ADM's 2018 114" Fat Bob thread.....
#1
10-09-2017, 02:40 PM
ADM's 2018 114" Fat Bob thread.....
It seems to be the done thing to start a thread about your new bike.....so here goes!
I picked up my new 2018 114" Softail Fat Bob this morning from West Coast HD in Glasgow, Scotland this morning. I live south of London, so it's a 450+ mile journey back home. I flew up yesterday, met some friends for dinner and stayed overnight. Ubered out to the dealership this morning to get the bike.
Now you might think that 450 miles is a long way to go to get a bike, but 114" Fat Bobs are impossible to get right now in the UK and new orders placed today are currently on March 2018 delivery dates!
I had a bike (in Grey) ordered at my local dealership 6 miles from my house, but it wasn't going to get delivered until late November/early December. I managed to track down a cancelled order from the original stock that UK dealers got, but it was in Glasgow. I thought "what the hell - at least I'll get the motor run in quickly" and went for it.
So I am just home from a long day's ride. 457 miles door to door. Time for a beer and a bit of a ramble about the bike. I am beat, so it might not all make sense!
First off, it's white (Bonneville Salt Denim). It looks great. No pics today as it's now dark and the bike is filthy. I'll put some up once I have cleaned it later this week.
Anyway. I picked up the bike, signed the paperwork, set the suspension preload and started off home. For the first 100 miles, I stuck to backroads and for the first 50 miles I did a lot of 30-50-30, 50-70-50 type acceleration and deceleration to set the piston rings nicely. I'm a believer in the "break it in hard" (Motoman) school of thought myself....
The bike runs well. In terms of grunt, it feels about the same as my Dyna Fat Bob which had 100HP/104 TQ at the back wheel. I know the 2018 doesn't have as much HP stock, but it feels like it does.
There's quite a lot of gear noise from the motor at first - but it's brand new and still running in. The pipes are also too quiet, but I was expecting that anyway. The mirrors suck, but I knew that from test rides.
Other than that, it's great. The new frame and front suspension handles like a dream. Way better than the Dyna (and that had upgraded rear shocks - Hagon Nitros). I'll post more on my detailed thoughts about the handling once I am really used to the bike.
The rest of the journey I mixed up highway and back roads. On the highway, I made sure to keep the speed and RPM variable - great excuse for overtaking everything!
Backroads and highways, the bike runs really well and is a joy to ride. I filled up three times to get home and ended up home with 2/3rd of a tank of gas left.
Here's the mileage stats from a long highway section. Tank filled brim to brim:
146.9 miles non-stop and 11.48 litres of fuel used. That gives 12.8 miles per litre, or in real money:
48.4 miles per US gallon or...
58.112 miles per Imperial gallon.
I think that's pretty damn good for a new bike with a tight engine - especially as I was accelerating and decelerating and going through the gears all the time. It should only get better as the engine loosens up, and especially if I cruise for mileage.
I was worried about the range on this bike, but by my math this gives a maximum range of about 170 miles on a full tank. Call it 150 to be safe. That's more than I want to do before I need to get off and stretch and take a pee anyway.
The ergonomics of the bike are actually perfect for me. I am 5'8" and the bike fits like a glove straight out of the box. I can see that tall people might feel cramped on this bike without adjustments though. The forward controls feel more like mids to me compared to my Dyna Fat Bob - and I like it!
After a few hundred miles, I could hear the gear noise reduce a bit as all the mating surfaces got to know each other. I could also hear the pipes seem to deepen up a bit - still too quiet, but it DOES sound like Harley - just a rather quiet one. Anyway, slip ons / full exhaust system are in the pipeline sooner or later. I'm particularly interested in seeing what RB Racing come out with for this bike. They say they have something in development....
The USB port, while seeming trivial is a boon. iPhone mounted to the bars and plugged in it gives me perfect SatNav, with no worries about battery life. Plus if I get some Bluetooth earphones, I can have music as well. Cool!
About a hundred miles from home it got dark. Man, that LED headlight is good! Super bright, great beam pattern. I am a big fan of it!
So I made it home in the end. Tired and beat up from 457 miles of wind blast. This bike needs a windscreen or fairing for big mileage days.....but that's OK because HD sell a detachable windscreen and my friend Phil Birch is modifying his Rocket fairing for the new Fat Bob.
That's right.....PHIL BIRCH IS MAKING THE ROCKET FAIRING FOR THE NEW FAT BOB!! And it will be available soon.
I know this because he is going to send me the first prototype and I will show you guys what it looks like. It won't be paint matched at first.....but it will be great!
So I can now conclude that I can tour with this bike. I'll get the back rest and rack and strap the big rolling HD tour bag to it and that's me good for a week before I need to do laundry. No issue, even without saddlebags.
Anyway. Enough for now. I'll get some pics of the bike and the fairing up soon, but for now I just wanted to say the new 2018 114" Fat Bob is super awesome. I am tired and very happy!
I picked up my new 2018 114" Softail Fat Bob this morning from West Coast HD in Glasgow, Scotland this morning. I live south of London, so it's a 450+ mile journey back home. I flew up yesterday, met some friends for dinner and stayed overnight. Ubered out to the dealership this morning to get the bike.
