Everyman. Every day: Harley’s 2018 Sport Glide
The latest addition to the H-D family is meant to be able to do almost anything you want and do it well. That’s a tough brief to meet. Especially for a cruiser.
Right from the off you can tell that this is a new generation of HarleyDavidson. The bike feels low and taut, there’s a willingness from the Softail chassis that’s much more ‘switched on’ than with Harleys that have gone before.
In short, it feels new enough to get your attention. A wallowy old Hector, this particular motorcycle isn’t.
The launch of the Sport Glide happened on a very summery Tenerife amid a myriad of marvellous roads – with barely a motorway in sight, except for about 20 miles of plodding we did to get us to and from the amazing ribbons of Tarmac that went up the side of a volcano and came down on a racetracklike section of motorcycle loveliness. There was a reason why HarleyDavidson picked this location for the Sport Glide – the factory isn’t daft.
You can see in the various boxouts in this article exactly what went into making this motorcycle the breath of sporty air it’s become, but leaving the mechanicals aside for a while it’s the quality of the ride that stays with you long after you get off the 2018 Sport Glide.
Rather than just tell you everything I liked about the bike (to be honest I don’t have enough room to do that here) I’ll get the irritations out of the way. Assume that everything other than the next few bits and pieces is top-shelf in my book.
First up, the indicators. I know it’s a Harley thing to have the left indicator button on the left handlebar and the right indicator button on the right handlebar, but I hate that set-up. My right thumb struggles with the right button when I’m working the throttle with my right palm and pulling on the front brake with my right fingers at the same time. If you’re heading toward a corner at pace, that’s three things your right hand has to do at the same time.
It’s too much. It’s not needed when you could have the indicator function taken care of by a left-handlebar single switch with a push-to-cancel like on the majority of other bikes. It annoys me. Second gripe is the front brake itself on the Sport Glide. Now, this may well be a case of the bike being a victim of its own success rather than a result of the four-piston caliper, 300mm single disc set-up – but the truth of the matter is that if this was an ‘older’ Harley-Davidson then I would absolutely not have tried to ride the bike in the way that I did. As I bedded in on the Sport Glide I was happily running it into corners a bit too deep, using a bit too much brake and enjoying myself. Halfway through the day and the front stopper had become spongey with the lever coming all the way back to the ’bar. At no point did the front brake cause me any concern. I could haul the bike up in plenty of time for anything I needed and the Sport Glide was fine to continue on. I do feel that I overdid it a bit on the front brake and it cried off a bit as a result. But still… I honestly think that this particular bike and this particular chassis would benefit greatly from a double-disc set-up on the front – you can’t have one though because the Sport Glide isn’t eligible for Harley’s two-disc aftermarket conversion. But if you could get such a thing on this bike you’d have even more fun on it. Harley, please please please get two discs on the front wheel of this motorcycle.
Thirdly (kind of linked in with my second issue with the bike) is the lack of adjustable levers. There’s no span adjustment for either clutch or front brake. Sigh. Why not? It’s 2018 people, if I want a long span adjustment on my front brake lever and a short span reach on the clutch then – as I’d be paying out £15k plus (because I’d have this in the silver colour scheme) – I should be able to dial in these elements of my Harley as I need.
Hey Harley, my hands might not feel at their most comfortable at the same pre-set hand-span measurement that Big Dave deemed appropriate back in H-D lever design, man.
Gripes over. That’s it. I can’t think of anything else I’d change on the Sport Glide. For me, this bike was pretty much spot on.
The Softail chassis is terrific. I mean Harley 2.0 terrific. It does a nifty trick of hiding the 317kg wet weight both on the move and when you’re paddling the bike around at standstill, it works superbly with the low 680mm high seat and after a day of riding, I was ready for more.
