2017 HARLEY-DAVIDSON 750 STREET ROD
FULL TEST
P114
enough in the company's new
Street Rod model to invite me
and my Euro-colleagues to tackle
the Ronda roads on it. That con-
trasted with Harley's head office,
which held its U.S. press launch
in Florida, where anything other
than a right-angle turn is alien ter-
ritory, and elevation an abstract
concept. OK, so it was Bike
Week in Daytona, but even so,
gentlemen, you should have had
more faith in what your R&D guys
have come up with. Their remit
may have been to produce an ur-
ban streetfighter aimed at bring-
ing younger riders into the Harley
fold, but the result is a great deal
more than that, which deserves
to be ridden hard.
A 140-mile high-speed day's
ride along some of the most
demanding two-wheeled terri-
tory in Europe indeed underlined
the broad capabilities of Har-
ley's new Street Rod package,
in delivering H-D dealers with
a genuine rival to the Triumph
Street Twin, Yamaha MT-07 and
especially the Ducati Monster
797 and its Scrambler cousins,
albeit one with a truly American
personality, delivered at a super-
competitive price.
Harley's desire to make the
Street Rod a world bike sold at
an affordable price inevitably led
it to base this Milwaukee mon-
ster on its Street 750 introduced
three years ago, which together
factory is the mother ship. Not
overlooking the sadly short-lived
2009 Sportster XR1200 street
tracker, the last real Harley-that-
handled was the Street version
of the Motor Company's VR1000
Superbike that I rode back in
1994, the fastest street-legal pro-
duction motorcycle ever made in
America that could be yours for
$49,490, an even steeper price
back then than it is now. But
now here's something one-tenth
of the price after adjusting for
inflation, promising comparable
handling as a true rider's bike.
Bring it on!
For that was then and this is
now—and yes, Harley-Davidson
Europe was indeed confident
The new Street
Rod represents
the kickoff for a
whole new model
development
strategy on the
part of H-D.
