Free Spirit

April 28, 2013
Lifestyle, Motoring, Publications

Text and photos: Nicol Louw. Article from the February 2013 issue of Car Magazine.

With a Harley-Davidson, the journey becomes the destination

Everyone rushes to and fro, and fast food, high-interest loans and last-minute deals have become the order of the day. What happened to living in the moment? Why can’t the journey be more important than the destination? These questions ran through my mind as the sun glistened off the chrome handlebars of the Harley-Davidson Fat Bob I was riding.

This year marks the 110th anniversary of the iconic brand and, in celebration, Harley-Davidson South Africa invited a handful of journalists to experience its range of special machines for 2013. Even more impressive than the line-up of shiny metal on the day was the test route: 400 km through the most scenic areas of the Western Cape, including three mountain passes, wine regions and picturesque coastlines. It was a journey to elicit philosophical musings.

The Fat Bob is part of the Dyna range and is loaded with attitude thanks to twin headlamps, a 130-section front tyre wrapping a 16-inch rim, beefy suspension sections, candy-orange paint and a 1 690 cm3, twin-cam, V-twin engine rumbling potato-potato through the tommy-gun exhausts. When you turn the chrome ignition switch and hit the start button, you don’t only fire up the beast but start a show. The engine vibration at idle is enough to shake the entire bike. Onlookers gather and a blip of the throttle leads to smiles and pointing.

The Fat Bob is a large, heavy machine, but the weight diminishes once the wheels start to rotate.

The view over the drag-style handlebars is unobstructed, aided by the speedometer’s placement on the fuel tank. Modern electronics have entered the scene, as a trip computer (including range indicator), digital rev counter and gear indicator are displayed on the LCD screen found in the analogue speedometer binnacle. Although the bike is a thoroughly modern machine, Harley-Davidson has managed to hide all the wiring to retain an old-school appearance. Braking is provided by twin discs up front and a single disc at the back, with ABS standard on all bikes sold in our market.

Onlookers gather and a throttle blip leads to lots of smiles and pointing

So, how does it ride? Well, you need to remain aware that most Harleys aren’t sportsbikes and aren’t designed with speed in mind. Therefore, when you push on, the Fat Bob does its name justice. Corners need to be taken with care (although the bike is quite stable mid-turn), lean angles should be respected because the chrome looks better on the exhausts than on the tar, and a lot of pressure is needed on the brake lever to make the bike slow down.

However, ride within the bike’s capabilities and it’s just fine.

The large-capacity engine has stump-pulling torque and the rev limit of 5 500 r/min is of little concern. Does the fact that Harley-Davidson doesn’t bother to stay with the technological rat race make the Fat Bob an unsatisfying bike to ride? Not for a second, as the bike is infused with character so often lacking in more modern machines.

Many Harley-Davidsons owners don’t see their bikes as mere machines but a passport to a relaxed lifestyle. If you feel like a hamster on a wheel that spins ever faster, go take a Fat Bob for a ride.

New Harleys for 2013

The iconic brand celebrates its 110th anniversary by launching new models and anniversary units, and offering a number of styling additions. These include:

Nine 110th anniversary models with exclusive paint and solid-bronze, commemorative badges;
An edgy restyle for the Street Bob;
A new paint scheme called Hard Candy Custom that harks back to the 1960s California trend and which consists of big metal flakes in the colours Big Red, Lucky Green and Coloma Gold;
The top-of-the-range Custom Vehicle Operations line-up receives two additions in the form of the Breakout and Road King;
New colours and an anniversary model for the 1200 Sportster range;
The Softail line-up gains a Heritage Softail Classic Anniversary Edition and Fat Boy Special Anniversary Edition;
The Touring range now comprises five models and fresh colours and graphics, including a Road King Anniversary Edition;
The V-Rod range features the Night Rod Special and V-Rod Muscle in new colours.