Now you might think that 450 miles is a long way to go to get a bike, but 114" Fat Bobs are impossible to get right now in the UK and new orders placed today are currently on March 2018 delivery dates!
I had a bike (in Grey) ordered at my local dealership 6 miles from my house, but it wasn't going to get delivered until late November/early December. I managed to track down a cancelled order from the original stock that UK dealers got, but it was in Glasgow. I thought "what the hell - at least I'll get the motor run in quickly" and went for it.
So I am just home from a long day's ride. 457 miles door to door. Time for a beer and a bit of a ramble about the bike. I am beat, so it might not all make sense!
First off, it's white (Bonneville Salt Denim). It looks great. No pics today as it's now dark and the bike is filthy. I'll put some up once I have cleaned it later this week.
Anyway. I picked up the bike, signed the paperwork, set the suspension preload and started off home. For the first 100 miles, I stuck to backroads and for the first 50 miles I did a lot of 30-50-30, 50-70-50 type acceleration and deceleration to set the piston rings nicely. I'm a believer in the "break it in hard" (Motoman) school of thought myself....
The bike runs well. In terms of grunt, it feels about the same as my Dyna Fat Bob which had 100HP/104 TQ at the back wheel. I know the 2018 doesn't have as much HP stock, but it feels like it does.
There's quite a lot of gear noise from the motor at first - but it's brand new and still running in. The pipes are also too quiet, but I was expecting that anyway. The mirrors suck, but I knew that from test rides.
Other than that, it's great. The new frame and front suspension handles like a dream. Way better than the Dyna (and that had upgraded rear shocks - Hagon Nitros). I'll post more on my detailed thoughts about the handling once I am really used to the bike.
The rest of the journey I mixed up highway and back roads. On the highway, I made sure to keep the speed and RPM variable - great excuse for overtaking everything!
Backroads and highways, the bike runs really well and is a joy to ride. I filled up three times to get home and ended up home with 2/3rd of a tank of gas left.
Here's the mileage stats from a long highway section. Tank filled brim to brim:
146.9 miles non-stop and 11.48 litres of fuel used. That gives 12.8 miles per litre, or in real money:
48.4 miles per US gallon or...
58.112 miles per Imperial gallon.
I think that's pretty damn good for a new bike with a tight engine - especially as I was accelerating and decelerating and going through the gears all the time. It should only get better as the engine loosens up, and especially if I cruise for mileage.
I was worried about the range on this bike, but by my math this gives a maximum range of about 170 miles on a full tank. Call it 150 to be safe. That's more than I want to do before I need to get off and stretch and take a pee anyway.
The ergonomics of the bike are actually perfect for me. I am 5'8" and the bike fits like a glove straight out of the box. I can see that tall people might feel cramped on this bike without adjustments though. The forward controls feel more like mids to me compared to my Dyna Fat Bob - and I like it!
After a few hundred miles, I could hear the gear noise reduce a bit as all the mating surfaces got to know each other. I could also hear the pipes seem to deepen up a bit - still too quiet, but it DOES sound like Harley - just a rather quiet one. Anyway, slip ons / full exhaust system are in the pipeline sooner or later. I'm particularly interested in seeing what RB Racing come out with for this bike. They say they have something in development....
The USB port, while seeming trivial is a boon. iPhone mounted to the bars and plugged in it gives me perfect SatNav, with no worries about battery life. Plus if I get some Bluetooth earphones, I can have music as well. Cool!
About a hundred miles from home it got dark. Man, that LED headlight is good! Super bright, great beam pattern. I am a big fan of it!
So I made it home in the end. Tired and beat up from 457 miles of wind blast. This bike needs a windscreen or fairing for big mileage days.....but that's OK because HD sell a detachable windscreen and my friend Phil Birch is modifying his Rocket fairing for the new Fat Bob.
That's right.....PHIL BIRCH IS MAKING THE ROCKET FAIRING FOR THE NEW FAT BOB!! And it will be available soon.
I know this because he is going to send me the first prototype and I will show you guys what it looks like. It won't be paint matched at first.....but it will be great!
So I can now conclude that I can tour with this bike. I'll get the back rest and rack and strap the big rolling HD tour bag to it and that's me good for a week before I need to do laundry. No issue, even without saddlebags.
Anyway. Enough for now. I'll get some pics of the bike and the fairing up soon, but for now I just wanted to say the new 2018 114" Fat Bob is super awesome. I am tired and very happy!
Last edited by adm; 10-09-2017 at 03:28 PM.
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#7
10-09-2017, 05:58 PM
Florida Crew Moderator
Join Date: May 2012
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Nice post, glad you're enjoying it. Yes the mpg is fantastic, I'm getting about 45mpg on my 18 Heritage, not sure what that is in Imperial or in metric although I do know how to do those calculations being that I am a Brit over on this side of the pond now.
That 114 engine is something else isn't it?
That 114 engine is something else isn't it?
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#8
10-09-2017, 07:03 PM
Congrats! ...a great story to go with your fantastic new bike. Love the color too. It was a toss up for me as I love the Bonneville Salt Denim just as much as the Industrial Grey Denim. I am looking forward to seeing the Rocket Fairing on the 2018 as well. Thanks for posting your story. Cheers!
#9
10-09-2017, 09:10 PM
