Harley-Davidson Dyna TC88

There was a broad range of bikes on tap, for a two-day ride around the Great Ocean Road and its hinterland. Not exactly ideal Harley territory, you might have thought, but the GOR is a nice tourist rather than good sports road these days, so it worked out well.

Of the group, two emerged as personal favourites: the Dyna Low Rider and Super Glide Sport.

To the casual observer, there's precious little to distinguish the two bikes and only a pukka Hogphile would be able to pick it. For the record, the Low Rider (aka FXDL ­ shown here in blue) has more rake in the front end, hence slower steering, with different handlebars (more apehanger-like) and more chrome. The Super Glide Sport (FXDX ­ shown above in red) runs a very handsome wrinkle finish on the powerplant, is about a centimetre taller in the seat and boasts dual rate fork springs.

So far there's little new happening in the chassis department ­ the real news is in the motivation, compliments of the Twin Cam 88 engine released mid-last year in sunny Las Vegas.

We've covered this ground before, so I'll keep it short. Essentially H-D decided it needed an upgrade on its 15-year-old Evolution powerplant. Along the way it was getting fed up to the back teeth with aftermarket suppliers making most of the money when it came to selling hot-up parts for the bikes.

Therefore we were presented with a powerplant that had a boost in capacity from 1340cc to 1450 (or 80 to 88ci), and a design more sympathetic to performance enhancements. A couple of stages of hot-up kits were announced from day one, with the first being covered by factory warranty.

Get off an Evo powerplant and on to the Twin cam and you'll immediately spot the difference. The new chap is more willing to rev, is smoother, and has a much healthier mid-range response.

The factory claims 2.5 million test miles with the design, which represents a nice progression of the big twin lineage.

These are primarily cruisers and I'd like to say we always treated them as such. The truth is that we spent some time carrying out a sort of hi-po roundup at a pace that probably wasn't in the designer's list of criteria.

Rough on the bikes, perhaps, but it was one way of proving that the tackle could get along at a respectable pace. Even so, if that level of enthusiasm creeps into your riding on a regular basis, the Buell range from the same family would make more sense.

In stock trim you're looking at a top speed of about 180kmh, which is more than adequate for what are big and heavy lumps of iron. Cornering ability is nothing to write home about, but entirely predictable.

A small irony is that the Low Rider felt as secure in turns as the Sport, if not more so, probably due to its lower seat height boosting the rider's confidence and the lazier steering geometry.

Suspension is basic. In both cases it did the job adequately without causing any urges to drag out the superlative dictionary.

Braking is about as good as it gets on a stock Hog ­ with very basic twin discs gracing the front end. We're not in love with H-D's brakes at the moment and would toss some extra dough at either bike to get an alternative set-up.

Finish on the bikes is generally of a very high standard, in keeping with their hefty price tags ­ $23,495 for the Low Rider and $22,495 for the Sport.

As we've come to expect from Harley, there's a heap of dress-up and engine kit available. Our feeling is that we'd keep the changes to a minimum with both bikes. Play with the breathing, throw in some highway pegs and better brakes, maybe a pillion backrest, and leave it there. After all, if serious hotrod performance is what you're really after there are plenty of alternatives available.

Since we've mentioned pillions, the Low Rider is the better two-up proposition, again for its lower seat height, and its more luxurious victim saddle.

To get the best out of the bikes takes a special mind-set, one that says we're going cruising, albeit at a respectable pace. In cruiser terms, these machines are reliable handlers ­ about what you expect from the heavyweight end of the class.

Maintenance is very low. Hydraulic tappets look after themselves, which reduces regular care and feeding duties to oil changes and the occasional belt replacement.

We had a good time over a couple of days. If we'd been with some mates on sport tackle, they would have got to the next stop in time to order the cappuccinos for us, but not drink them. Don't knock it till you try it.

Story: Guy Allen