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Harley-Davidson Fat Boy S
I can’t say I am a big fan of matte black motorcycles, or even a small fan for that matter, but I guess H-D know what their customers want, and looking past the glum décor, this is a handsome and nicely-proportioned bike. The big news with this model, and the sister (brother, bro?) Softail Slim S, is the Screamin’ Eagle Twin Cam 110 engine, which is quite an impressive lump with buckets (149Nm) of torque. This motor is normally only found in the CVO models, and it sure does go. The Fat Boy S comes standard with cruise control, fly-by-wire throttle, and key-less ignition. Just put the sensor fob in your pocket (don’t ride away and leave it on the bench) and the engine is either armed or disarmed as you approach or leave its vicinity. Cruise Control is activated via the left side switch which can be thumb-operated – a boon for highway cruising.
Flop into the exceptionally low (660mm) seat, plonk your clodhoppers on the neat half-moon footboards, grip those high wide and handsome black bars, and you’re ready to roll. Actually I found the riding position really comfortable; the seat holds you in place like a prairie saddle, but I couldn’t coax Mrs Editor onto the pillion pad. There’s a healthy, throaty burble emitting from the twin ‘slash-cut’ mufflers, and this gets an exited edge to it under acceleration. Impressive. There’s nothing in your vision except that big fat black headlight shell, and the road ahead. The tank-mounted speedo is easily readable, and there’s a small row of lights to tell you basically what’s happening. There’s no gear indicator as such, except for a tiny, green ‘6’ numeral that lights up within the speedo when you hit top gear; not that this happens very often around town, because this is one long-legged sickle. Most of the urban stuff will be done in fourth or fifth gear, where the massive torque just hauls you along. And although there’s stacks of the good old v-twin throb, vibration as such is virtually nil, thanks to an inbuilt counter-balancer. The underslung, hidden shocks do an admirable job at the rear and the front seems to cope with most road conditions, but avoiding potholes, or even bumps, is advisable. In fact I think most of the suspension work is actually done by the corpulent Dunlop tyres. ABS is a nice touch, with the mechanism hidden inside the smart, dished alloy wheels. I managed to graunch the footboards through some of the humps and hollows on my favourite test run on the back roads of Sydney’s Hawkesbury district, which is a bit
disconcerting, but with 335kg (plus me) to suspend this is understandable.
Once I got used to the disciplines of not tearing into corners without prior knowledge of the road conditions, I quite warmed to the Obese Chap. It’s an extremely comfortable ride, and judging by the long looks I got from passing bikers, a highly desirable piece of kit. And it sure does accelerate. Could I see one in white please?