2017 Harley-Davidson Street Rod launch review

I live in a kangaroo-infested part of Victoria, so dodging the marsupial is just about a daily reality. Small monkeys, on the other hand, are not my forte, and I fair shit myself in Singapore recently during a video tracking session at the Harley-Davidson Street Rod launch.

The avoidance part was okay – we were setting a moderate pace – but when the monkey began hissing and generally getting cantankerous I started bracing for a mouthful of incisors to be wrapped around my cankle.

Thankfully, no harm done, but at least one of the very few twisty roads on the city-state left me with an enduring memory – as did the Street Rod for that matter.

What is it?
The souped-up Street Rod is a thoroughly revised version of the Street 750, which alongside the Street 500 made up the first all-new platform for Harley-Davidson in 14 years in 2013.

The Street 750 has never made it Down Under, with Harley-Davidson instead relying on the Street 500 to shoulder the family fortunes.

And what a success the Street 500 has been over the last three years, and has continued its domination in the first quarter of 2017 as the highest selling LAMS motorcycle in Australia.

RELATED READING: 2017 FIRST QUARTER SALES REPORT

This one's on the way
While the Street 500 will continue to be a major player in the LAMS space (review here), the sporty Street Rod will also go on sale in Australia for $12,9995 rideaway – in what a Harley-Davidson spokesman said in Singapore was "phase two" of the Street platform.

And why not leverage from the Street platform, which has sold 35,000 units worldwide so far? And the Street Rod -- which reprises a name that was used on the V-ROD derivative in the nougties but according to H-D won't provide any nomenclature issues for the young urbanites it's now targeting -- really is a phase two type of machine, such is the broad scope of aesthetic, chassis and mechanical changes that have been made over the original Street 750.

According to Street Rod senior designer Chetan Shedjale, one of the major goals was to produce a sporty bike with aggressive styling but one that was unmistakably Harley-Davidson. The new mantra is "performance, agility and capability".

Where the Street 750 has universal cruiser looks, the Street Rod moves away from that with a "liberal does of Harley-Davidson Dark Custom styling" such as the blacked-out forks and colour-matched screen. Other changes include a new tail section, a longer and beefier swingarm, new headlight, new LED tail light and indicators, mid-mount controls and lots of quality improvements in areas such as the wiring, mirrors and footpegs.

The Street 750's tank remains as a carry-over part, but even that has been moved higher and more forward to befit the Street Rod's more performance-orientated DNA.

The Street Rod has angled-out bar-end mirrors which, combined with the already wide drag-style handlebar, adds up to an 860mm wide machine. Filtering may present its problems in Australia with such a hefty girth, but we didn't really pursue that course of action in Singapore to test it either way.

HARLEY-DAVIDSON STREET ROD IN BIKE SHOWROOM

The bar-end mirrors can be folded up or down, and also back without interfering with the rider's hands.

According to Shedjale, there's a "clean line" from the tail of the Street Rod to the front wheel, which was a major goal for the design team. There's no doubt it's a classy looking machine with a cocktail of styling influences from bikes such as the RDX 800 (a Street 750-based design exercise) and a number of other flat-track and street-fighter hardware.

Seventeen-inch wheels and revised suspension are the bedrocks of the chassis changes, the later comprising 43mm upside-down forks and piggyback shocks. Rear suspension travel is now 117mm (up 31 per cent), rake has been steepened dramatically from 32 to 27 degrees for sharper steering, the seat height has been increased to (a still universally accommodating) 765mm, and the lean angle is higher to really attack the twisties.

Finally, to complete the overhaul from Street 750 to Street Rod, the High Output Revolution X 750 engine amounts to a way more dynamic package, with power and torque up 18 and eight per cent respectively thanks to new 42mm throttle bodies, a larger airbox, revised inlet ports and hotter camshafts. Peak torque is 60Nm at 4000rpm, and peak power is 68.4hp (52kW) at 8750rpm. The rev limit has been increased from 8000 to 9000rpm.

