It'll be interesting to see where the trends go now that the new '18s have hit the market.

The new Fat Bob seems to be the clear pick of the litter from a performance standpoint. However, its unique styling to going to pose some challenges for people looking to customize and give it a more retro vibe.

It's hard for me to imagine what the new Low Rider or Street Bob would look like with a ton of mods.

 

Yeah. Rusty already did it. Mids and all. Folks will keep doing it. He also had sme words for the haters

 

Yes

Imagine pretty much what you see now, but without visible shocks

 

Great look you gave the bike. Looks awesome.

 

Of course they are. The whole thing on club style bikes is building it for performance (suspension, brakes, motor mods, etc) and livability everyday (fairings and screens, bars, pegs, paint, etc). That isnt gonna change because they dumped the dual rear shocks.

 

Looks like the bikes rips. Sounds fun. A bike is a bike. Everyone has there own personality. I bet it's fun to romp around on. Isn't that what's it's about. Being fun for the user

 

I don't know why you'd want to make the new Fat Bob "retro". It's a whole new thing with lots of potential for a REALLY cool modern club style bike.

Hopefully, somebody will come up with a cool quarter fairing for it. I'd be all over that. And most of the performance and suspension mods are already there. Stage 2 it and it should fly. It's also almost 100% blacked out from the factory if you like that (I do).

So basically, pipes, cams and a fairing. That's my vision of new club style!

[EDIT:] I really don't like that whole single disk front end that RB put on it. But I kind of see why he did it in the short term. Kind of a shame to get rid of a dual disk, inverted fork front end with massive LED headlight.

I'm on the fence about the mids. Will have to see how the new forwards actually feel. Lot's of people saying they are kind of between old style forwards and true mids. That should work for me.

 

Can we move this crap to the soft tail form?

Rusty Butcher did it because he's a sell out that received a free F-ing bike from MoCo and is in the business of selling garbage. Dealers, Tuners and Parts sellers are raving because they what to sell parts. There is nothing on the market right now and it's all about getting on that band-wagon ASAP because there are plenty of RUBs that will buy these fugly bikes.

As for the "Tall Dyna" thing... it will remain to be seen. Yes, most of the changes to these bikes are with performance in mind, but there is also a heavy hand of appearance appeal going on as well. Hitler even said he was pissed because people won't be able to see his expensive rear shocks now. If performance was the true trump card, these guys would have jumped to different brands long ago. (Victory, Indian, Triumph, etc).

The new bikes are a click forward performance wise, but lets be real, they are not going to be chasing down Haybusas, Diavels or anything else imported at that price range. I'm also willing to bet, bang for buck, you'll go further with an older Dyna and mods then a stock Softail with an exhaust and tune.

 

I don't think the club bike trend will ever go away like the Orange County Pro-Street look. The club trend was born out of performance not looks and most riders want to improve performance.

The popularity of the trend does seem to be waning though, as noted by how often the "thug" thread updates compared to a year ago.

 

To be honest, I'm no longer a fan of the "club/thug" label. Sure, that is where the style has originated from, but I think you might as well call them SOA bikes if you're going to call them that. I like the term purpose built - my bike was modified from stock to fit my needs - a quick, comfortable bike that can navigate through traffic (splitting lanes) on my way to work every day, while being able to hit the twisties on the weekend and hold up to the daily abuse that I put it through. It fits my needs, my purposes - purpose built.

Will this style - whatever you want to call it - go away? No, I don't think it ever will. I do think the fad has come - and will go away some day, but there is always going to be people that set their bikes up this way. It may become less and less popular, potentially even moving over to the performance bagger scene, but it will never go away. I'll be the first to say I'm not the biggest fan of how the new bikes look but I am definitely looking forward to seeing what the performance aftermarket can do with these bikes to improve on what is already (supposedly, I haven't ridden one) a better platform.