The trouble with riding a Harley Davidson, any Harley Davidson, is that you are not merely riding a motorbike. You are in fact trundling around on a brand, an image and to sound a little clichéd, an icon.
Focus on the Bike.
So I had to try and put all this to one side when I rode a 2014 1585 Dyna Street Bob recently, and see just how good a motorcycle it is (or isn’t!). Well to my mild surprise it emerged pretty well. I like the stripped back minimalist looks, the more stuff that HD pile on a bike the worse they look in my opinion.
Yours truly at the helm, the bike was still on standard pipes at this point. I look happy enough though!
To ride the Dyna Street Bob puts the grunt of the 1585cc motor to good use. This is especially the case when spiced up with the official stage II tuning kit and rather rorty pipes, as this example has been. This means 97 bhp was on offer as well as big fat dollop of torque every time the throttle was opened. So as a result the big HD can cover ground surprisingly quickly. Any traffic encountered can be disdainfully picked off with a flick of the wrist. As an added bonus the crescendo of sound from the pipes always seems to make drivers jump! Very juvenile and terribly addictive!
What the Harley Davidson brand is all about: Brutish, no BS bling
The brakes can just about deal with the performance on offer to haul over 300kg of motorcycle to a standstill. Ground clearance is an issue, especially on the right hand side where even moderate enthusiasm could get the sparks flying. But as I said the bike can be punted along at a quite surprisingly lick. The guy who owns the old girl can really shift on it and can live with people on bikes that are considered more conventionally quick. However the front can feel a little wayward too, and the bike can be jolted off line so concentration is a must. However overall the Dyna is a fun ride especially when you turn down the wick a notch, revel in the noise and torque and sweep majestically past slower moving traffic.
The Genuine Article
All the while the HD feels like the real deal, authentic: leather rather than vinyl, Coke rather than budget cola, silk rather nylon. This is a direct result of a solid, quality feel. This is an area where Harley Davidson have really improved over the last decade or so. There are some cool design touches too: The neat multi function clocks, the combined tail/turn/stop lamp.
All of this makes for compelling enjoyable bike to ride. One that has genuinely surprised me. I can see the appeal of this genre of bike now. This was something that had eluded me over the years. So buy the Harley, enjoy the experience. However, please do not add too much tinsel and ruin the whole thing!
Words and Pictures: Tony Donnelly