Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/168405
FIRST RIDE P36 2014 HARLEY-DAVIDSONS Harley-Davidson Road King " THE TWIN COOLED 103 AND 110 MOTORS RETAIN THE LOOK OF A STANDARD AIR-COOLED MOTOR - FINS AND ALL. THEY DID A NICE JOB OF CONCEALING THE LIQUID. The formal launch of the new Rushmore Project took place at the Colorado Museum of Art where Harley gave us an extensive introduction to all facets of the Rushmore plan. Harley-Davidson has always been a company interested in its customer's wants and needs and the Rushmore project focused a lot of its initial design and styling plans for the new models on customer feedback. The sometimes not so simple task of asking them what they want in a new model and then trying to facilitate their needs. In turn, practically every aspect of the previous bikes has been redesigned with over 100 new parts and features. " Project Rushmore also marks a new era in production capabilities as it has taken Harley a little over three years to complete the new bike from its conception. They have also been able to increase production, resulting in a 30 percent rise in capacity while cutting down the time it takes to produce the bikes. All this increased productivity equals an overall reduction in cost. So not only did they come up with a new bike, but they also figured out how to build more of them in a shorter amount of time. Before we got to the Berthoud, I was fooling around with the GPS travel map readout on the dash. I could see that the curvy sections were coming up just by the map layout on the screen – ain't that cool? If I only knew where I was going I could have mapped out a route ahead of time, but I was just following the pack. Relaxed and taking in the sights. New for 2014 is the introduction of Harley-Davidsons "Boom! Box Infotainment System" This system allows you to pick and choose quality audio through radio, satellite and external sources; there's also Bluetooth connectivity to mobile phones; voice recognition, speech to text technology; and GPS navigation. You can also argue with your passenger or riding pals about a number of things with the support of intercom and CB communication. This is pretty big news in the world of motorcycling as far as tech gadgets go. Imagine you can call a friend - while still listening to satellite radio - to ask for directions to his or her house. All with the option of voice activation, or touch-screen access. The system also features two joystick controllers on either handlebar control. The throttle side features access to the full menu of choices on the home screen via up/down/left right joysticktype control. You just push in the center button to select the option you want. The clutch side offers volume control via up/down movement while left/right movement is used to select presets or seek for tuning purposes. Push in the center button and you will return to the home page.