new Softail- the "Blackline"
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 94
Likes: 0
From: Herndon, VA
I just read the Blackline only has a 25 degree lean angle because of the feelers on the foot pegs. The review I read said it has greater lean capacity but is limited by the feelers. I wonder if that can be modified?
My Sporty has a 32 lean angle and is one of the features I love most about it. There is nothing better than being able to lean into a turn with the confidence you're not going to scrape, and nothing worse than hearing your bike scrape (especially if it's your heat shield on a set of pipes you just bought - dowp!!). The Wide Glide has a lean angle of 31.9 left/28.4 right for the sake of comparison (but has a 32 degree rake as opposed to the 30 degree rake on the BL and Sporty). I know if you are using proper technique, you shouldn't scrape, but sometimes life happens and you don't always go in/out of the turns as planned.
Anyway, I was disappointed to read about the reduced lean angle. Hopefully that can be modified because handling is a major factor for me. If it don't handle well, I won't get it no matter how good it looks. I think the ultimate deciding factor will be test riding them and seeing how they feel.
My Sporty has a 32 lean angle and is one of the features I love most about it. There is nothing better than being able to lean into a turn with the confidence you're not going to scrape, and nothing worse than hearing your bike scrape (especially if it's your heat shield on a set of pipes you just bought - dowp!!). The Wide Glide has a lean angle of 31.9 left/28.4 right for the sake of comparison (but has a 32 degree rake as opposed to the 30 degree rake on the BL and Sporty). I know if you are using proper technique, you shouldn't scrape, but sometimes life happens and you don't always go in/out of the turns as planned.
Anyway, I was disappointed to read about the reduced lean angle. Hopefully that can be modified because handling is a major factor for me. If it don't handle well, I won't get it no matter how good it looks. I think the ultimate deciding factor will be test riding them and seeing how they feel.
Tourer
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 456
Likes: 0
From: somewhere in the swamps of jersey
everyone's taste is different. I think willie g. And the designers have done an excellent job of literally saving the company. I like that new bike. Face it, the fat tire silliness is as dead as occ. I watched super long front ends come and go in the seventies. The fat tire is going the same way. Clean, simple, minimalist bikes are in. Bikes that are about riding for fun are in vogue now, not overly blinged out bikes for posers to sit and stare at. Black is the new chrome. Harley introduced their own fat tire bikes at the end of that fad. If i were firing anybody in the design dept it would be those responsible for that rocker. The lines just don't flow and the seat is ridiculous. The crossbones just doesn't make it for me either. The old softail was a winner from '84 on in it's various forms, custom, standard, duece and nightrain. The heritage, fat boy, deluxe format was another winner. They are practical rides with nostalgic styling. There was a thread recently about guys prefering the earlier fat boys to the 200 tire late models. That new bike looks like the right direction to go with the evolution of the original softail.
exactly!!!
Road Master
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 932
Likes: 2
From: Pacific NorthWest Territory
They are easy to scrape with those feelers. Riding home with less than 50 miles on the new tires, I was taking it easy and was surprised to scrape them on a right turn. And I'm used to grinding metal, my RK floorboards can cut you.
Road Warrior
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,784
Likes: 6
From: Boston
Man was this thing disappointing. Harley drops the 2 Softails we have trouble selling (the Rocker and Cross Bones) only to replace them with the Blackline. FX Softail frame, but with only a 140 rear tire and not really any chrome. Even the spoke wheels are black (ala XL1200N Nightster). It's like the Nightster, Street Bob and Night Train had a threesome and this is what came out of it.
Someone will like it, but I doubt enough will be sold that it stays in production for more than a year or two.
There will probably be photos of it on HD's site by tomorrow.
Someone will like it, but I doubt enough will be sold that it stays in production for more than a year or two.
There will probably be photos of it on HD's site by tomorrow.
Stage I
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
From: los angeles
I think stock blackline looks better than stock night train, the blackline has lots of potential so does the train and I've seen both done up, I personally like the done up blackline. I have pictures of both and will post soon.
Tourer
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 277
Likes: 0
From: Birmingham, ALabama
So far I have really liked mine... I do wish there was more out there or people in the industry willing to create... seats for instance...it has A LOT of potential and have a list of things that mine is going to have done... but even with the little bit that I have already done I get allot of people come up and tell me that they really didnt like it stock but like what it looks like with a little work. To each his own...
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