Just put 1100 miles on a 2018 lowrider stock. I can compare with my last Harley, an 07 street bob. In the interim I rode some BMW's, a mid-90's Ducati, and a VFR 800. Went through my aggressive phase, put some time in at the track, etc. Back to HD for various reasons, mainly comfort tbh.
TLDR: the difference is *night and day.* Out on the open highway, cruising along, it's like an old friend. Miss my highway pegs a little I guess, other than that, very similar. It's in the curves you notice the difference, and there's just no way to know until you get it up in the mountains and start flogging it. I was astonished.
The mids are a little further forward, and a bit higher than I remember. But not uncomfortable. Sleeker around the middle, you can grip the tank with your knees now.
The frame/suspension is amazingly improved, I compare it to my old BMW R1200R believe it or not (which wasn't perfect by any means, but just gives you an idea of how well executed the new design is). This isn't the bike for hairpin turns as you well know, but you can charge the sweepers. A little slow coming about in S curves, but it holds a line beautifully. I don't trust that front tire as far as I can throw it, but within the design parameters of the bike it seemed to do the trick. Shocks are kinda soft but once again fit the design. Weird, you can feel every crack and pebble, holds a line even on crappy pavement, but it's very comfortable just riding along. I don't get it; they must have done something with compression damping to make it work, I dunno. But it does work.
The engine is fine I guess, I thought the old Dyna was insanely fast. Fueling right off idle is a little janky but I think that's all EPA stuff (lean tuning, over-run cutoff). If you're used to a carbed bike, you have to get on the throttle a little earlier in the turn than you're used to. Easy does it, this thing is a beast. It was the same on my VFR only worse, HD did the best they could it seems like. Other than that, fueling is spot on. Lean as crap but hey, I'm getting a 240 mile range on a five gallon tank, and what do I know anyway. Had it all the way from sea level to over 9000 ft, far as I can tell it did what it was supposed to. Doesn't run out of wind at altitude, you can tell it's not as fast but that's how it's supposed to be. At least it runs at high altitude, in marked contrast to FI Ducatis as of about four years ago (I'm told).
Gearing is a little weird for the tight stuff, 2nd gear is really high but there's so much torque I guess that's OK. Engine braking is light, it is not too terribly irritating to take the twisties in first gear. Gear box is like butter but it's a long throw, easy to miss a shift if you're not paying attention. If you are paying attention (and preloading the lever) it's very nice IMO. Clutch is superb but so was my old one. Shifter is a tad awkward to get to because of where they moved the foot pegs. I did not find myself shifting very much in the twisties though, it's more like pick a gear and go. Torque makes up for a lot.
Front brake is sensitive enough to where you can work it with two fingers. Not clear to me that the rear brake does anything.
Seat is comfy enough, my fanny didn't start hurting until the third day. Very little on the aftermarket for the FXLR, including seats; but the shape is good, and it looks cafe-racer-cool to me, I think it's worth a memory foam upgrade. No obvious place to mount highway pegs, but the passenger pegs are like rearsets, get em. Not sure if I hate or merely dislike the buckhorn bars.
Not sure what bike is out there that I like well enough on the highway, and well enough in the twisties, and has the range I want, and a good dealer network. Hear nice things about the ST1100 although those bikes are getting old. Would have loved to try a Ducati ST2, but *I'm* getting old. Maybe an F800ST? Maybe that's what I shoulda bought, then I could be cruising around on that friendly little Rotax engine that goes "hmmmmm" instead of riding around like a complete ******* with an M8 beast that issued from the firey pits of hell going "RAAAAWR" and making some old biddie in Downieville file complaints with the local sheriff's department (more on that later). But, screw it. The FXLR vastly exceeded my expectations in the twisties and it's as good on the open road as ever. Hats off to the engineers, far as I'm concerned they knocked it out of the park.
ETA: I'm sure this applies to any of the new softails. I picked the LR because of the five gallon tank mainly, the ergo's being pretty close, and the fact they had some leftover 2018's they were willing to deal on. I wasn't worried about luggage, which is a solvable problem... here's me packed for a three day, 1100 mile trip. Pictured on 120 in Yosemite, where I slowed down, groked beauty, *smelled* that place, and the bike had no "personality" or "character" as they say in the motorcycling magazines: it did precisely what it was supposed to do, precisely when it was supposed to do it. Made for an excellent day.
Just put 1100 miles on a 2018 lowrider stock. I can compare with my last Harley, an 07 street bob. In the interim I rode some BMW's, a mid-90's Ducati, and a VFR 800. Went through my aggressive phase, put some time in at the track, etc. Back to HD for various reasons, mainly comfort tbh.
TLDR: the difference is *night and day.* Out on the open highway, cruising along, it's like an old friend. Miss my highway pegs a little I guess, other than that, very similar. It's in the curves you notice the difference, and there's just no way to know until you get it up in the mountains and start flogging it. I was astonished.
The mids are a little further forward, and a bit higher than I remember. But not uncomfortable. Sleeker around the middle, you can grip the tank with your knees now.
