Harley FXD

There's evidence that Harley-Davidson suffers from beautiful woman syndrome. And what is that, you might ask? Well you may have noticed that they (the "they" who flog you consumer not-so-durables at every opportunity) tend to only use beautiful women to hawk stuff like cars, cosmetics and clothes.

Now the truth is that while the dress/shirt/whatever in question might be perfectly alright, the same woman could make a used wheat sack look good. Ditto for the Harley brand name.

There's a local bottle shop that's an after-work hang-out for a bunch of drunks who also form my test-audience for motorcycle styling. Suzuki's Hayabusa gave them a nasty jolt when it first came out, and the yellow Wing came uncomfortably close to burning out some retinas. An MV Agusta got an enthusiastic reaction, but nowhere near as strong as the humble, base-model (in the TC88 range) FXD Harley. They loved it and I'm beginning to suspect I could have turned up in a wheelie bin and got a similar reaction so long as it had the prized H-D badge prominently displayed. Harley is well aware of that brand power, which would, in part, explain its pricing.

FX-who?
A quick history lesson here for those who want to catch up. Harley took a massive corporate turn for the better after its early 1981 management buyout, producing the Evolution 80-cube engine series by 1984. This was a major leap forward after years of serious quality problems. By 1999 we got to see the current big-engine series, the TC88 (twin-cam, 88 cubic inch, or 1450cc). Something common to the Evo and the TC series has been a base model - the FXR in 1984, which became the FXD in 1994 with the addition of the Dyna frame. It was among the first of the range to score the TC engine, for the 1999 model year. All of those versions have shared the name Superglide.

Despite the fact we've seen two frames and engines over that period, they have consistently been among my top two picks in the range - the other is the Road King. Why? Because there's a lot of intrinsic appeal in having a big twin wrapped in the simplest possible package. And, the Superglides have always worked pretty well - often better than higher-priced and more stylised stablemates.

What you get is the stock carbureted TC88 engine, the Dyna frame, fairly conventional wheel sizes, and single disc brakes at both ends. Instrumentation consists of a tank-mounted fuel gauge and steering head-mounted speedo.

Hows it go?
The test bike was in bog-stock trim, including the mufflers - which are usually binned by owners. Performance was okay, if nothing to write home about. It would give a lot of the Japanese cruiser twins a run for their money and suggested some very mild mods would be enough to make the Superglide interesting.

Since we've mentioned mods, there's all sorts of things you can do and the TC88 was designed to be hotted up from day one. So there's lots of factory gear available in a couple of stages, though we suspect some carefully thought-out changes to the breathing will be enough for most folk. The engine starts and runs well, though we did cop the occasional cough when picking the throttle up off idle. It's a lot smoother than its predecessors, though there's still a substantial Harleyesque shake happening.

Clutch action is progressive, though the lever effort is still on the high side. Gearshifting is very crisp. You get some clunking, but it's dead accurate and better than most in the heavy cruiser class.

Steering is very user-friendly and the suspension seams reasonably well thought-out. As a general handling package it has a lot of promise, but suffers a major frustration in stock form, which is the ridiculously limited cornering clearance on the right-hand side. This is caused by the low-hanging stock mufflers and their support bracket, all of which is likely to see the inside of a dumpmaster faster than you can say "first service". Many aftermarket systems offer better clearance and would bring the potential cornering performance up to among the best in class.

From there the only handling restriction is the tyres, which are Dunlop 401s (formerly Elites) prominently branded "Harley-Davidson". They're okay for normal use, but get stuck in and they struggle to hang on - Dunlop, among others, has better choices available.

Comfort 'n' corrosion
The ride position is more or less conventional, with a super-low seat height and footpegs that are only slightly forward. The handlebar bend feels good for general use. Tall riders may find the legroom marginal - that's what happens when you try to match a low seat with good footpeg clearance. We suspect the seat is not going to be great over long distances, though something as simple as a sheepskin cover is likely to address this.

Something that didn't leave us thrilled to pieces was the signs of corrosion which appeared. The FXD was garaged about half a kay from the sea for a while, but other machines given identical treatment haven't suffered the same fate. Ours copped marks on the triple trees and right-hand crankcase cover, among other places, which is underwhelming on a premium brand. We did a bit of digging on this and now suspect that the history of this bike - which originally came form a location near salt water - had something to do with it. Corrosion was an issue with locally-imported Harleys four to five years ago, but we have good info that it's largely been addressed.

Worth a punt?
A lot rides on how much you value the H-D branding and, perhaps most significantly, the fact the 2003 model-year machines being sold now carry the centenary badging on the tank and (in this case) the left-hand crankcase. The 100th year models are priced pretty close to their predecessors and are going to be worth something extra on the used market in years to come. So what value to you place on that?

The FXD makes the rider feel good, and being on a Hog is an easy way to make instant friends. Though the price is pretty steep if you look at it simply in terms of machinery, the Superglide is a syndrome I could learn to live with.