If you look at the Heritage. Came out in 1986, right?
They have changed very little since then. Seats, handlebars, saddlebags etc.
Even when they changed in 2000 (Twincam), they hardly changed in appearance. That's 31 years.

So maybe the ol' girl was due for a facelift.


It's funny on the handlebars (86-2008?) Everyone takes em off the Heritage & puts em on touring models. RG's & RKs)

 

Preaching to the choir....

The softail is no-longer a hardtail lookalike.

 

mono shock is not good really if it breaks the entire bike crashes (unless Harley built a fail safe system where the fender will not crash onto the wheel) ... at least with 2 shocks if one fails the other one is still sort of operable.

 

im guessing there's a bump stop. even if there isn't, dirtbikes, cruisers, sport bikes, dual sport bikes... have a monoshock in the back. haven't heard much of them failing.

 

I think new changes was way over do. I'm a older guy but to have a modern suspension on a Harley, Priceless.

 

I am hearing a lot of butt hurt in here. Here is the reality. We (and by we, I am talking mid 40's age bracket and up) probably wont be buying many more new bikes down the road. Harley had to try get younger riders on board. they started it with the 550 and 750 street. The fat bob is a step up for those 550 and 750 riders. business wise, this makes a lot of sense. They still have classic styled bikes in the touring class, but I acknowledge that some people do not want a big touring bike. IMO, this younger generation wants something other than their daddy's classic styled Harley and this is probably the start of that shift.

 

I do think some of it is to gain a younger rider. But I think its more to mitigate the competition. Because the cost isn't going down for these and if anything they are coming in much more expensive than previous model years. They are just as much trying to appeal to the 40+ crowd who's been clamoring for a better bike as they are trying to keep the awe of the younger generations.

 

Sorry friend, if fail-safe redundancy was a concern, then why not have 2 brake levers? If you lose a break lever, you're going to crash so having second one is a good idea...

The reason for the softails to even have dual shocks was they couldn't get the "performance" out of a single shock in that size to do the job they wanted. It wasn't about safety...

There is alot of engineering that goes into these bikes. Monoshock systems have been around for a very long time and stress tested in all kinds of conditions. The chance of having a random catastrophic failure of the monoshock or system is really rare. I'm sure the Harley Engineers did a lot of testing...

 

I have to disagree with you a little. the cost are higher than the competition and you do not mitigate the competition by coming in higher. I looked at some of the prices and I was shocked at where some of them came in. Now I get that Harley is a marque name and they do have higher quality on fit and finish. But the entire motorcycle industry is down. I think its all future planning for younger riders. but hey it is just my opinion.

 

Things I like about the new Softails:

1. The M8 engine.
2. The new suspension.
3. Better road clearance / less scraping.
4. The new styling on the Heritage / less of those awful studs.

Things I don't like.

1. The smaller gas tank on the Breakout.
2. The wider primary on the Fat Boy.
3. The lesser amount of chrome. I love chrome.

As things stand, if I were buying this year (I am not) I think that I would have to take a pass on the Fat Boy due to the wider primary. (Honestly, I am liking my present 2015 Fat Boy a lot after looking at, and sitting on, the 2018).

I think that the Heritage looks wildly better than the older models. Hopefully we will see a more chromed version in the future, but I like it. Those leather bags with the studs never did it for me. Younger buyers probably considered them a complete turn-off. I am 63 and they turned me off.