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It doesn’t like you. And it doesn’t care.<\/p><\/div>\n
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Can you see my tears? Just kidding. That’s rain. Promise.<\/p><\/div>\n
I ride it and it makes me wickedly happy. Or happily wicked. I\u2019m not sure there is a difference.<\/p>\n
It makes me feel like the outlaw I once was, and still am from time to time.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s like being an alcoholic.<\/p>\n
An alcoholic is always going to be an alcoholic, but in order to save himself from himself he\u2019s chosen not to drink anymore. But he\u2019s still an alcoholic.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m a bit like that.<\/p>\n
So this mechanical assault Harley has cooked up speaks to me like a bottle of rum speaks to an alcoholic.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not a quiet conversation of whispering and urging. It\u2019s a guttural exchange of growling and daring.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet this up ya!\u201d it declares, backhanding you across the face like you\u2019re some fresh-mouthed twat in need of guidance.<\/p>\n
Everything about it is wrong. And hard. And mean.<\/p>\n
And paradoxically, ever so bloody right.<\/p>\n
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Nothing fancy. Nothing nice. Lots of darkness.<\/p><\/div>\n
It\u2019s black. Of course it is. It has to be black. Sure, the wheels are not black, but they\u2019re not Jewish Racing Bronze, either. And they look better in real life than they do in pictures. But everything else is blacker than your ex-wife\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n
It pays the barest lip-service to cutting-edge technology. You get keyless ignition, cruise control and ABS. Oh, and self-cancelling blinkers.<\/p>\n
Traction control? Engine maps? Lean-angle sensors?<\/p>\n
Bah! We ride like men. Be grateful the brakes are adequate. But do mind yourself in the wet on the standard Michelin tyres. They\u2019re reasonable in the dry (the ground clearance will keep you on them), but in the wet they will show you the face of Jesus if you\u2019re ham-fisted with the throttle.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s just excellent.<\/p>\n
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Give me all of your air.<\/p><\/div>\n
That front-facing heavy-breather intake that sticks out the side of the engine is like an affront to niceness. It says: \u201cI\u2019m sucking air in here, bastard!\u201d\u00a0 And because your eye is drawn to it, you can\u2019t help seeing that Screamin\u2019 Eagle 117 metallically tattooed on top of the engine case just behind it.<\/p>\n
Metrically speaking, this is a 1917cc engine. It\u2019s beating out 150.7Nm of torque at 3900rpm, and 100.2 horsies at 5600rpm.<\/p>\n
There is no sneezing at 150Nm of torque. There are just prayers of gratitude interspersed by lightning bolts of sheer terror and wild joy.<\/p>\n
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Nick said: “You need to get it more sideways.” I said: “No, I don’t.”<\/p><\/div>\n
You can ride it around with your manners showing and it will rumble and grumble and occasionally spit some hatred out of its air-nozzle. Or you can man-up and ride like you mean it and it will roar and thunder and vomit steel-heated anger at the world.<\/p>\n
The difference between the 117-cuber and the standard 110-cuber is huge. And it terms of return-on-investment, it can\u2019t be beat. You can, of course, make a 120-cuber out of Harley\u2019s vast parts catalogue (and maybe you should), but that\u2019s a much bigger investment in dollars as well as time. This 117-cube \u201ckit\u201d, if you will, doesn\u2019t require the engine to come out of the bike. And as such, it\u2019s the largest bolt-on kit you can get from Harley. For your buck you get the following bang:<\/p>\n
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I kinda like the wheels. But it would look mental with black spoked rims.<\/p><\/div>\n
- \n
- Bigger 4.125-inch cylinders that slip perfectly onto the stock 110-cuber\u2019s crankcase.<\/li>\n
- Forged pistons that fire the compression ratio up to 9.9:1, and piston rings.<\/li>\n
- High-flow fuel injectors and a 58mm throttle body.<\/li>\n
- High-capacity roller tappets, SE-259E cams, inner cam bearings, and Perfect Fit pushrods.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
So it breathes in better and it explodes petrol with more oomph. The difference is, as I said, startling. You should ride the 117 back-to-back with a 110 if you can. You will have no issue handing over the extra money. Even if you leave the pipes stock (and why would you?), there\u2019s also definite aural edge to the bigger motor.<\/p>\n
The actual riding of it all is a bit unhinged, which is fantastic.<\/p>\n
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It was a greasy old day up on the Old Road.<\/p><\/div>\n
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“I need it more sideways,” said Nick. “I need to live,” I replied.<\/p><\/div>\n
It\u2019s not comfortable. And that\u2019s fine. Because it\u2019s not uncomfortable, either. The seat is firm and the riding position is fraught and feral. I felt like one of those ninjas jumping off a tea-house. My knees were high, my toes pointed up and my arms were wide and pretty much straight out in front of me. It\u2019s a tactical fighting posture for ninjas, and it\u2019s perfect for riding the Low Rider. It\u2019s just not comfy like an armchair is comfy.<\/p>\n
But men do not ride armchairs into battle, do they?<\/p>\n
Is a warhorse comfortable?<\/p>\n
Of course not. But it is suitable, is it not? It is appropriate, is it not?<\/p>\n
It is therefore right, is it not?<\/p>\n