The frame/suspension is amazingly improved, I compare it to my old BMW R1200R believe it or not (which wasn't perfect by any means, but just gives you an idea of how well executed the new design is). This isn't the bike for hairpin turns as you well know, but you can charge the sweepers. A little slow coming about in S curves, but it holds a line beautifully. I don't trust that front tire as far as I can throw it, but within the design parameters of the bike it seemed to do the trick. Shocks are kinda soft but once again fit the design. Weird, you can feel every crack and pebble, holds a line even on crappy pavement, but it's very comfortable just riding along. I don't get it; they must have done something with compression damping to make it work, I dunno. But it does work.
The engine is fine I guess, I thought the old Dyna was insanely fast. Fueling right off idle is a little janky but I think that's all EPA stuff (lean tuning, over-run cutoff). If you're used to a carbed bike, you have to get on the throttle a little earlier in the turn than you're used to. Easy does it, this thing is a beast. It was the same on my VFR only worse, HD did the best they could it seems like. Other than that, fueling is spot on. Lean as crap but hey, I'm getting a 240 mile range on a five gallon tank, and what do I know anyway. Had it all the way from sea level to over 9000 ft, far as I can tell it did what it was supposed to. Doesn't run out of wind at altitude, you can tell it's not as fast but that's how it's supposed to be. At least it runs at high altitude, in marked contrast to FI Ducatis as of about four years ago (I'm told).
Gearing is a little weird for the tight stuff, 2nd gear is really high but there's so much torque I guess that's OK. Engine braking is light, it is not too terribly irritating to take the twisties in first gear. Gear box is like butter but it's a long throw, easy to miss a shift if you're not paying attention. If you are paying attention (and preloading the lever) it's very nice IMO. Clutch is superb but so was my old one. Shifter is a tad awkward to get to because of where they moved the foot pegs. I did not find myself shifting very much in the twisties though, it's more like pick a gear and go. Torque makes up for a lot.
Front brake is sensitive enough to where you can work it with two fingers. Not clear to me that the rear brake does anything.
Seat is comfy enough, my fanny didn't start hurting until the third day. Very little on the aftermarket for the FXLR, including seats; but the shape is good, and it looks cafe-racer-cool to me, I think it's worth a memory foam upgrade. No obvious place to mount highway pegs, but the passenger pegs are like rearsets, get em. Not sure if I hate or merely dislike the buckhorn bars.
Not sure what bike is out there that I like well enough on the highway, and well enough in the twisties, and has the range I want, and a good dealer network. Hear nice things about the ST1100 although those bikes are getting old. Would have loved to try a Ducati ST2, but *I'm* getting old. Maybe an F800ST? Maybe that's what I shoulda bought, then I could be cruising around on that friendly little Rotax engine that goes "hmmmmm" instead of riding around like a complete ******* with an M8 beast that issued from the firey pits of hell going "RAAAAWR" and making some old biddie in Downieville file complaints with the local sheriff's department (more on that later). But, screw it. The FXLR vastly exceeded my expectations in the twisties and it's as good on the open road as ever. Hats off to the engineers, far as I'm concerned they knocked it out of the park.
ETA: I'm sure this applies to any of the new softails. I picked the LR because of the five gallon tank mainly, the ergo's being pretty close, and the fact they had some leftover 2018's they were willing to deal on. I wasn't worried about luggage, which is a solvable problem... here's me packed for a three day, 1100 mile trip. Pictured on 120 in Yosemite, where I slowed down, groked beauty, *smelled* that place, and the bike had no "personality" or "character" as they say in the motorcycling magazines: it did precisely what it was supposed to do, precisely when it was supposed to do it. Made for an excellent day.
This is exactly the type of info I wanted to hear!! Thank you very much for sharing.
I agree about the highway pegs, very odd to me that Harley overlooked something like that. It was super common to put a set of highway pegs on a dyna so that you had a second leg position on the long days. Also, I don't think I'll keep those buckhorn bars, I really don't like how they look.
I've been thinking about it this weekend and if I can work out a fair deal, then I'm going to get that bike.
Forgot to mention, there's a buzz at 3200 rpm, which is where the torque curve seems to kick in. I was typically cruising right around 2500 rpm so it didn't bother me. Ironically right when you're cranking it, the mirrors vibrate so much you can't tell if you're being followed by a cruiser (or a motorcycle, or a semi-truck). That's not where you need to be looking anyway.
Biggest design flaw imo is cockpit instrumentation, which is very distracting to the point of being dangerous. Worst of all the fuel gauge (or odo, if you prefer that) is impossible to read. I find myself treating it like an airplane, planning my stops and not even worrying about the indicated fuel. Regulating speed around town is easy, be in the right gear and you'll be close enough. I did find myself wishing for a repeater on the handlebars. Fantasizing about a heads up display inside my genuine HD helmet, yeah! GPS mounted on the handlebars... End of the day tho its a motorcycle, not a car or an airplane, we gotta keep our eyes downrange. Ooh and aah over that stuff in the showroom (a tach? Really?) ignore it on the road
09-03-2018, 11:44 AM
