The current one is getting long in the tooth, it has been around since 2009 and while it is pretty good it definitely has it’s quirks! I am looking forward to a frame mounted swing arm with a mono shock. I will probably be ready for a new bike in the next 2-3 years and am looking for something that is more stable at speed and can do a better job in the twisties. I really don’t want to have to go to BMW, Honda or Indian but to me they offer more at similar or less money!

what are your thoughts in the subject?

 

What, new, exciting colors aren't enough for you?

 

lol. No! If they want any more of my money they are going to have to innovate a bit.

 

My thoughts?

Get rid of that crap Cleve block design in the swingarm and rigidly mount the COUNTERBALANCED engine to the chassis.

 

Harley has for a long, long time not had to compete with bikes that are stable at speed and handle well; they were a Harley and if you didn't appreciate that, shortcomings and all, then you weren't a real biker, a real man or someone worthy of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Well, the faithful have gotten old and gotten out, little by little and now the H-D MoCo is scrambling (with a Scrambler, LOL) to attract new buyers - new buyers that have an appreciation for things like acceleration, deceleration and handling ... buys that aren't gee-wow'd by Harley's admittedly very good paint and chrome. I still appreciate H-D motorcycles and have a few of them that i enjoy owning and riding - but I also enjoy riding other brand bikes and appreciate their attributes as well.

So, to answer your question, I would guess not in the foreseeable future because perhaps the MoCo still doesn't feel they have to in order to sell heavy weight touring machines. That being said, how hard could it be to take the current Softtail platform and upside it to Touring dimensions and use CAD to design it so that that tins, fairings and bags of current manufacture would fit?

 

Have you ridden the new Heritage? I believe it would be relatively simple for Harley to adapt the touring fittings to the new "Softail" frame. The new Softail actually has a longer wheelbase than the current touring chassis. This would drastically simplify production and reduce costs, as all big twins would be based on the same chassis and engine.

I think the reason they haven't done so is that so many touring customers are utterly convinced of the need for a rubber mounted engine for the Harley to be a "proper" touring bike. After all, the MoCo has spent 40 years convincing us of just that.

 

My guess is that the Touring bikes will get a new frame when they get the Revolution Max engine. That's what I'm waiting for.

 

Yes, I think the touring frame is due for a redesign very soon.

Honestly I'd love to see them just use the new Softail frame for touring bikes. It rides really nice as it is and the mono shock design both saves weight and allows for the saddlebags to be mounted better. Raise the ride height a bit for the touring bikes and I think it would be golden.

 

This is my guess also. I think the Indian Challenger upped the game and Harley probably knows that a liquid cooled engine with better numbers and a new frame with better suspension is where they need to be. I don't know if they were heading that way already, or how far behind the curve they really are. Probably at least a couple of years before we would see something like this from Harley. And given that I would never buy any new model Harley comes out with and be one of the guinea pigs for the MoCo, I bet it will be at least 4 or 5 years before I will be looking at a new bike.

 

I think that with the focus the new CEO has placed on going back to focusing on cruisers and touring, this will be something on the table soon. The new CEO isnt going to try to develop more interesting novelty bikes in the model lineup and will likely be focused on updating and refining what already exists. All the money that went into the new PanAmerica, Livewire etc might as well have just been burned. These novelties got some short-lived publicity but in the end will go down as complete waste of money for the company.