When I first heard about this ‘all-new’ engine I did have a few reservations to say the least. I mean, it’s the ninth generation of their famous big V-twin and what could H-D possibly have done to change their game? Surely it’ll just be an engine designed to meet ever evolving stringent emission rules (as in hyper-boring) and therefore bore me to death but, I’m still alive, so by now you’ll have figured I was wrong!
Basically the Milwaukee-Eight (absolutely no prizes for guessing where it’s made) is an eight-valve motor, four per cylinder, if you’ve attended remedial school, but still a pure Harley-Davidson at heart, otherwise why bother because it won’t sell!
So to summarise, it’s the smoothest and, eerily, most soothing big V-twin built by H-D that I’ve ever had the pleasure of revving. I’ll stand up in front of anyone and enforce (like a ridiculous Donald Trump speech) that these three bikes I rode are possibly the best touring bikes in the world and all because of this gorgeous new power plant, so there! Article finished and I’m off to the pub…
Not really, but I was mightily impressed with these ‘ve-hi-cles’ as they say in Milwaukee, well the ‘po-lice’ do at least. And they are, in no particular order (all using the same new 107 cubic-inch - or 1,745cc in English - 2017 engine) the R335,000 Street Glide Special, the R308,000 Road King Classic and the R352,000 Road Glide Ultra. For now the new ‘en-gine’ (must stop with these syllable frivolities, even annoying me), will only be used in their touring range but obviously they’ll percolate down into the rest of the range over the forthcoming years.
I don’t want to get too technical because you’ve probably read about this engine already from the various World Launch reports, but will compress those briefly; they stamp out 150Nm of torque @3,250, no horsepower claims for whatever reason, make 11% more torque that the previous 103 engine and have a bigger 50% more powerful alternator so you can run an outdoor Rave party from the engine alone to really irritate the neighbours at two in the morning, nice!
Anyway, let’s get into the ride. Cape Town was the venue to begin with, then on to Barrydale for the night and back to Cape Town the following day, travelling/touring 600km in the process, more than enough time to bond I thought and I most certainly did. A very entertaining dude called George M. Skaris (www.skaristouring.co.za) led us and he’s well worth looking at if you fancy all forms of touring around this area and beyond. Without doubt his most interesting advice on our travels was to lay flat on the floor, face down, if you get attacked by an irate ostrich so it can’t disembowel you with is huge middle toe/claw and you can take that to the bank folks. Thanks George I’ll never forget that and it could save my life, and yours, one day, maybe.
But I did use and embrace the new and instant torque generated from this 107 engine and it’s a vast improvement over last year’s 103 in all areas. I was on the Road King Classic based on their 1960s touring bike, only visually thank heavens, and instantly enjoyed the soothing feel to the low revving nature of the 107 as I wound my way to George’s Bay with a lottery winning smug-like grin. However I wasn’t so impressed with the removable screen that only worked properly if you dipped your head into it, otherwise my head was buffeted around like sitting in a rollercoaster or similar. This is a bit odd for a touring bike and the Street Glide Special has similar tendencies but the Road Glide Ultra did not, perhaps the fairing designers work at different ends of the factory, or they’re shorter than the others, who knows? But that was my only gripe really during the two days of touring Harley style, which if you’ve never experienced don’t mock because this is the perfect engine for this jaw-dropping perfect scenery and well worth trying out for ‘non-believers’, you’ll be soothed away too, believe me!
So the Road King Classic is cool and the most retro styled here and handled like a 362kg (dry) bike should not, as in surprisingly and entertainingly well. Now this was down to two reasons, which goes for the other two models here as well, the new Showa Dual Bending Valve (SDBV) suspension, which I’d keep to myself in certain bars around the Country, if you know what I mean? A comical designation for sure but far from comical in the way it works. Hurrah! At last, a Harley touring bike that doesn’t force your pelvis into your shoulder blades when you hit a ‘mild’ pot hole. Well done, 10 out of 10 on that improvement H-D development and may that now be passed on to the rest of the range please, which I’m sure it will, or may their pelvises enjoy similar displacements at the dinner table. And secondly, I was really enjoying my ride so much I just wanted to go faster, which says a lot for the new Showa bits, not so sure about the Dual Bending bit though.
I did pick up the speed from the coastal ride as we headed inland because I’d mounted the 361kg Street Glide Special with its ‘Bat-Wing’ fairing (no giggling please), but inside that was a superb LCD screen with a very posh GPS system and of course a very loud ‘Boom Box’ (stop giggling again) stereo, the best in the business though for sure and the public love it when you pull up at the next watering hole.
The GPS screen was so much fun because you can keep your eye on it as you tear over a hill, yes tear, because I saw 180km/h on the clock and never dropped below that for quite a while as you put your faith in the GPS display going over a blind hill in case there’s a bend arriving very quickly, or not, and it works, what a laugh, sorry I mean tour!
The front end did feel a little harsh though compared to the Road King but I put that down to the low-profile tyre on the Street’ compared to the chubby 17-inch front on the Road’ adding an extra cushion of sorts. But I preferred the Street at the end of play to the others and it does look the meanest in that USAF Stealth bomber grey. What other country would choose that colour right?
After much childish behaviour that night I chose to ride the Road Glide Ultra, Harley’s most iconic tourer, back to CT the next morning. It’s big, very, at 408kg (dry), but once again when on the move the mass migrates and this ‘couch’ (as it called by all H-D owners) is inexplicably too much fun through the turns and by far the best touring option in the pure essence of the term, obvious though when you see its ‘Bentley’ seats and plethora of gadgets to fiddle with. Interestingly I even had a ‘roll-on’ test (not using deodorants, silly) with another rider on a previous 2016 103 cubic-inch bike and the new one well and truly clears off into the distance, showing that Harley’s new torque figures may even be a little too low because the difference is, err, a lot!
So there we have it, I’m impressed and adored this new motor more than I thought I would, and I forgot to mention it also runs much cooler from the right side whilst riding also, quite clever how they’ve achieved. In fact, it’s quite a clever engine in its own right and the new platforms they currently sit in adopt it perfectly. Now when can I have another trip? Hopefully very, very soon!
Go to www.harley-davidson.com for more details and new models.
Also visit your local South African dealer for a highly recommended test ride today.
