RIDE REVIEW I KYLE WYMAN'S HARLEY-DAVIDSON SCREAMIN EAGLE ROAD GLIDE
P106
Much of this is due to the
wheelbase and the weight. The
former ensures that the front
wheel isn't going to come up,
and the weight can't be avoid-
ed: minimum weight was 635
pounds for the 2021 season.
Both of these also factor heavily
when it's time to shed speed.
There's ample engine braking
due to the monstrous cylinders,
but the braking hardware is quite
impressive. Kyle had Harley's
team use the same set up from
his MotoAmerica Ducati race
bike—Brembo master cylinders
and Accosato calipers. I wasn't
willing to test this myself, but
Kyle says that due to the wheel-
base he locks up the front under
hard braking well before he
can get the rear wheel off the
ground. Because of that, he can
utilize the rear brake much more
than on a traditional race bike,
and that's why this bike also fea-
tures a full front-brake caliper/
rotor setup on the rear wheel.
Kyle says he splits braking force
roughly 80/20, while Travis says
he was exclusively front brake.
I tried to utilize the rear brake,
though the ergonomics made it a
little tough to access the pedal.
The King of the Baggers bike
is full of surprises, but by far
the best is how well it handles.
It offers 55 degrees of lean
angle on both sides—amusingly,
Kyle notes that the first thing to
scrape on the right side is the
exhaust, while the first thing to
scrape on the left is the primary
cover. It takes less effort than
you'd think to get the bike leaned
over seeing as everything is
built on the stock frame, and the
weight/wheelbase combination
mean it's quite stable throughout
the entire corner. Mid-corner
corrections do require a bit of
muscle but the Ohlins super-
bike forks and custom shocks
are perfectly matched to the
bike's characteristics. Funny
what happens when you have
a factory-backed budget and a
professional racer who knows
how to tune the bike to what he
wants, right?
I got six laps on the champion-
ship bike, and I'll never forget
any of them. How often do you
>
It's off to the
museum as the
Motor Company's
first King of the
Baggers winner.
