MONSTER HARLEY IS RIGHT UP MY STREET
I was having a beer one night in Los Angeles in 2013 with the head of Triumph USA when we got to talking about Harleys.
He’d been sent to LA in advance of that year’s launch of the Thunderbird LT, an extremely capable cruiser to take on Harley’s US domination.
On his first weekend there, his Harley counterpart took him to an open day at Bartels’, the city’s biggest Harley dealership, where hundreds of riders and their families were enjoying a free hog roast, burgers, raffles, gifts, music, beer or soft drinks and test rides.
“See? This is what you’re up against. It’s not just about the motorcycles,” said the Harley guy.
I was reminded of it when my biking buddy Gareth and I rode to the recent open day at the local Harley dealers to find a large crowd enjoying burgers and music, to take two bikes out for a test ride – Gareth the Pan America, and me the new Street Glide ST.
The ST is basically a standard Street Glide on steroids, with the 1,868cc engine thrown in the bin and replaced by a 1,923cc version, increasing the power and torque from 93bhp and 117ft lb to 103bhp and 124ft lb.
And, er, the price from a sharp-intake-of-breath £25,795 to a get-me-to-thedefibrillator-on-time £27,795. No wonder Harleys are mostly sold on PCP.
The standard Glide is a beefy 375kg wet, and although the ST has shaved off 6kg to 369kg, that’s like a sumo wrestler claiming he’s gone on a diet by only having 10 chickens for lunch instead of 11.
Still, in spite of weighing the same as a small tank, it soared towards the horizon with surprisingly alacrity, helped by a bottomless well of creamy torque and a solid but precise gearbox which was light years away from the agricultural clank factories of Harleys of old.
With that weight on board, handling is never going to be quicksilver, but it’s agile enough for such a big beast, allowing you to dip and sway through A-road bends with happy precision, particularly as the Showa suspension is set firm for good handling, although at the expense of comfort on rough roads, as I found when it bottomed out on one bouncy stretch and left my spine an inch shorter.
So if you’ve got the dosh and enjoy the whole Harley social thing, it’s a street or two ahead of the standard Street Glide.