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HARLEY-DAVIDSON 2010 LAUNCH

Boon goes where no young man has ever gone before… to ride Harleys

Words: Daniel 'Boon' Cousins Photography: Lou Martin

It was a pretty average Tuesday until Borrie bellowed at me from his office, demanding my presence. Usually this occurs so he can yell at me about typos or make me go and drink beer, but it was to be for a different reason that day.

“I'm kind of house-bound at the moment,” he explained with a scowl. “Do you want to fly to Melbourne and ride Harleys along the Great Ocean Road for a few days?”

I'd never had a blat on a Harley before and I'd never ridden the Great Ocean Road, so I promptly shit myself with delight, but managed to play it cool. “Christing Sky Moose, do I have to?” I blurted out.

And then before I knew it, I was in Melbourne preparing to have big chunks of American motorcycle shoved between my legs.

Harley-Davidson is rolling out five new models for 2010, four of which we got to put our arses on and ride around some very fine and some very not-so-fine parts of Victoria. They were the Iron 883 Sportster, the XR1200X, the Dyna Wide Glide and the Fat Boy Lo. Missing from our two-day excursion was the Electra Glide Ultra – a whopping great tourer that, by the looks of it, would very happily see you across the country comfortably on one tank of fuel.

Iron 883 Sportster

I seemed to get stuck with the Sportster on all the transport sections, so the one thing that stood out for me is this bike is just too small! After about 20 minutes, I really felt like I was riding a motorised bowling ball down the Princes Highway as we made a beeline for Torquay.

The ride position was extremely cramped and I was revving the tits off it to keep up with the other bikes along highways, but there was still a whole lot to like about the new Sportster. I reckon for an ordinary sized-person, it would be OK – everything felt 'right', just too small.

Because of the high revs (no tacho, so I can't give a figure) the engine vibrations became really intense after a while, and as we hauled arse back to Melbourne on day two, I started to get epic pins and needles in my feet. One bloke told me that the rubber-mounted engine was a monstrous improvement over the previous models, so I can only imagine how vibratey they would have been.

You're lone wolfing it with only one seat – and no pillion 'pegs – so don't be riding the Iron around with a spare helmet expecting to pull roots, unless she's well plastered and doesn't mind sitting on hard plastic all the way home. It's a shame, that, because it's a good-looking, distinctive bike to have a perve on.

The only chance I got to punt it through corners was during the photo ops and it was light, easy to throw around, and had good clearance – just a simple-to-ride motorcycle. I'd be really interested in riding the 1200cc version which would hopefully have a bit more room and grunt.

One disc up the front does an adequate job of slowing you down but then, with only 883cc thudding along between your legs, it's likely you weren't going that fast to begin.

If I was a bit shorter and bit lighter and wanted to jump straight into the riding experience with a Harley, this would be the perfect bike. You'll get enough change from $12,000 for your first beer after you've rolled out of the dealership and for what you've parted with, you're getting a solid little bike. If Harley could somehow get this thing put on the LAMS list, it would be a winner with those learning to ride with the sole purpose of owning a Harley.

It was just too small for this lanky prick.

Dyna Wide Glide

This… this is what I had initially imagined Harley riding was all about. And when I finally unfolded myself from the Sportster and parked my arse regally on the old-school Wide Glide, I immediately felt like King Shit of Badarse Mountain.

I was roughly a billion times more comfortable after having stuffed myself onto the little 883, with a comfortable, extended reach to the 'bars and my legs spread out in front of me. It was a sizeable steed and I was instantly addicted. This is why people buy Harleys – to be noticed. The laced wheels, the long front, the polished goodies… I'll admit I had a little bit of a chub for this thing (minus the screen).

The Wide Glide would be a great foundation to make happy bling-time to as it's such a simple looking bike. Nothing particularly screams “Oh I'm so sexy, touch me,” but nothing is mortally offensive either. Bung some 'hangers and straight-through pipes on this bad boy and I would strap a swag on the front, my woman on the back and ride this thing until the wheels fell off it.

There's 96 cubic inches of American V-Twin twixt your thighs and it's all extremely easy to handle. The engine is perfect and even around town, the longer front end was no issue 'cos of that beaut fuel-injection. Cornering was an interesting affair as the ground clearance is pretty ordinary – abysmal even. It was the worst out of the four we rode and I found myself touching something down during corners.

I knew it wasn't the 'pegs because they didn't move at all, and I was told after the first photo shoot it was the frame. This had the awesome habit of lifting the back wheel and moving it a centimetre or two if the frame hit a bumpy hunk of road which only happened to me once, but it sure put the fear of God into me. I was hanging off it like a sportsbike after that in order to keep the bike as upright as I could.

Aesthetically, the bike spoke to me – in fact, it kicked me in the balls while I wasn't looking and, when I turned around to punch on, it disarmed me with old 60s rock songs. It sung of times long gone where men didn't wear pink shirts or get manicures, where blokes on bikes were just that… blokes on bikes. I wanted to ride it far, far away.

I normally have a raging hate-on for sissy bars, but found the one-piece wire number on the Wide Glide worked with the lines of the bike. The clean back end was lovely and the cool curves of the exhaust headers were easy on the eye. The simple instrument cluster consisting of a speedo, a clock and some shit-is-about-blow-up lights is mounted on the tank and was surprisingly vibe-free.

The Dyna Wide Glide was by far my favourite bike of the four Harleys I put some kilometres on during those two days. It's not the biggest, or the best, or the fastest cruiser out there, but it's something special and whenever Lou yelled at us to change bikes for the next photo, I tended to find myself gravitating towards this one.

And that says a lot to me...

 

 

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