turn in, and a little floppy. But
above about 20-25, it handles
like a dream, and the faster
the better. It's rock solid when
leaned over at speed, even
when hitting a bump it recovers
quickly and holds a line. The
four-piston brakes (with float-
ing rotors all around) do a great
job of slowing the beast, but
it works best when you make
it flow from corner to corner.
It comes standard with ABS,
which one tester had an issue
with, since he prefers to have
more control, but it's not over-
reactive, so you barely know
it's there. Like most H-Ds, the
transmission is fairly clunky. This
one took a bit to find neutral, but
never miss-shifted either.
Customizing Options
Like most motorcycles from
Harley-Davidson, you're probably
not going to leave it as-is and just
ride it, so, as usual, there's a raft
of accessories. But more impor-
tantly, since there aren't a bunch
of plastic covers and hidden piping
like on some cruisers, it's easy to
change stuff up. That rear fender
was a perfect example. Trying
to show off a big, sticky piece of
rubber and also keep water and
road sludge off of the rider is a
tough compromise, but as big as
the fender is on this thing, you still
get stuff on your jacket if the road
is wet. But if you don't care about
that, the whole fender and license
plate assembly comes off fairly
cleanly, so you can mount the
legally required stuff up under the
tail section, like on a sport bike.
If you want to make it a two-up
motorcycle, you can buy a (tiny)
seat and pegs from Harley's
accessory catalog, but that'll set
you back $400+. Other than
that, the bike is pretty stacked
with optional equipment (ABS,
keyless ignition, LED lighting
that looks like a smile) so there
are no add-ons other than a
color option for $400.
Will the Market Respond?
The big question is not if the
bike works (it totally does), but
whether Harley-Davidson can
actually sell it this time around.
I, for one, have loved the least
successful ones the most. As
a child, I lusted after the Cafe
Racer that sat (and sat) at the
local Harley dealer my dad
worked at, and as an adult I
bought the 2006 Street Rod.
The happy exception was the
Super Glide Sport, which was in
the range for seven years. The
FXDR is anything but a sleeper;
it basically screams badass.
After a couple decades of
custom motorcycle shows, the 'R
cuts a familiar, yet exotic, pro-
file. It's one of those bikes that
fellow motorists and pedestrians
comment on, point at, stare at,
and ask you what it is. Maybe
this one is different. In the past, it
was Harley following a trend that
was out there, this time, it took
its Softail chassis and optimized
it for performance. It's a different
genesis than their bikes usually
take. As always, they cleaned
up the details, and made it
look good, but, unusually, that
seemed like an afterthought. CN
VOL. 56 ISSUE 20 MAY 21, 2019 P105
