First Ride: 2016 Harley-Davidson Road King

When Harley-Davidson updates its models, it’s generally more about evolution than revolution and that’s the way it is with the latest incarnation of the Road King.

The whole range of Harley tourers was refreshed for the 2014 model year and we reported on that here. But since then we haven’t had a chance to fully test the Road King under Aussie conditions, so naturally we were keen to jump on one when it was offered.

We picked up the 2015 Road King from Harley Heaven in Melbourne with a whopping 7km on the clock and promised to run it in carefully. The test bike was decked out in what Harley-Davidson calls its Crushed Ice Pearl/Frosted Teal Pearl colour scheme, which probably wouldn’t have been our first choice if we were forking out the $32,495. But hey, who are we to argue?

At the moment I’m living on the outskirts of Melbourne, some 50km from the CBD, and have great riding roads literally on my doorstep, so it was out on the freeway and up in to the hills from day one.

The latest update for the Road King has focussed on new colours, new bars, and a new system for the pannier locks (which is great). That’s about it. It's still powered by the 103 cubic inch (1687cc) twin-cam engine that Harley says has 138Nm of torque mated to a six-speed gearbox. Harley claims the fuel economy as 5.6 litres/100km, which gives the big tourer a theoretical range of around 400km from the 22.7-litre fuel capacity – an important stat for any tourer.

We didn’t get that sort of range, but then again we weren’t exactly sitting on touring speeds for the entire time either.

The Road King is no lightweight, weighing in at around 370kg with fuel in the tank and ready to go. But it doesn’t feel that heavy on the road with the centre of gravity fairly low and plenty of leverage on the wide bars. I found it quite easy to flick around the city, but at about 860mm it’s wide. In traffic, I found that if you can get the handlebar through, the panniers are okay, which was reassuring.

The switchgear is all well laid out with the cruise control operated by your left thumb and the scroll-through for the readouts on the screen operated by your right index finger. All very neat and intuitive.

The Road King has a low seating position at just 715mm and the seat is a nice deeply scalloped affair that I still found comfortable after a good few hours in the saddle.

Having ridden a few older Harleys, I was at first a bit tentative tipping it into the twisty bits on one of my favourite test rides, but the Road King didn’t disappoint. It tracked nice and straight, didn’t scrape and although sometimes I found I had to muscle it a bit through the odd tight corner, it behaved well. I found I was soon punting it through the corners confidently well above the advisory signs and feeling like it had plenty more to go.

The rear suspension is air-adjustable, and it probably could have done with a bit more air to stiffen it up. But hey, it’s a big comfy tourer…

The torque is good but at cruising speeds the overdrive sixth is still too tall. I generally left it in fourth or fifth with a few more revs on board. First is really low for all but hill starts; I found second sufficed around town. Out on the freeway, it's great through the mid-range and for roll-on acceleration. I wouldn’t call it blistering, but there was plenty there when it was called on to overtake.

There is wind buffeting from the top of the windshield, and if I was going to live with the bike I’d either change it for a bigger one or take it off all together and ride it as a naked.

Brakes are good with the Rushmore-inspired Reflex linked system with ABS. With this system, the front and rear are linked at speeds above 40km/h.

I tended to use the front brake more than the rear, as the time it took to get my boot off the right foot board and up onto the brake was too long. I didn’t want to ride with my foot resting on the rear brake. So the big four-pot front Brembos were fine by me.

And I used the panniers! As mentioned, Harley has redesigned the panniers with the theory being along the lines of ‘if you can’t do it one-handed with gloves on, it’s not going on the bike’. Hence the panniers have nice, big latches that you can lock and unlock one-handed with gloves on! I managed to store enough gear for a weekend away plus a bag in the panniers without having to strap anything else onto the bike, or use a backpack. I found you can also get a six pack of wine in one…

So with my weekend away accounted for, it was back to work and the Harley was the designated commuter bike. Now while lane splitting on a clogged freeway is well within the Road King’s repertoire, when things get tighter around town the kids on their streetfighters take over and sometimes we were just left in the traffic…

There was only one remedy – leave early. And so the commute smoothed out and we were back happily soaking up the miles with the cruise control on.

The road King is smooth when cruising – smoother than I was expecting, and it's also quiet; I reckon I'd be looking for a set of Screamin' Eagles fairly soon after rolling out of the showroom. But it's a comfortable and relaxed ride and one that would be easy to cope with for a long time.

I could well see myself owning a Road King. Weekends away blasting through the hills, off visiting mates I haven’t seen for a while, going on runs with like-minded friends…

PERFORMANCE
Claimed maximum power: Not given
Claimed maximum torque: 138Nm at 3500rpm

TRANSMISSION
Type: Six speed
Clutch: Wet
Final drive: Belt

CHASSIS AND RUNNING GEAR
Frame: Single-spar steel
Front suspension: 49mm telescopic fork
Rear suspension: Air adjustable shock
Front brakes: Four-piston calipers
Rear brake: Four-piston caliper
Wheels: Impeller cast aluminium
Tyres: 130/80-17 front, 180/65-16 rear

DIMENSIONS AND CAPACITIES
Claimed dry weight: 353kg
Seat height: 715mm
Trail: 173mm
Fuel capacity: 22.7 litres

OTHER STUFF
Price: $32,495 ride-away
Colours:  Cosmic Blue Pearl, Purple Fire/Blackberry Smoke, Crushed Ice Pearl/frosted Teal Pearl, Deep Jade Pearl/Vivid Black, Vivid Black, Billit Silver, Velocity Red Sunglo
Bike supplied by: Harley-Davidson Australia www.harley-davidson.com.au
Warranty: 24 months unlimited kilometres