2017 Bikesales Bike of the Year: Harley-Davidson Street Glide Special

Name: 2017 Bikesales Bike of the Year: Harley-Davidson Street Glide Special
Brand: Harley-Davidson

For crunching big miles in absolute comfort, Harley-Davidson's Street Glide Special does it all – and with lashings of the Motor Co's unique sense of style…

Harley-Davidson has made a big impact around the globe with its new Milwaukee-Eight engine, which first appeared in September 2017 in its heavily reworked Touring family of bikes and was more recently slotted into Harley's 2018 Softail range.

While the 2017 Touring models weren't on sale in Australia in time to meet eligibility for the inaugural Bikesales Bike of the Year test, they of course were for this year's titles – and we judged the Harley-Davidson Street Glide Special to represent the cream of the current crop in the Bikesales Bike of the Year Touring category.

The Street Glide Special benefits not only from the super-smooth and torquey Milwaukee-Eight engine but also improved Showa suspension, which together mean the current breed of Harley Touring models utilise their chassis – updated in 2015 under Harley's Project Rushmore tranche of updates – to great effect.

Big beast
Throwing a leg over the beast – and a with a claimed wet weight of 376 kilograms, 'beast' is a fitting descriptor – it's clear from the outset that this is an awful lot of motorcycle to manage in city traffic or even when parking up or pushing it around in the garage. There's no reverse gear as found on some heavyweight tourers, but riders will learn soon enough not to park the thing downhill and pointed at an immovable object.

Break free of the concrete jungle, however, and the Street Glide Special comes into its own. The Milwaukee-Eight 107 (as in, 107 cubic inches – or 1745cc) is as about as refined as a Big Twin can get, pumping out 150Nm at just 3250rpm yet without any annoying vibration.

With four valves per cylinder and oil-cooled heads, the Milwaukee-Eight 107 is said to produce around 10 per cent more torque than the old Twin Cam engine but with vastly better thermal efficiency and far less mechanical noise. Impressively, it achieves all this without losing its essential Harley 'Big Twin' character, which is still there in spades.

Combine this with fault-free fuelling, and the rumbling heart of the Street Glide Special pushes the bike's ample bulk to impressive three-figure speeds with supreme ease – it's like you're forever gliding down the face of a tsunami-like wave of torque, with a twist of the right wrist all that's required to up the pace for a quick highway overtake or red-light drag.

Chassis and suspension
The steel twin-cradle chassis and suspension integrate perfectly with all this go, the Street Glide Special able to hold its own through the bends even with far sportier company. Yes, it's big and it's heavy and when the ground clearance is gone it simply won't corner any harder, but the Street Glide Special will hold a rock-solid line it won't give it up for anything. Even major bumps or potholes can't shake this Hog from its chosen path, although on the flipside it takes a hefty shove of its handlebar to provoke any necessary change of direction.

The massive batwing fairing does contribute to a bit of shake when pushing on and through high-speed sweepers the Street Glide Special will get a bit of a wallow on – but only when being pushed significantly beyond its design brief. For road-legal speeds, solo or two-up with luggage, the Street Glide Special has impressive handling that belies its size and weight.

Ground clearance is actually quite decent for a bike of this ilk and the brakes are well up to the task of hauling the thing down from speed, all backed by ABS.

Comfort and weather protection
But comfort is one of the biggest factors in this category and here the Street Glide Special doesn’t disappoint – for riders, at least. The rider's saddle is broad, compliant and supportive, with plenty of legroom for all but the tallest pilots and with an easy reach to the broad handlebar.

Taller types may benefit from the fitting of highway 'pegs and a taller touring screen, rather than the shorter item fitted to Street Glide Special's front fairing. And while you're perusing Harley's massive accessories catalogue, circle a more appropriate pillion pad with backrest to keep back-seat passengers smiling – the diminutive standard offering, which actually slopes to the rear, won't win you many friends.

