, and it all comes wrapped in bodywork that makes a solid connection to the current popular custom culture.

At the 2019 EICMA show in Milan, the Bar & Shield brand pulled the curtains off their brand-new, strategically developed machines that will bring them a new bunch of riders, ones who’ve never looked inside its shops before. Behold the “Bronx” and the “Pan-America.”

Paving the company into the Streetfighter and the ADV touring category, the Bronx and the Pan-America are the first babies of Harley’s “More Roads to Harley-Davidson” growth plan through 2022, though it all started with the launch of its first electric, no-clutch “twist and go” LiveWire.

These new motorcycles will be powered by the company’s new 60-degree V-twin Revolution Max engine that is supposed to be like nothing seen on a Harley before. The Milwaukee brand hasn’t divulged much information, but enough to just keep us excited through to their launch sometime towards the end of 2020. We’ve gathered them around here for a pre-production review of the Pan-America 1250 Adventure Tourer.

2020 is the year the Bar & Shield brand will be aggressively trying on new markets, and the first leg is already underway with the launch of its first electric, no-clutch “twist and go” LiveWire. As part of its “More Roads to Harley-Davidson” growth plan through 2022, this year’s EICMA witnessed Harley-Davidson unpacking their first-ever models, paving the company into the Streetfighter and the ADV category.

Rightly called the “Bronx” and the “Pan-America,” these new babies will be powered by the company’s new Revolution Max engine. Harley hasn’t divulged much information, but enough to just keep us excited through to their launch sometime towards the end of 2020. We’ve gathered them around here for a pre-production review of the Bronx. The Pan-America will follow suit.

Harley-Davidson expands the Sportster family with the new-in-2018 Iron 1200. Retro is in, so the ’70s-esque paint and custom touches drawn from that era give the Iron 1200 plenty of nostalgic value. Power comes from the venerable Evolution engine to the tune of 73 pound-feet of torque to give this ride modern performance that belies the dated veneer. A classic dish with custom spices, the new Iron 1200 raises the Iron stable’s displacement ceiling to draw new customers from a market that has been in decline for over a decade.

When Harley-Davidson makes changes to the Iron 883, they stay faithful to at least one important aspect – performance. While XL models have never been known as ’fast’ bikes, they certainly have a well-deserved reputation as ’quick’ bikes. Nothing in the Harley world comes out of the hole like a Sporty, or handles the corners like one, and the Iron 883 maintains that tradition with aplomb. Bikes like this show how the XL line has not only survived, but also thrived in the entry-level and sport-minded American markets.