The chassis has also been made to give you a very healthy angle of lean, far more than you think you’ll have on a bike that looks like this. On the right the bike can get over to 27.9º and on the left it’s 28.7. Nowhere near sport bike territory, but still pretty good fun for the average road ride. It’s a very good job that Harley has fitted spring-mounted footpegs to the Sport Glide because even though the bike can lean over a far way, you still touch the pegs down even at slow pace with the bike set-up as it is from the factory. That’s more to do with how much feedback you’re getting from the single cartridge 43mm forks with a triple rate spring – they are not adjustable – and the hidden, 43mm rear shock which has hydraulic preload adjustment that can be literally dialled in by using the knob on the right hand side of the bike, close to the rider’s footpeg.
The bike’s new Mantis castaluminium wheels, 18in front and 16in rear, shod with Michelin Scorcher 31 performance tyres are perfect for the overall feel and feedback from the bike. It’s a cracking combination on this type of ride.
You can touch the Harley down and have a grind if you want to. Just chop the throttle shut and lean her over, the predictable scrunching noise reminds you that this is still a cruiser albeit one with a bit more tiger in the handling tank than you were expecting. Constant throttle through the corner with a bit of a wind-on at the right point and the bike will easily out-ride others that are dragging metal.
The bike can suit your style and mood of riding given any particular day. With its cruiser hat on the Sport Glide is lovely. It’ll plod along very comfortably and at 50mph you’ll barely raise a whisper in anger from the stock system. Accelerating from 50 to 70 and then to 80-90mph is okay, but just okay unless you stir the gearbox a bit. Snick down one and blip the throttle. S’easy.
On the day, I preferred the stock bike without the aftermarket fairing or panniers, largely because of the nice weather and great views in front of us (and not having to faff about with luggage). I didn’t feel that the bike needed a fairing at all but if you want one then Harley does sell one which clamps on to the bike’s forks without the need for tools.
It’s the bike’s Jack-of-all-trades nature which sees the excellent fairing (I’m 5ft 9in, 10in if I stretch) able to be fitted and removed from the bike in literally minutes. It’s not lockable though and I’m not entirely sure how happy I’d be to have a nonlockable fairing on my bike. Scrotes will have anything away if they can, irrespective of it being motorcycle or brand-specific.
317 That’s the kg wet weight of the Harley Sport Glide
Harley went to lengths to explain to me that one of the fairing clamps can’t be accessed when the bike’s steering lock is on, so it’s not as easy as just unclamping the fairing and lifting the bodywork away – at least not as long as the bike has its steering lock on...
The bike’s nacelle on top of the 18.9 litre fuel tank features an analogue dial for speed with rpm, trip meters etc. displayed on the small digital screen mounted under the dial itself. You scroll through the information via a control switch on the left handlebar. It’s simple enough to use and limited in what it does.
The riding position is easy and not at all as feet-forward as you might think. My 28in inside leg had plenty of room and the seat is excellent. It really supports you and allows you to sit ‘in’ the Harley and not have to shuffle around either mid-turn or while racking up the miles on the straight bits. The bike’s cruise control (standard equipment) is a welcome addition when plodding along with the traffic. Overall, this motorcycle is more fun than what ticks many boxes as a ‘standard’ or ‘typical’ Harley-Davidson. I loved the Road Glide but this model might just about be my favourite Harley so far.
The factory says that you can commute, tour and cruise on this bike from one day to the next depending on what you want to do. Yes you can but you can also have some fun in the corners too.
It’s a big step up for the genuine fun quota on Harleys and can easily carry what you need for a lot of things. A couple of little niggles took the total shine off the Sport Glide for me, which is a shame.
For £14,995 in black, £350 more for the silver or the red options (we’d go for the silver every time) which feels about right for the UK market, it’s a lot of Harley metal. Those already on Harleys should ride this bike – they’ll love it. Those who wouldn’t normally ride a H-D motorcycle should really be the ones who throw a leg over the Sport Glide and it’s those that Harley should target directly.
It might just end up being a revelatory experience.