ROLLER
WORDS: ED SUBIAS PHOTOS: BRIAN J. NELSON, ED SUBIAS
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ruth be told, I wasn’t too impressed with the first iteration of the Harley-Davidson Street back in 2014. While it was a fun bike with a zippy little engine, a few things kept it from being a winner for me and possibly its intended audience. Those few things included the fit and finish and the handling of the bike, specifically the steering head rake. The finishing details were not up to the usual Harley-Davidson standards that everyone associates with the brand. Exposed wires with strange routing and suspect paint were more “late-night garage builder” quality than that from a manufacturer of premium motorcycles. The steering head rake was kicked out too much, which didn’t make any sense to me, as the bike was touted as an ideal machine for urban assaults. The relaxed rake created a bit of a lazy steering feel and a hint of floppiness at lower speeds, less than ideal for ripping through the city. Thankfully the H-D design team more than addressed these problems and came out with a bike that I feel is a big winner for the consumer. It’s also a winner for
2017 HARLEY-DAVIDSON STREET ROD Harley-Davidson, as it appeals to a segment of the market that they previously have not had offerings for—a younger, more urban consumer whose wants and needs are a bit different than that of the usual H-D customer. The list of upgrades to the Street Rod over the Street is impressive and plentiful: 43mm inverted forks, 17-inch wheels, front and rear shod with performanceoriented Michelin Scorcher tires, dual 300mm brake rotors with dual-piston calipers squeezing them, longer-travel piggyback shocks, a much sleekerdesigned tailsection, shorter subframe, relocated fuel tank, increased cornering clearance, vastly improved paint quality and overall finish details, and, my two favorites, more powerful engine and steeper steering head rake. So do those “upgrades” really do anything, or do they just look nice on the spec chart? The upgrades give the bike a whole new personality—sort of along the lines of the classic “ugly duckling to swan” story. This is the bike the Street always could be but was just hiding underneath a
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few pesky unattractive feathers. Let’s start with the engine. The original 750cc, liquid-cooled, 60-degree V-twin was already pretty favorable, a smooth and linear power delivery with a nice little punch that revved out pretty decently. A great pairing for the machine and the intended user. With the upgraded overall sportiness of the Street Rod, it received an 18-percent increase in peak power and an enhancement of 8 percent more torque. This was achieved through revised headwork, cams, airbox, throttle bodies, exhaust, and a raised rev limit. All these changes gave the Revolution X engine a new personality and a new name. The High Output Revolution X Engine is like that one uncle who has a bit of mischievous fun at family gatherings after a few adult beverages—boisterous, exciting, and a good time are fitting to both. This engine does its best work higher up in the rpm range, which is a bit of a departure from the usual H-D engine characteristics. The Street Rod powerplant excelled equally at around-town jaunts and open highways. Its tame manners at lower rpm was befitting to the unpredictable ebb
and flow of urban riding. Once out onto some open highways and back roads, its high-revving nature brought a huge smile to my face. This thing revs to the moon and really has some get-up-and-go once the throttle is held open to the upper half of its rpm range. Great stuff. Now onto my favorite update: handling. Previous steering head rake was at 32 degrees, and the Street Rod was steepened to 27 degrees. That makes a world of difference. No more floppy and vague steering feel. Precise and immediate steering is now what you get at the handlebars. This inspires much more confidence and peace of mind for experienced and newer riders alike. This also makes for a more enjoyable and safer ride experience in my opinion. With the Street Rod’s updated and taller suspension, increased lean angles are something to play with. Unfortunately, this wasn’t happening with my few days on the Street Rod. The media was assembled in Daytona Beach, Florida, during Bike Week to test out the new Street Rod. We rode more than 200 miles in those two days with only a handful of slight bends in the
