2011 HARLEY LAUNCH & THE RISE OF THE SPORTSTERS

It was with a glad heart and a backpack full of wet weather gear that I rode my long-term Victory 8-Ball to the 2011 Harley-Davidson launch at Trivett Harley-Davidson.

Here at BIKE ME! we're developing the 7-assed Boris, who will be able to ride all of these at once. Tremble, bitches.

For that is how I roll.

My rolling aside, it was pleasing to catch-up with some of my peers, and the usual Harley crew of Chris, Bob and Marcus. These blokes do an awesome and usually thankless task of shepherding utterly worthless motorcycle journos around the country and through a brace of photo-stops for the lens of Lou Martin.

With the Victory safely entombed within the bowels of Trivett's very impressive showroom, we were treated to a brief presentation of what's new in the Harley zoo this year. Which is quite a bit, actually, despite the Global Financial Crisis raping the buggery out of everyone's fiscal happiness.

So this is what you can expect from Harley in 2011…

The big tourers all get 103-cube (1690cc) donks, producing102 ft. lbs. of torque at 3500 rpm (which is10 per cent more than the Twin Cam 96-inch motors). The other stuff you may already be familiar with, but for the spec-heads it's a 9.6:1 compression ratio, with a 3.875-inch bore and a 4.38-inch stroke, with Electronic Sequential Port Fuel Injection. So it's all rather familiar. The tourers also get new seats – they're a bit narrower, but with a deeper bucket and new foam, which Harley believes will be more comfortable and offer riders more confidence when they're paddling the beasts around at low speed. As always, Harley evolves its models slowly, but surely.

The Road Glide Ultra, a model not imported to Oz in many years, will also appear to test the market's acceptance of one of the better tourers in the world – and I hope to get a spin on it at some stage later this year. ABS will now be standard on all touring, Softail and V-Rod models – which is not surprising given the level of acceptance ABS has achieved within the market. Not five years ago the dinosaurs among us, me included, were all decrying it as the work of the devil. Now it is so ubiquitous, it hardly rates a mention.

Harley's CVO range (they're the big-dollar, super-trick models) is back after a short hiatus on the sidelines, and in 2011, you'll see a CVO Softail Convertible, a Street Glide and an Electra Glide Ultra Classic all pimped to the heavens. The 2011 CVOs differ from the normal Harleys in several significant ways, i.e.

• 110-cubic-inc engine

• 8GB Ipod Nano (except on the Ultra)

• 19-inch Agitator front wheel on the Street Glide

• Premium audio 100W/channel on the Street Glide

• Keyless ignition on the Softail Convertible

• Heated seat on the Ultra

• Remote control power locks on the Ultra Tour package

I have ridden a few CVOs and they really are something altogether special. Harley has also "realigned" the pricing on some of them, dropping the cost of CVO models by up to $12,995.

But the biggest news is the startling rise of the Sportsters and the coming of what I reckon is one of the toughest-looking bikes on the market, and certainly one of the most aesthetically pleasing bikes Harley has produced in ages, the Sportster 48.

Last year's Iron Sportster model outsold the Fatboy and the FXST in Kiwiland and was the 8th biggest-selling road bike in Australia. The entire Sportster range (dubbed XL) represents 22 per cent of Harley's overall sales. The new 48 is the fastest-selling model in the USA, which is hugely revealing.

Let us first consider Harley's entry-level bike, the Sportster SuperLow. It costs a paltry $11,495 (plus ORC, while the 48 is $14,995 plus ORC) and has been substantially re-jigged in lots of key areas, addressing what Harley told us were the concerns of potential buyers looking to get themselves onto a Harley. The fuel range has been increased (17-litre tank), the suspension travel has been also been increased, and there's been some work done to the seat and the overall steering geometry. It is wider lock-to-lock in the steering range, there's a lighter and smaller diameter front wheel, the drive sprocket's been matched to the rear tyre diameter to allow for a cleaner get-away from a standstill, and it now boasts beaut Michelin radials and pre-load adjustable rear shocks.

The Sportster SuperLow. A paltry $11,495.

The end result, Harley believes, is a very user-friendly bike that steers better than any previous Sporty and is especially gentle and loving at low speeds, which is where a lot of beginners get into trouble and tumble to the ground…, um, to my admittedly immense delight. But I am a cruel and shameless swine in that regard.

Has Harley succeeded in is mission to make a friendlier Sporty? Yes. Without a doubt. The SuperLow was indeed a sweet-steering, easy-peasy-to-ride bike. I found the riding position a little "locked-in", as it were, but newbies don't tend to mind that as much as more experienced riders, and I am rather meaty and lengthy in many ways. Also gone are the wretched buckhorn handlebars and the new, wider units are much better in every way. It's not a fire-breather, but it's got more than enough go for beginners and nervous people.

It's gentle and loving at low speeds. When it's stopped, you'll probably get lucky.

Which now brings me to the utterly gorgeous 48 – so named because the eight-litre peanut tank on the current bike first appeared in 1948. And practicality aside, it looks sensational when combined with the fat front wheel (which is the same diameter as the back wheel) – giving the bike an amazing retro-bobber look.

I was a little disappointed the bike doesn't have the 1200 motor from the altogether marvellous XR1200, and runs a far less angry version…well, I was disappointed until I rode it. Then some things became clearer than they were when I was rubbing my man-parts all over it in the showroom.

So why does the bike work so well on an aesthetic level? In my view there are two main things going on here. First is the fat, high-profile front tyre. It's just so '50s. Second, it's the stylistic genius of inverting the mirrors so they sit under the handlebars, thus cleaning up the profile of the bike beyond measure. It's such a simple fix, yet so effective. They take a bit of getting used to down there, in that you need to look for them at first, but after an hour or so, it becomes automatic.

During the presentation I was introduced to James Sadauckas, Harley's Vehicle Dynamics Senior Project Engineer. Except he ain't so senior-looking, did his PhD in why motorcycles go around corners the way they do, and clearly has a brain the size of a small planet. He was smarter than everyone in that room combined and I hope he forgave me when my eyes began to glaze over a little when he began to speak of oscillating forces.

It was James' job to make sure these bikes act like motorcycles when you lace them into a bend. Now if you've ridden Harleys before, you'll understand they don't quite have the same handling characteristics that sportsbikes do. Nor should they. They tickle different glands, and thus behave differently when those glands are being tickled. James told us he spent a lot of his immense brainpower making the SuperLow and the 48 behave in bends. I had no reason to doubt him and at the end of a very wet day of riding, I think he did a remarkable job.

James Sadauckas has the IQ of a small planet. He eats nothing but fish, and needs a size XXL helmet to contain his massive brain

So to the ride then, yes? I think there were 20 of us and a back-up van. This is an exciting amount of bikes to get out of Sydney in one pack in peak hour traffic. I immediately adopted the position of Right Behind The Lead Rider Chris because a) I know what he is gonna do; and b) I know what he is gonna do. And in this case, he spent most of the ride riding one-handed, including corners, and holding all of the wet-weather-gear-wearing journos in mild contempt.

"If it's only drizzling I'm going to keep on riding," Chris stated just before we left. "I'll stop and you can all gear up when it starts pouring."

Fair call, I felt. This is how I roll as well and since I only had wet weather pants, I was utterly indifferent to the weather. And so we set off.