2020 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Standard review

While touring bikes traditionally come loaded with features galore, the Motor Co is treading a different path with its 2020 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Standard.

Instead, Harley-Davidson says its latest model, which along with the more traditionally styled Road King serves as the entry point to the brand's Touring family, gives customers "Everything you need; nothing you don't".

In essence this means the Electra Glide Standard has all the mechanical underpinnings a Harley Big Twin tourer should, but with a shorter features list – for a subsequently lower price.

How much lower? Harley-Davidson's Touring family tops out with the flagship Ultra Limited at $40,995 plus ORC, while the Electra Glide Standard (and the Road King) can be had for $34,495 plus ORC, or $6500 less.

Between those Touring family bookends lies the Road King Special ($36,250 plus ORC), along with the Street Glide Special and Road Glide Special (both $38,750 plus ORC).

So, what do you get with the 2020 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Standard? Given its stripped-back nature, perhaps it's more fitting to start with what you don't get (or at least what you don't get in relation to its higher-priced stablemates).

Starting with the most obvious omissions first, the Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Standard comes with a solo touring seat, so you can forget about pillions (or at least you can until you spring for a dual seat from Harley's massive genuine accessories catalogue).

There's also no 'Boom! Box' stereo or TFT multimedia display, that central area of the dash featuring with a deep glove compartment instead.

You get forward crash bars but no rear ones, meaning those lockable factory panniers are a little more vulnerable, while you can have any paint option you like provided it's Vivid Black.

While most Touring models are offered in at least four colour schemes (if not more), it's just the one for the Electra Glide Standard (or FLHT, in Harley-speak).

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On the flipside, however, you get all the might of the proven (and universally acclaimed) Milwaukee-Eight 107 V-twin. This first saw the light of day in 2017 as a centrepiece of Harley's next-gen Touring range, which reached Aussie dealerships the next year.

You also get all the suspension improvements that were part and parcel of that update, along with faithful Electra Glide styling, two lockable hard panniers, and electronic cruise control.

There's no Bluetooth connectivity but the basic trip functions are there (odometer, two trip meters), plus a digital clock, a gear indicator and the ever-handy range-to-empty display.

I spent three weeks aboard the Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Standard, and I guess the proof of the pudding is that at the end of the loan period, I was genuinely sad to see it go.

There's much more to buying a Harley-Davidson than simply purchasing a product – you're buying into an ideal, a philosophy, and all the history and cultural nuance that goes along with that.

If you're not already sold on the brand, only you will know if you're ready to make the transition. And while The Motor Co is presently in a big transition of its own, broadening its product range to attract new (and younger) customers, for those after a classic Harley-Davidson Big Twin the current brace of Touring models has much to offer.

From a performance and handling perspective, the Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Standard is a whole lot of motorbike for the moolah. This is a big, long and heavy machine – a bike of real substance – and that's an aspect some will relish while others will shun.

With a kerbside weight of 372kg and a wheelbase of 1625mm, it's a big lump of metal to push around in your drive or manoeuvre while parking, and not for the inexperienced.

However, ease out the clutch and launch the thing down the road, and the Electra Glide Standard impresses for just how easy it actually is to ride and manage.

The hydraulic clutch isn't overly heavy while the centre of gravity is low. Add in the wide handlebar and the leverage it affords, and all in all the Electra Glide Standard is actually pretty forgiving even in heavy traffic, which I encountered most days during my 100km round commute.

It's born for the open road, however, and that's where the Electra Glide Standard truly shines.

Harley-Davidson may not quote a horsepower figure for the Milwaukee-Eight 107 engine, but it does quote a torque figure and believe me, 150Nm is entirely sufficient to get this bike's bulk motoring.

The Electra Glide Standard fairly leaps away from a standing start, and while it's pulling a mere 2400rpm at 100km/h in sixth gear, it will accelerate readily from this point if fast highway overtakes are required.

It's beautifully smooth too, and very refined – yet not to the point that it loses its intrinsic Harley Big Twin soul. It vibrates with a heavy V-twin pulse at idle, the bike shaking visibly with the beat, but this smooths right out with a few revs; on the open road the mirrors are 100 per cent clear, totally free of any vibe-induced distortion.