Wet and dry
After a typical Singaporean deluge put back our start time for a couple of hours, so began the launch of Harley's new muscular middleweight. And to top it off, we had a 6:00am blast through the CBD the next morning, which was principally a photographic exercise but nonetheless a lot of fun.

Two parts of the Street Rod equation became immediately apparent to me from the get-go: the engine is a cracker, but I struggled to find a sweet resting spot for my right foot due to a combination of the high-set rear brake pedal, footpeg positioning and the heel guard over the exhaust.

I wasn't entirely comfortable but like most things you learn how to improvise – it was still a niggle though. The scooped seat made me feel right at home, it's a pearler.

The engine, meanwhile, has a beautiful spread of power and linear torque, and likes to rev. The hardest-revving and best-handling Harley ever? The Street Rod could have the title!

The Street Rod happily churns along in a high gear at low revs, but is most enjoyable between 3000rpm and 6000rpm in that hulking mid-range.

There's next to no vibration – the bar-end mirrors remain rock solid – while the gearbox is really sweet other than a tendency to frustrate when trying to find neutral. The shifting is slick though, and I tried the occasional clutchless upshift and it didn't protest; the sign of a good ’box.

At 100km/h in top gear it's ticking over at 3800rpm – so not far off maximum torque, which is why it is such a flexible powerplant.

The throttle action can be a little snatchy off a closed throttle, so around town in a low gear I deferred to the clutch a few times just to smooth out proceedings. The non-adjustable clutch is light, so no problems there.

There's no traction control, which is perfectly understandable considering the power characteristics and the weight of the bike, which tips the scales at 238kg wet. I have to say though, thanks to the revised chassis, that it doesn't feel that heavy on the road, although there's no doubt it's bulkier than some of the competition.

Anti-lock braking is standard.

The rear cylinder on the right-hand side of the Street Rod does produce quite a lot of heat, which was obviously a more acute issue in a warm and humid environment like Singapore. And a small caveat: the rear cylinder sticks out more on the left-hand side than the right, so you have to watch that when backing into parking spots, etc.

Getting a handle on it
The seating position on the Street Rod promotes a high knee position, and the wide-ish tank means you won't be pinning your legs around it to get into a really aggressive riding position.

There's still a forward bias to reach those wide drag bars though, and that alone is enough to get into the sporting mode of things.

Handling is one of the Street Rod's real strengths: you only get that with a solid connection between the engine and chassis.

There's very little front-end dive, and it felt really composed punting through some twisty Singaporean roads – yes they do exist! The Endurance-made fork has a lot to do with that maturity, and I'd far rather put up with the occasional high-compression harshness over a bump than a mushy fork. Some more "canyon carving" would have been nice during the launch, but logistics made that difficult.

The brakes are a massive improvement over the Street 500 with the twin 300mm discs and four-piston calipers. There's plenty of power, but the feel isn't quite there initially to make it a really great package. The rear brake has plenty of oomph.

Who will buy it?
The Street Rod amounts to a full-on commitment by Harley-Davidson to reconfigure the base Street 750 into a powerful and solid-handling sporting middleweight. No corners were cut and it's an impressive end result, which had to be done if the company wants to entice people across from other brands.

Harley-Davidson has massive expansionary plans over the next five years, and to achieve that it's going to bring non-H-D riders into the fold. The ambitious blueprint won't be a success otherwise.

The Street Rod is a case-in-point and, just as the Street 500 has been a massive success story for Harley-Davidson, the newcomer also has what it takes to be a big-ticket item as well – especially for the $12,995 sticker price.

Not only that, it's aesthetically pleasing and customisation options abound.

It's a sporty Harley that really talks the talk – as standard. It could make for a very prosperous machine for the company.

The Street Rod will be available in three colour options: Vivid Black, Charcoal Denim and Olive Gold. It will go on sale in May 2017, so contact your local Harley-Davidson dealer for more information.