Street Roddin’ with new Harley
This is mostly only the righthand- side peg on the Street Rod mind you, which, due to the size of the catalytic converter in the exhaust requires a foot pad in addition to the peg on the exhaust itself to keep you from melting your boot.
It is awkward at first — and even HARLEY- DAVIDSON STREET ROD ENGINE: 749cc 60- degree V- twin PRICE: $ 13,995
Fun factor, power, great handling Funky right footpeg placement lets off a lot of heat on to the rider once you get used to it, it is still weird. In August we’ll see the full accessories list for the Street Rod, which will hopefully see a smaller de- catted exhaust system as one of the performance upgrades.
But, like its name suggests, the Street Rod is an urban assault performance machine. With Singapore as the world launch location, there was no better place to showcase the Street Rod and its powerful new engine. It’s the city where this bike truly shines.
We started our day- long ride late, after a typical Singapore thunderstorm turned the stairways at the nearby Fort Canning park into waterfalls. The sun finally came out and we hit the busy streets of Singapore to put this urban battler to the test.
Despite the wide, 870mm dragstyle handlebar, the Street Rod is nimble and finds its way through heavy traffic with ease. Lanesplitting for the first time since I moved from the busy streets of Auckland to quiet Cambridge was a breeze. My only worry was for the reversible bar end mounted mirrors coming into contact with SUV mirrors.
Off the line at traffic lights and the Street Rod matches its cornering ability with straight line performance. Even with a Singaporean spec bike that has a lower power output than what we will receive later this month, the Street Rod surprised with its onroad performance, roaring away from the lights with a glorious intake note from the new supercharger inspired intake.
And that’s the Street Rod in a nutshell.
Turn up your nose all you like to the Street DNA, the Street Rod is a new level of Harley- Davidson urban machinery.
It is quick off the line, corners well, and brings the Street platform up the a far more deserving level than the entry level bikes could hope to achieve.