Honestly I saw the bike when it first came in... I'm not hard core Harley enthusiast...I just like cool now matter who makes it. My first impression was the god awful fake looking exhaust was enough to exclude about 90% of potential buyers. Then the out of place intake is bit of a turn off however I can see that growing on some over time. Then that strange over hanging support over the rear tire that looks like its easily removable... it just raises eyebrows like WTF is that all about?
At the end of the day, they advertise no more performance over the Breakout... in fact they don't advertise it at all... I could not find ANY stats that say anything other than its new and edgy... To make it worse, the poor sales guys who have to sell them spend more time trying to talk around the above with ZERO real world performance data to talk about. When you ask them why should I buy this over a breakout they just shrug their shoulders and say it supposed to handle turns better... But my breakout does great in the turns... so again, why? Unfortunately HD missed the mark on this one. Ugly is only cool when it out performs the competition, that equals "BAD ***" and desirable... make something UGLY that's fails to out perform anything then its just UGLY and undesirable.
HD needs to take it to the track and post NUMBERS... if its advertised as a drag bike... it should be accompanied by stats supporting it. If it does not out perform a Breakout... they need to bump up the HP on that 114 and give people a reason to buy it.
At least improved stats over what else is available for the price would help sell it, because its looks certainly are not going to sell it.
After finally getting to see one up close last night, i love it. It's not beautiful like the Breakout, but it's a really good looking bike, and a few small changes would make it look even better. I don't mind the rear fender, but i don't like the light cluster on the back, and i don't care for the indicators up front. The stock pipe doesn't look as bad in person, but i'd definitely want to change it. Upgrades over the Breakout, you get twin discs and upside down forks up front, and a bit more lean angle.
A huge downside for me is the practicality. I'm not so bothered about passengers, but i have to be able to have bags on it for longer trips. If i could afford more than one bike this wouldn't be a problem.
I won't be trading in my Breakout because the FXDR doesn't really offer me anything more. Performance is the same, suspension and single disc on the Breakout works perfectly well for me, i can add bags for longer trips, it's more comfortable, and the Breakout smokes the FXDR in the looks department. All that being said, there's still a part of me that would really like an FXDR.
I've made my opinion about this new offering very clear in a few previous threads. Not REALLY a cruiser, not REALLY a streetfighter, not REALLY a sportbike, not REALLY a tourer, and certainly not an ADV. What we're left with is an arguably "cool looking", well-branded, underpowered, and very expensive SOMETHING. Cafe cruiser, maybe? One wonders what the MoCo was thinking; why did they waste brainpower and resources on this?
Reminds me of the Hummer H3-it's different, it's macho, it has a military pedigree, but in reality it's a totally useless, expensive, overweight gas-guzzler. I predict the FXDR is going to be a loser.
My
Last edited by shorelasHD; 10-05-2018 at 06:06 PM.
Reason: punctuation
I test rode the FXDR a couple weeks ago at the dealers demo day. While the styling wasn't really my cup of tea, I felt the handlebars needed to be raised up an inch or two. I rode the FXDR and the Sport Glide back to back and would pick the Sport Glide over the FXDR if I was in the market for a new bike.
Oh good. Another "this bike is horrible / awesome" thread.
My vote? Hit with the ugly stick. Like, rocker 2.0 kinda ugly
I know, right? But to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, "That sort of thing will be interesting to people who are interested in that sort of thing." Whatever.
10-05-2018, 11:32 AM
2019 Harley-Davidson FXDR 114 Is a Rowdy, Fun Ride