And like a warhorse, the suspension is not going to love you up any either. What it\u2019s going to do is wham your soft bitch-bits into firm man-parts and make you pay attention. It\u2019s adjustable at the back and it\u2019s better than it\u2019s been on previous models, but it\u2019s still like a Viking assault on an English village \u2013 exciting and pitiless in equal measures. Do not ride with your teeth clenched. Ride with your mouth open and a war-cry in your throat.<\/p>\n
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I like the little fairing around the headlight. It doesn’t do much. But it looks cool.<\/p><\/div>\n
You can\u2019t really see the dials until you drop your eyes off the road, so they are obviously superfluous.<\/p>\n
Whatever speed you\u2019re doing at whatever revs you\u2019re making is the right speed and the right revs for that occasion. It\u2019s the kind of bike you can actually \u2018feel\u2019 your way along the road with.<\/p>\n
At idle it shakes and grumbles and you can smell it baking oil \u2013 which if I were you, I\u2019d be changing pretty regularly. Big-bores like oil. It makes them smile. It doesn\u2019t smell of burning grease like my old Shovelheads did, but it does emit a wonderful primal odour that lets you know it\u2019s enjoying the old dinosaurs you\u2019ve fed it very much.<\/p>\n
I even love the fact it\u2019s got limited ground clearance. One look at the mid-mounted footpegs will tell you they are a disposable item.<\/p>\n
Good. They should be. You will be disposing of them and getting new ones frequently.<\/p>\n
I wouldn\u2019t care. I wouldn\u2019t even give it a second thought, because it doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n
All that matters is how impossibly awesome this 117-cubic-inch lump of primal wrath makes you feel.<\/p>\n
This is not a bike for parades. This is not a bike for touring. This is not a bike for whirring up to coffee shops on sunny days with your best girl on the back.<\/p>\n
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“Did you get that? I was completely sideways.” “No, I missed that.”<\/p><\/div>\n
This is a bike for the dark-of-heart. This is a bike for hard nights on mean streets. This is a bike to get your badness on with.<\/p>\n
Thus it is a joy to ride. A shadowy, demonic, price-exacting joy to be sure, but a joy nonetheless. Slam that throttle open in third gear and you will feel every damn one of those glorious Newtons churning through you. Watch that speedo needle point at silly numbers (for a Harley).<\/p>\n
The Milwaukee Eight engine is smoother, more refined and addresses, according to Harley, what its world-wide customer base is wanting today.<\/p>\n
This engine is not that engine. And I really hope Harley never stops building this engine, and just keeps making bigger capacity versions of it.<\/p>\n
Because this engine is the last buffalo. The last glorious, thundering, uncivilised and unrefined hate-bison in a world that\u2019s convinced itself that is somehow wrong.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not wrong.<\/p>\n
The world is wrong.<\/p>\n
Precisely because this Low Rider S is what it is and does what it does, is why I love it.<\/p>\n
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Relax, officers. I’m not riding in this image. I’m merely enthroned.<\/p><\/div>\n
It\u2019s totally uncivilised.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unashamedly unrefined.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a barbaric meat-eater dressed up in a smooth black killer\u2019s suit \u2013 and because it is that and doesn\u2019t pretend to be anything else but that, is why I\u2019m chubby for it.<\/p>\n
Meatloaf understood.<\/p>\n
When there\u2019s evil in the air and thunder in the sky, this is what you need to be riding.<\/p>\n
George RR Martin understood.<\/p>\n
You want to sit on the Iron Throne?<\/p>\n
You have to pay the Iron Price.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s worth every single damn cent.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\nA LITTLE BIT OF OUTLAWRY<\/h3>\n
To make sure I wasn\u2019t mistaken in my views about the Low Rider S, I took it down south for a ride with the Black Uhlans MC.<\/p>\n
I have spoken about riding with outlaws before and you may read about that HERE <\/a>and HERE.<\/a>And I guess if you want to see how well your Harley works, the best way to find out is to take it for a ride with an outlaw motorcycle club.<\/p>\n
So I chased Sean and Kev up the Macquarie Pass and I noted several things\u2026<\/p>\n
Sean is very fast and Kev is very fast.<\/p>\n
Sean has sticky tyres on his Wide Glide and far more ground clearance than me. He also rides faster than I do.<\/p>\n
Kev smashed his Softail up Macquarie Pass faster than I\u2019ve ever seen a Softail smashed up Macquarie Pass.<\/p>\n
Both of them have the view that the more you grind off your bike, the more ground clearance you will have for future corners. This was not a discussion I wanted to have with Harley when I returned the bike, but I have always shared that view.<\/p>\n
Both of them liked the Low Rider S very much and Kev went so far as to declare actual love for it, but felt it would need forward controls fitted for bigger blokes.<\/p>\n
A 117-cubic-inch Harley cannot out-accelerate a 120-cubic-inch Harley.<\/p>\n
It can, however keep Reggie\u2019s thundering VRod in sight at redline in top. Can\u2019t pass it. But can see it.<\/p>\n
My thanks to the Black Uhlans MC for their hospitality.<\/p>\n
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Blends in nicely.<\/p><\/div>\n
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Kev is ready to race.<\/p><\/div>\n
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Sean, probably fielding a call from Repsol offering him sponsorship.<\/p><\/div>\n
HOW MUCH: The 2017 Dyna Low Rider S is $26,250 ride-away. The 117-cubic inch kit is a few grand more and Harley recommends you contact your dealer for a quote using the product code 93500054.<\/p>\n
More details can be found HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n