#harley-davidson

Three years ago in its maiden season, the Yamaha FZ-07 came out with both 80mm pistons blazing to take the win from five other tasty middleweights (including the KTM 690 Duke) in our 2014 Middleweight Mash-Up Six-Way Shootout! Last year, we threw the Yamaha in with the Duke 690 again – also the reborn Suzuki SV650 (alongside Gabe’s old SV, because why not?), and watched as the Yamaha lost out to the Duke by the slimmest of margins (a different set of testers…), on its way to beating up (barely) the new Suzuki SV.

The internet rumor machine is exploding today after a report from Reuters indicated that Harley-Davidson has expressed interest in purchasing Ducati. The only source of this information is from anonymous Reuters sources.

We know that opinions vary greatly, but we’re curious which company our readers think offers the best aftermarket suspension for Harley-Davidsons?

Dear MOby,

Typically, when we perform a comparison test, we select bikes in the same category to see which one works best. This time, however, we’re approaching this comparison with a few long-lingering questions in mind: How does having a fork-mounted fairing or a frame-mounted fairing affect the dynamics of a motorcycle? Does having the weight of the fairing on the fork make it floppy at low speeds? Do fork-mounted fairings interact with prevailing wind or turbulence coming off of vehicles? How noticeable is the improved wind protection on the frame-mounted fairing – particularly during cold-weather riding?

Some of the stuff in the Harley-Davidson Motorclothes catalog is too good not to wear, whether you ride a Harley or not. Case in point, this Sully jacket, possibly named for Tom Hanks’ character in the movie of the same name. Harley fixed me up with one when we went to Daytona in March to ride a couple of its new machines (Street Rod and Road King Special). I didn’t wear it while I was in Florida since my wardrobe was, as always, meticulously pre-arranged, but I have worn it quite a bit since then, when I’m able to get it away from a woman friend who keeps trying to steal it.

I was a little surprised my kid liked the new Honda Rebel 500 as much as he did last week, but then all of us are surprised by our offspring, aren’t we? His daily driver lately is my old Yamaha R1. He finally got around to getting his motorcycle endorsement last month – on our borrowed KTM Super Duke GT… so he does have quite a varied motorcycle background for a kid who’s only 23 years old. In an effort to understand the younger moto-mentality, and as a service to all the manufacturers trying to figure out what the hell millennial motorcyclists want, anyway, I drilled further into my child’s mind to get down to the Top 10 of things.

Dear MOby,

Recently, our own John Burns traveled to Daytona to hitch a ride aboard the alphabet soup that is the 2017 Harley-Davidson Road King Special FLHRXS. In his story, JB noted the Road King made it’s debut in 1994 – the same year the very site you’re reading right now was born. With that in mind, this week’s Church feature goes back in the vault to 1996 and the earliest story we could find about the Harley Road King in the MO archives. In reading Tom Fortune’s review of the Road King, the bike sounds antiquated even when it was brand new. Though some might scoff that today’s Harley’s haven’t changed, if Tom Fortune could ride the 2017 Road King, he’d be blown away by its fit and finish. It’s definitely interesting to see where we’ve come in the last two decades. Read on to take yourself back in time. 

Harley’s new Street Rod was our excuse to go to Daytona last week, but while we were there we got to ride The MoCo’s new Road King Special too. Okay, so, yeah, the Street Rod was a bit underwhelming, but it would be fun to sit all the commenters heaping abuse upon H-D for that bike on one of its FLs for about a 10-minute ride. I think it would shut most of them right up. Well, actually it probably wouldn’t. I think we’ve all learned how hard it is to unseat deep-rooted preconceptions lately.

As a lifelong rooter for the underdog, I really wanted to like this one. Almost three years ago, I was a big fan of the original Street 750, which wasn’t so easy because it did have a couple of glaring shortcomings. But it was such a friendly little approachable motorcycle I liked it anyway – then H-D gave it a better front brake and cured its main malfunction. But the critics still panned its lack of cornering clearance, its mundane parts manifest and its frankly sloppy fit and finish. All legit complaints, but I always liked the little Harley’s potential. The cut of its jib.

Suck it up all you Harley haters, and behold the new Street Rod – pretty much what we wished the original Street 750 could’ve been in 2014.

For this week’s Church feature we’re turning the clock back to 2003, and a shootout between five classic tourers: The Yamaha Roadstar Silverado, Victory V92TC, Kawasaki Nomad 1500, Harley-Davidson Road King, and BMW’s R1200CL – the clear oddball of the group. Speaking of oddballs, get a load of the MO crew from 14 years ago – off-the-cuff, irreverent, and funny (and maybe a bit chauvinistic at times), the writing of this shootout is good for a few laughs. As for the results? Read on to find out. 

What has dropped 10 pounds, gained larger wheels, honed down its seat height, and wields a kick ass new engine? If you said the Harley-Davidson Road King Special, you’d be right. So, what makes this Road King special?

Our wisdom comes from our experience, and our experience comes from our foolishness. – Sacha Guitry