Back on the positive side of the ledger, the Street Glide Special scores a colour multimedia touchscreen with satellite navigation, Bluetooth connectivity, AM/FM stereo and quality two-speaker audio. There's also tyre pressure monitoring and a range-to-empty feature on the trip computer but, surprisingly, no fuel economy readout.

Fuel economy and luggage
In actual fact, we recorded a figure of 6.6lt/100km for the big Harley on this trip, which equates with a safe range of around 330 kilometres from the 22.7-litre tank – further with more restrained throttle use.

The analogue clocks look the business and are easy to read, and we appreciated the hidey-hole for a smartphone in the dash (complete with USB charging cable).

Cruising down the open highway, beneath a blazing sun and cobalt-blue skies, the Street Glide Special was in its element. With the big mill ticking over at 2400rpm at 100km/h in sixth gear and the stereo pumping out the tunes, you can't do anything but smile as the scenery rolls by.

Of course luggage-carrying ability is another important factor in this category and to that end the Street Glide Special ticks the box with a pair of spacious hard panniers. Each is able to carry a reasonable amount of gear and they're sealed well against rain and dust, and they're now secured by two easier-to-turn pins instead of the Dzus fasteners of old. Not that you'd ordinarily remove the panniers anyway – they're an intrinsic part of the bike's look – but they do need to come off for access to the bike's rear shocks and rear wheel.

And then we come to style; an aspect of motorcycle design that keeps the Harley faithful coming back for more. The Street Glide Special certainly looks the part, especially in the Hard Candy Hot Rod Red Flake scheme that adorned our test bike. You mightn't be able to repeat that colour reference after a few beers, but anyone can appreciate the sparkle of that deep and lustrous metalflake in the midday sun, along with the quality chrome that complements it so well.

Summing up
Okay, so with a ticket price of $36,750 ride away we're not talking loose change, but for that outlay you're getting a top-shelf tourer with all the heritage and resale value for which the brand is renowned. A bike this big shouldn't go, stop or handle as well as the Street Glide Special does, and that speaks volumes for just how far Harley-Davidson has come in recent years.

SPECS: 2017 HARLEY-DAVIDSON STREET GLIDE SPECIAL
ENGINE
Type: Air/oil-cooled, four-stroke, SOHC, eight-valve, 45-degree V-twin
Capacity: 1745cc
Bore x stroke: 100mm x 111.1mm
Compression ratio: 10.0:1
Engine management: Electronic fuel injection

PERFORMANCE
Claimed maximum power: N/A
Claimed maximum torque: 150Nm at 3250rpm

TRANSMISSION
Type: Six-speed
Final drive: Belt
Clutch: Hydraulic

CHASSIS AND RUNNING GEAR
Frame: Tubular steel twin cradle
Front suspension: 49mm fork, non-adjustable
Rear suspension: Twin emulsion-style shocks, adjustable for preload
Front brakes: Dual 320mm discs with four-piston calipers, ABS equipped
Rear brake: Single 320mm disc with four-piston caliper, ABS equipped
Wheels: 'Enforcer' cast aluminium
Tyres: Dunlop D407, front 130/60-19, rear 180/65-16

DIMENSIONS AND CAPACITIES
Rake: 26 degrees
Trail: 173mm
Claimed wet weight: 376kg
Seat height: 685mm
Wheelbase: 1625mm
Fuel capacity: 22.7 litres

OTHER STUFF
Price: $36,750 ride away
Colour: Laguna Orange, Crushed Ice Pearl, Hard Candy Black Gold Flake, Hard Candy Hot Rod Red Flake, Hard Candy Mystic Purple Flake, Velocity Red Sunglo, Charcoal Denim, Black Denim, Superior Blue or Vivid Black
Test bike supplied by: Harley-Davidson Australia
Warranty: 24 months, unlimited kilometres

2017 Bikesales Bike of the Year: Harley-Davidson Street Glide Special

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