Just saw this post from HD & thought a few of the Café guys here might like to see what they did with a new HD Street...

Pretty generic. Aftermarket Honda CB gas tank with "cafe dents". Cheap aftermarket tailpan (looks like one of Omar's rejects).

If you haven't trundled into an "authorized" stealership and eyeballed the new "Street" bikes in person... it's worth a good laugh. Makes J.A. Pan Inc's cartoon V twins from the 80s (Yammerscammer Very Slow, Slopoki Intruder, Kawi VN700/750, Honda VT series) look positively stellar in comparison. At least Yamaha had the sense to rip off Vincent when they debuted the Virago series, and the XS650 was a 1954 BSA/Triumph design exercise that never made it to production (early ones said BSA on the inner case castings, Yammie bought the original molds and forgot to modify them)... The new "Street" is a cheap rip off of a VT500, no doubt about it.

You couldn't knock the "Oh Golly Gosh, welcome to 7-Eleven" off the new HD baby bikes with a direct hit high explosive round from an M1 Abrams...  

This was one of the bikes I looked (really it was the 750, but, same thing) at when I was trying to decide what bike I wanted to get (before I ended up deciding on the savage). Along with a Vulcan, Sportster, and Shadow. What I think Harley is trying to do is appeal to more beginners and anyone into the Cafe Racer/Bobber/"Custom Cycle" scene. I see a lot of manufacturers are bringing back old bikes,

Suzuki with their TU250X



Yamaha with their SR400



Honda with the CB1100



Those seem to pop out at me the most since I'm a jap-bike fan. I see a lot of "hipsters" cruising around on older CB's and other old bikes that they have rat-biked and bobbed. Seems like it's quickly became a new (or resurrected) trend.

The issue I had with it, goes back to the "market study" mentioned earlier, it's got that Harley name, so people will pay $7500 for it. I'd rather get a Shadow if I'm gonna pay that much. That's why I chose the Savage, I haven't hit 25 years old yet and just about any other bike I chose, would have had insurance premiums through the roof. The other thing, I'm skeptical about "new" models. Cars or motorcycles, you never know what issues will surface in the first batch of products. The savage has been around for so long, everyone knows what it already needs. A raptor petcock and a verslavy tensioner. Other than that, it's flawless for it's designed intentions.

I think the HD Street looks pretty cool. I just don't wanna pay Sportster prices for a 500. The Savage would probably out perform it anyways, with the exception of top speed, but going over 80 MPH is illegal almost everywhere.



As Always, all this is just my personal opinion.

Me personally....I think if Harley wanted a starter bike they should have stuck with what they know.  Take the Buell Blast engine and made a small Sportster around it.

I don't like typing either, and I love talk to text on my S3, maybe I need Dragon on my PC

from what I've heard it's built in India, too, so I wonder about the quality
I've heard the Blast powertrain wasn't very good, BTW, Eric apparently was pushed into building it against his wishes, and the quality reflected that

Kenny G wrote on 04/02/15 at 20:43:43:


Your difficulties may be related to a different riding position and/or a rider height well over the designers' intended market share.
In other words... is they aimed this bike at the restrictive European market (48hp max for beginner riders) and "poorer" Asian markets, where people are often shorter than the typical 6' American, you might have found yourself in a tight squeeze.

Then you say engine, transmission and clutch are smooth, which leads one to think the bike is mechanically sound and well designed.

There's one serious competitor



Happy Easter !  

l like that one much better