The 107 might lack the outright oomph of the Milwaukee-Eight 114 (as found in the Ultra Limited, with 164Nm), but the Electra Glide Standard gets along just fine, thank you very much.

The gearshift action is smooth but substantial – it's far from the feather-light feel of a Japanese sportsbike, but it's positive and missed shifts or false neutrals are all but non-existent. Finding neutral at a standstill is easy too, although it might take a second go to nail it.

Also impressive is just how well the Electra Glide Standard handles. It feels right at home scything along high-speed sweepers, where its surprisingly healthy ground clearance and thoroughly competent suspension does a top job of keeping things tidy.

Sure, you'll get the odd wallow on when pushing hard over mid-apex bumps and dips, but the Electra Glide Standard just seems to soak it up with an air of nonchalance, the plot never getting too out of hand.

The brakes are powerful and have a good level of feel, and there's ABS there too for an added layer of safety.

As for fuel economy, I achieved an average figure of 5.7lt/100km with a mix of city and highway work. That equates to a safe range of around 375km from the 22.7lt tank, meaning over 400km should be entirely plausible when sticking to the open road.

I'm 6ft 2in (188cm) and 95kg, and for me the Electra Glide Standard's ergonomics are spot-on. Good legroom (with roomy highway boards), an easy stretch to the handlebars and a superbly sculpted seat – Harley's Solo Touring Saddle is broad and supportive – it's tailor-made for long-haul trips, as you'd hope.

The seat is low, too, at just 680mm, so despite the perch being so broad it shouldn't prove too difficult for most to get a foot down at the lights.

And the cruise control is super-ease to use – just push the dedicated stalk on the left-hand switchblock with your left thumb to activate the system, flick it down to set your speed and away you go. Once set, increasing your speed up or down is just a matter of pushing the stalk up or down.

The batwing fairing provides good weather protection. On one weekend run I encountered a decent and persistent downpour, and at the journey's end found it was only my lower legs and shoulders that copped a soaking, the screen flicking the worst of it around me.

There's only minimal helmet buffeting too, due to the venting that equalises the air pressure before and after the mid-height screen.

I do think that central glove compartment, in lieu of a TFT screen, is a bit ugly – a flip-down cover would help matters, while providing a little more security for any items stored inside.

There's another, smaller dash compartment to the right of it, big enough to fit a wallet or phone, but without any charging plug.

If you've always hankered for a Harley-Davidson tourer bike but have baulked at the required bucks, the Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Standard could well put that dream within reach.

Yes, you'll be making do without some of the niceties, but you'll have the best of the platform's mile-eating prowess beneath you (and you can always accessorise the bike down the track).

This is a worthy entry point to the Harley-Davidson Touring family.

ENGINE
Type: Air/oil-cooled, SOHC, eight-valve, four-stroke, V-twin
Capacity: 1745cc
Compression ratio: 10.0:1
Bore x stroke: 100mm x 101mm
Fuel system: Electronic fuel injection

PERFORMANCE
Claimed maximum power: N/A
Claimed maximum torque: 150Nm at 3250rpm
Economy: 5.7lt/100km (measured)

TRANSMISSION
Type: Six-speed
Final drive: Belt
Clutch: Wet, assisted slipper

CHASSIS AND RUNNING GEAR
Frame type: Tubular steel, with two-piece welded and stamped backbone
Front suspension: Conventional 49mm Showa fork with Dual Bending Valves, non-adjustable
Rear suspension: Twin emulsion shocks, adjustable for preload
Front brakes: Twin 320mm discs with four-piston calipers, ABS equipped
Rear brake: Single 320mm disc with four-piston caliper, ABS equipped
Wheels: 'Impeller' cast aluminium
Tyres: Dunlop D408 Harley-Davidson – 130/80B17 front, 180/65B16 rear

DIMENSIONS AND CAPACITIES
Rake: 26 degrees
Trail: 170mm
Claimed kerb weight: 372kg
Seat height: 680mm
Wheelbase: 1625mm
Fuel capacity: 22.7 litres

OTHER STUFF
Price: $34,495 plus on-road costs
Colours: Vivid Black
Test bike supplied by: Harley-Davidson Australia, harley-davidson.com.au
Warranty: 24 months, unlimited kilometres