Launch: 2011 Harley-Davidsons

Harley-Davidson has launched its 2011 range Down Under.

While there have been some important changes to other models, and five new models in total (with three premium limited-edition models from the Custom Vehicle Operations (CVO) arm of the American manufacturer), the big news is the addition of two new Sportsters – the Forty-Eight and the Superlow.

Why all the attention to the 'little bike' end of the H-D family? After all, the more luxurious and 'high-spec' models have always represented H-D's hero icons. The answer is simple.

Harley-Davidson's boardroom had become acutely aware that the brand needed to gain some market appeal in the younger sector. It's fine appealing to mid-lifers, after all, that's where the discretionary purchasers are to be found, but that category needs to be replenished, with age bringing the inevitable market attrition.

The idea was to use people like stunt king Matt Mingay and the Crusty Demons in a good deal of H-D's promotional material to bring the brand to that younger audience. The Sportster was the natural choice to achieve this goal and indications are that the plan has worked.

The Sportster Iron is now the brand's top seller in Australia and New Zealand, unseating the traditional favourites of the Fatboy and FXST and is currently eighth on the Australian top ten road bike sales list. Toss in the fact that the Forty-Eight is the fastest selling model in cash-strapped USA, and all the attention being focused at the entry level starts to make eminent sense.

PRICE AND EQUIPMENT
While both bikes proudly boast the iconic Sportster badge, they are quite different, so let's deal with them one at a time, beginning with the Forty-Eight.

The bike gains its name in homage to the first H-D to boast the 'peanut' fuel tank – the original 1948 Sportie.

In the words of H-D's Senior Project Engineer of Dynamics, James Sedauckas – flown out from the Land of the Free especially for the launch – "we wanted to make a brass knuckle Sportster for the tough guy and tough girl."

To this end, the whole bike is 'slammed'. The minimal, hot rod styling starts with a blacked-out Evolution air-cooled, fuel-injected, 1200cc V-twin engine. The eye is then instantly drawn to the massive 130mm front tyre, surrounding 16-inch, black, spoked  rims. Guards are chopped close and rear suspension travel is minimal adding to the bike's broody stance. With its 680mm seat height, low-profile bars and underslung mirrors, the Forty-Eight looks like it might just carry a knife in its sock.

A nice touch are the blinker/brake composite tail lights. Situated on traditional rear blinker stalks, the blinkers illuminate inside an offset circle on the inner of each lens. How H-D got this past the ridiculously stringent Australian Design Rules Fun Police is beyond us, but they really add to the 'funky-cool' of the bike and we are big fans.

The peanut tank that is all-important in the market-positioning of this bike might look the goods, but it fails at its primary responsibility – that of delivering adequate quantities of fuel to the engine. Well, 'fails' might be a bit strong, but at 8lt, a rider that uses his/her bike for much more than boulevard-posing is going to be swiping his card regularly at service stations across this wide brown land.

Let's move across to the SuperLow XL883.

Harley-Davidson claims that the SuperLow came into being in direct response to customer and dealer feedback based on the previous 883 Low. It suggested the bike needed increased fuel capacity – now 17 litres, (which, again, makes the choice of the tiny tank on the Forty-Eight most curious), better suspension and improved overall comfort.

The bike makes use of the brand's Evolution air-cooled, fuel-injected, 883cc V-twin. With the entire design brief of improved ease of use for the newcomer, the final-drive ratio has been lowered for more responsive initial acceleration. The plan was to help the newbie achieve smoother throttle control at low speeds, in places like service stations and parking areas. No more embarrassing 'woops-a-daisies' was the aim.

Black, five-spoke wheels with polished rims grace the SuperLow and in a big improvement over the Low the bike replaces, specifically designed Michelin Scorcher 11 radial tyres are now employed.

Wheel travel under the rear fender is improved as a consequence, with the new shocks allowing around 15mm more travel over the Low and damping rates have also been recalibrated with comfort in mind.

The handlebars are wider, with the grips placed in a position considered to offer the most control and comfort. Footpegs are mid-mounted once again, the H-D boffins claim this is to offer the optimum control for a smaller person and the inexperienced alike.

Shared on both the new offerings are the following: Brakes are ubiquitous Sportster fare in dual piston calipers gripping a 292mm rotor at the front and a single piston and 260mm arrangement to the rear.
These are single seaters, so those looking to tote a friend best look elsewhere in the range, which is a bit of a shame, but many of the more sports oriented makers deliver single seat models and no-one bats an eyelid, so we'll cut H-D some slack there.

There's no tacho on the new Sportys either, but instrumentation offers about as much info as you'll ever need. You get: Handlebar-mounted electronic speedo with odometer, time-of-day clock, dual tripmeter, low fuel warning light, low oil pressure light, engine diagnostics readout, LED indicator lights, high beam, neutral, low oil pressure warning lights, turn signals, engine diagnostics, low fuel warning, low battery, and there's an optional security system.

