It can be frustrating the limiter is like running a sprint but tripping as your second wind hits. That's right where torque starts to fall, but horsepower is still climbing –– roughly 5,000 rpm. The torque delivery really comes alive a few hundred RPMs short of redline. You could use the aftermarket to build a homemade engine with as much torque (115 ft-lbs) as this one, but it’d be very hard to compete with the reliability, smoothness, and easy starting of Harley's iconic V. It’s smooth and comfortable at 80mph-plus. In any condition, in any RPM, there’s ample torque. One word can describe the Screamin' Eagle Twin Cam: torque. In terms of track performance, the Screamin' Eagle 110 is good, not great. Many riders don’t seem to know the difference in power delivery, but the way power comes in is important to how a bike rides. Horsepower is for the track, torque is for fun. There’s plenty of torque in every gear, in every condition. You don’t buy this engine for raw power, but instead comfort, smoothness and torque. The previous lack of rear suspension grip? Again, a set of $600 “Premium Ride” shocks takes those problems away.Īlthough, it wouldn’t be a Harley if it didn’t drag. Lack of feeling in the front suspension is solved by “Premium Ride” front forks. The new Low Rider S, though, has a list of goodies that seems to tackle each individual problem.Ĭompetitors aside, the Low Rider S comes standard with the upgraded components to counteract those shortcomings.
Some will say that’s being overly critical, but you get the idea. Maybe I had set the bar too high? Meanwhile, other H-Ds suffer a lack of front end feel, rough riding rear suspension, limited handling, and occasionally lackluster power. FXRs and Dynas have been my favorite motorcycles, but this stocker left me cold. Instead, it was an overall plain-feeling motorcycle. Sadly, I still own my clothes and just bought a van the bike didn’t fill me with the excitement I expected it to. I liked the Dyna Low Rider, but had expected it to leave me with an uncontrollable urge to run down to the local dealership, sell my cars, tools (no actually I’ll need those) and every piece of clothing I owned, in order to buy one. Late last year, I asked H-D for a Dyna Low Rider loaner to ride to work, around town and so on –– as I've now done with the Low Rider S. The standard Dyna Low Rider misses the mark just a little bit. Big whoop, right? Well, fortunately it’s far more than that. The first rumblings of the bike made me believe this was to be nothing more than a Dyna with a big motor. The rest of its parts can be found in the accessories catalog or other models. The only item that’s exclusive to the Low Rider S is the seat. Harley appears to have drawn on this experience as inspiration for the Low Rider S.Īll the important goodies are direct part numbers in a Harley catalog, from the engine, to the specially ordered wrinkle black finish, to the “premium ride” front and rear suspension –– even the wheels. They simply used stock Ford parts and special ordered their own combination. You know the old-timer-good-ol-days talk of when muscle cars ruled the roads? One of those stories that always intrigued me was about Tasca Ford designing the Ford Cobra Jet factory-built drag car. With that said, here’s why we love and hate the new Low Rider S. We even used Harley-Davidson’s new performance toy as a grocery getter. Those aren’t only canyons-on-the-weekend miles, we put it to the everyday test, too: back and forth to work, as well as mountain and highway miles.
Now, in a time when H-D’s customers are slowly growing old, dying, or moving to other brands, the Low Rider S is the performance-happy, mile-hungry bike coming for your youth. Not a bad association to have, considering the FXR was/is one of Harley’s most popular models ever, built at a time when Japanese competitors were stealing market share from the bar and shield. It fits within the S model lineage, but could also be considered a resurgence of the FXR line. It makes perfect sense that Harley-Davidson has now released the new Low Rider S. They’re smooth, powerful, and comfortable, but ultimately bored me. I could see their appeal, but nothing about those bikes screamed "fun." Nor were they overly terrible. The softails with floorboards also had absolute crap lean angle and no mid-control offerings. Fun bikes, but they still lacked overall performance (e.g., handling, brakes, etc.) and (in my opinion) aggressive ergonomic position, both inherent in a Dyna. I rode the Fat Boy S and the softail Slim S models at the H-D lineup media launch in Portland last year.
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