I've never been a big fan of the HD cruisers, but I do envy the belt drive, and, yeah, they make good motors.

This bike that they just introduced, however, is on my list of potential replacements for my V-Strom - it looks like a good fit as a daily rider.

https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/harley-davidson-street-rod-first-look

What I think I will like about the Street Rod:
- Double calipers up front.
- Shorter rake.
- 29" seat height with the shocks squished - I can flatfoot at stoplights, which I cant do on the V-Strom.
- 60+ HPs, with 47 Ft lbs. of torque.
- 17" wheels front and back - I can put rain tires on this bike.
- 50+ MPGs.

I don't like:
- Bar end mirrors.
- The tiny pillion.
- Tiny front fender - looks like the radiator will take a lot of fire from rocks.
- 91 octane (12:1 compression)
- The air cleaner housing protruding on the right side. It looks like they made an effort to keep it out of the way of the knees, but I agree with Erik Buell - it shouldn't be there at all.

I need to take a closer look at one of these when one of the local dealers gets one in.

I 'm not a fan of the air cleaner either. I think the plain round ac on the standard Street looks better. It's pretty small though. Might not flow enough air with the hopped up engine on the Street Rod.

They need to offer a paint scheme like these too.

http://www.cycleworld.com/harley-davidson-xg-750r-flat-track-racer-motorcycle...

That new 750 might be fun to ride, but it looks like it was designed with a dull ugly stick.  It over-styled and dull looking at the same time. Too much effort was made to hide the radiator, and as a result I can't stop looking at it (or more accurately it's plastic cover). Ducati and Triumph do a much better job at bringing their heritage design language to modern designs.

Remove the radiator cover and change the muffler

Gary_in_NJ wrote on 03/24/17 at 20:25:24:

++1...  I like the specs okay, but something about it just looks lumpy... (and not in a good way)...

There was a link on some thread here entitled "Before you buy Harley" which was very critical of some aspects of their engine designs. While I'm perhaps neutral on the bikes appearance, I do note two out of three colours are "blend into the background" ones.

The Atlanta Short Track yesterday was a tough day for the Street 750 derived Harley flat track bikes. First three places were the new Indians.

The fastest HDs were the old XR750s, 4,5,8 place. All ridden by guys on independent teams.

The best the factory bikes did was 10, 11. Brandon Robinson, one of the factory riders, who usually runs up front no matter what kind of bike he's on, didn't look happy all day.

Lot more work to do to get these new bikes competitive I think.

oldNslow wrote on 03/26/17 at 06:14:17:


They need to at least talk to the indy guys..
How they can catch up with the Indian, ehh, who knows?