ON THE ROAD
The Bikesales Network took part in the Australian launch of the new Sportsters, in and around the north eastern foothills outside Melbourne to see if the fang matches the fuss.

Our launch timetable gave us a loop of 188km out of Melbourne and into the foothills proper, with roughly half the that distance spent aboard each bike.

Once again, let's start with the Forty-Eight. There is no doubt H-D has done the job here in the aesthetic department. It really is a lovely looking piece of kit. That massive 130mm front tyre offers it buckets of James Dean, but my worry was that it would make the bike handle like Roseanne Barr.

When design man James Sedauckas said that the team at Milwaukee had spent a great deal of time tuning the chassis dynamics to deal with that tyre, he must have been telling the truth. While there is a degree of heightened gyroscopic force evident (this really ups the straight line stability), the bike is happy enough to drop into a corner and hold a line. It has to be said that the inordinately wide pegs touch down way before the bike has any chance to display any lean angled histrionics anyway, but steering is not compromised by that whopping great tyre.

The seating setup is very cool to look at, but puts the rider into a 'C' shaped position. It's a bit like some of you arrives and the rest will be along just a little bit later. And, if you wanted to design a person to catch as much wind as possible, you'd sit them on the Forty-Eight to make the mould.

In an effort to try something new, the mirrors are underslung, below the handlebars. This takes some getting used to, but makes a bit of sense. Given the fact that, most people have narrower hips than shoulders, useable mirror area is optimised, with more of what's going on rearward in view. One gripe here though is that you have to look down and away from the road ahead to mirror-check.

The engine is a sweetheart, offering ample pull and neat, vibe-free running. The gearbox is purposeful and ratios smart, considering the likely short-run usage of the bike. And it is very, very pretty.

At $14,995, it's not the cheapest offering of its ilk, but you get that badge and a degree of individuality. After all, this bike is not for everyone.

Now, the SuperLow.

First impressions upon sliding aboard are dominated by just how low the bike feels. The pegs are mid-mounted, about a third more forward than those of a traditional set-up and two-thirds rearward of normal forward control placement. Yes, H-D has invented a new peg position. Once again, it did a lot of work on ergonomics for newcomers and arrived at this arrangement. While that's undoubtedly true, with a seat height of 648mm, they had to find legroom somewhere and placing the feet a little forward of the norm achieves this.

I found it odd, catching my boot zip on more than one occasion when stopping at lights and the like. You need to place the foot backward of the peg at standstill, or very wide.

Steering lock is increased by three degrees in either direction over that of the Low and this is immediately appreciated while performing the necessary U-turns during photography sessions on the launch.

The mini ape-hanger bars look really nice and work very well indeed. It's a nice position, offering the 'newcomer control' for which H-D was looking and a good degree of comfort into the bargain.

The SuperLow suspension setup works very well for such a low-riding motorcycle, dealing well with bumps very neatly indeed. There's no doubt that those Michelin radials are a big help in offering sure-footed road manners. A big tick there.

Cornering clearance is minimal, with the pegs touching down regularly. Once again, this is not helped by their width. They could have 20mm lopped off them and work just as well.

The 883 engine works nicely. It is not going to take your breath away and you do note the reduced power after stepping from the Forty-Eight, but there'll be enough there for the newcomer or committed 'smell the roses' cruiser. Once again, the gearbox is not Japan-smooth, but suits the bike and ratios seem right considering the brief.

It may be cheap at $11,495, but finish is really nice on the SuperLow and you never really get a 'built to a price' feeling.

The other news…

H-D's tourers are now fitted with the Twin Cam 103 cubic inch engine, which offers 10 per cent more torque than the Twin Cam 96 powerplant, and new seats that are claimed to offer significantly improved support. 

ABS is now standard on the Softails, bringing the total number of H-D models with the technology to 15.

The three CVO models for 2011 are the:

Prices start from $39,995 ($42,995) for the limited-edition CVO models.

TRANSMISSION
Type: Five-speed
Final drive: Belt

DIMENSIONS AND CAPACITIES
Dry weight: 247kg
Seat height: 680mm
Wheelbase: 1518mm
Fuel capacity: 8lt

OTHER STUFF
Price: $14,995 (manufacturer's price before dealer and statutory costs)
Colours: Vivid Black, Brilliant Silver, Mirage Orange
Bike supplied by: Harley-Davidson Australia http://www.harley-davidson.com/
Warranty: 24 months, unlimited kilometres

TRANSMISSION
Type: Five-speed
Final drive: Belt

CHASSIS AND RUNNING GEAR
Frame type: Tubular steel double cradle
Front suspension: Telescopic fork, non-adjustable
Rear suspension: Twin shock, adjustable for preload
Front brakes: Single 292mm disc with dual-piston caliper
Rear brakes: Single 260mm disc with single-piston caliper

PERFORMANCE
Max. power: N/A
Max. torque: 74.6 Nm at 3500rpm