A Low Rider worth getting high about
MOTORCYCLE: By Harley-Davidson standards, the new S is a screaming good deal for fans of two wheels
The heart of any Harley-Davidson is, of course, the engine.
Oh, the new-for-2016 Low Rider S — Harley’s latest and most stylish rendering of its Dyna “platform” — may boast a (almost) stateof-the-art suspension, styling reminiscent of the cult classic XLCR (the Magnum Gold wheels are patterned after ’60s mag wheels) and back it up with a seemingly un-Harleylike rational riding position, but the centre of attention is still that hulking twin-cylinder engine.
And the S has got a good ’un. Yes, it’s still the traditional overhead valve V-twin that has defined the bike maker for almost a century now. There’s still 45 degrees between cylinders, two valves in each head and, yes, the pushrods are so long you could probably use them as classroom pointers. But what the Low Rider’s Big Twin lacks in cutting-edge engineering, it more than makes up for in cubic inches. This being part of Harley’s new S series, the Low Rider boasts no less than 110 cubic inches. And no matter how basic the design, 1,801 cubic centimetres are not to be trifled with.
Harley-Davidson doesn’t make official horsepower claims for the TC110, but says the S Low Rider packs 115 pound-feet of torque. Even if you don’t understand what torque is, 115 of anything sounds like a lot.
It is. There’s a giddy-up to the Low Rider’s throttle response that most non-Harley riders would find surprising. It also revs more freely, at least to its 5,500-r.p.m. redline, than anything with a whopping 111.1-millimetre stroke should. Short of a V-Max, Diavel or Harley’s own V-Rod, it’s hard to imagine another power cruiser with significantly more urge.
Or superior refinement. While it may be true Harley’s Big Twins are a triumph of evolution — no pun intended — over engineering, it’s also true HD was one of motorcycling’s early adoptees to electronic fuel injection. It may not fit the badboy imagery The Motor Company continues to propagate, but Harley’s Big Twins are the sweetest-running V-twins in the business. Even vibration, despite this not being one of Harley’s TC110 B-for-balanced V-twins, isn’t bothersome until past five grand.
An even bigger advantage over the base Low Rider is the addition of some genuinely competent suspension. Gas-charged emulsion shocks and cartridge forks may be standard fare in the sport bike world, but in Harley land, they’re still a relative novelty. And while the Low Rider S is no Ohlins magic-carpet ride, at least the Michelin Scorcher 31s — 100/90-19 front and 160/70-17 rear — remain firmly in contact with terra firma, dramatically improving the Low Rider’s corner-carving abilities. Meanwhile, the S’s steering head angle may still be a very cruiser-like 30.5 degrees, but fairly light steering and a willing Big Twin render it sportier than any Harley this side of an XR1200.
The biggest surprise, though, is how comfortable the Low Rider S proves to be in more sedate circumstances. The bars are “flat,” but they ride on 5.5-inch riders. The pegs, as with every Harley cruiser, are feet forward, but not outrageously so. There’s only seating for one, but it proves surprisingly commodious. Even the little bikini fairing, abbreviated as it is, deflects enough wind to make 130 km/h cruising not just bearable, but enjoyable. And the high(er) tech suspension, despite being, like all Harleys, compromised in the travel department (but 54 mm in the rear), actually soaks up road imperfections better than most of its cruiser competition. If someone conjures up a decent set of saddlebags for the Low Rider S, it just might make a passable sport tourer.
Some traditional “Harley-isms” remain. Like most HDs, the Low Rider S suffers from an acute case of lean angle interruptus. Left turns don’t present a huge problem, as the first thing to touch down is the folding footpeg. But Mark Marquez it to the right and the front cylinder’s exhaust grounds out. Hard. Still, there might a bright spot to be found. For the first time, at least by my recollection, Harley riders might actually buy their aftermarket exhaust systems to improve ground clearance rather than to annoy their neighbours.
Likewise, as with most HD products, the S’s front brakes feel a little wooden. Oh, it boasts twin four-pot calipers mated to big 300-mm floating discs, so there’s enough power to lock up the front tire. But because Harley soldiers on with its traditional master cylinder/front caliper piston ratio, brake feedback remains on the numb side of whoa. This may be one Harley that accelerates harder than expected and steers lighter than 306 kilograms has any right to, but it still takes a big handful to slow it down.
Finally, there’s the price. Though the $19,499 MSRP might seem a trifle steep, a little basic math actually says the S is something of a deal. A base Low Rider sells for $16,799. The S’s suspension upgrades would cost $1,225 were they sourced from the accessory catalogue. ABS is also part of the upgrade and is worth at least a grand. S models also get cruise control as standard and, of course, that 110inch motor is a multi-thousand-dollar upgrade compared with the standard Low Rider’s 103-inch Big Twin.
By Harley standards, that’s a screaming deal. Especially since the Low Rider S is the best thing to come out of Milwaukee since the Evolution engine.