Motorcycle specifications Harley-Davidson1920 Softail Low Rider ST FXLRST 2025 Club style power !

The Low Riders are getting angry. It could well be that the Euro5+ standard has scalded their ears. The engine takes umbrage and changes dimension without affecting its displacement. Still bearing the 117 badge, it benefits from a series of improvements to boost power. And not just a little: 9 horsepower and 5 Nm more. Thanks to reworked cylinder heads, a SE8-511 high-performance camshaft, improved cooling, a more direct intake and redesigned exhausts, the M8 now belches out 114 hp and 17.6 mkg. A real menace, straining your back under every acceleration - which can continue even higher, as the maximum engine speed has been increased by 300 rpm.
Be bold and turn the handle! The Low Rider ST will respond in more ways than one. After all, it comes with three riding modes. The most aggressive, "Sport High Output", unleashes the full expression of mid-range torque, offering power never before seen on a Harley cruiser. The "Road" mode makes the throttle less aggressive and calms the torque curve. As for the "Rain" mode, it reduces torque and calms the throttle.
It's while rummaging through the electronics package that we discover the arrival of angle-sensitive traction control and ABS, an engine brake management system and a tire pressure monitoring module. Cruise control was already present.
The parent company has also reworked the handlebar controls, added a USB-C port, installed an adjustable brake lever, overhauled the suspension, fitted LEDs to all the lighting and installed a much more comprehensive speedometer. Without betraying the ST's raison d'être, which is to be more lively and distinctive than a simple extension of the Low Rider S.
On the bangs of the rebel clan
Okay, some might say that all Harleys look alike! Others, more curious or even downright specialists in American motorcycling, will argue that the Harley universe is populated by a myriad of different types of bikes. Call them customs, cruisers, bobbers, choppers, tourers, fat ass, chicano style, power cruiser, bagger and what have you..
With the introduction of the Harley-Davidson Low Rider ST in 2022, you'll have to add a new name to your vocabulary: club style!
What's that again? Basically, club style refers to a motorcycle - or rather a custom motorcycle, let alone a Harley - that is designed to be practical, fast and efficient in all circumstances. It's a bike that's ready to hit the road at any time, on any occasion and in any condition. You've been warned!
While the club style genre was born some forty years ago with Harley's Dyna FXR, the name is more recent. The term "club" refers to the many bikers' clubs, who don't hesitate to eat bollards as a group. The idea of group and road-trip is therefore very present. The club-style trend has also been popularized in recent years by the famous Sons of Anarchy series, where the members of the SAMCRO (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original) gang mostly ride this type of machine.
The need for power
Introduced in 2016, the Low Rider S equipped with the Twin Cam 110 Screamin' Eagle, was halfway between this club-style spirit (small fork head) and the power-cruiser (big engine). Two years later, the Sport Glide, with its mini battle wing (a kind of smaller Street Glide fairing) and a pair of removable hard cases, was even more precisely in line with the definition of club style... but without the performance (since it was equipped with the 107).
The Low Rider ST completes the definition of a genre you won't soon forget. Based on the new 2022 version of the Low Rider S, it gets one of the biggest and most powerful Harley twins ever to go into production, the one used on the old CVOs: the huge Milwaukee Eight 117 ci (for cubic inches)! With oil/air cooling, this mill, which appeared in 2018, owes its name to its four valves per cylinder... a total of eight! And to the famous hometown of that American icon, Harley-Davidson. This big twin is faithful to tradition, since its single camshaft is located in the lower part of the engine. Valve timing is always tumbled and valves are operated by hydraulic lifters, while valve lash adjustment is automatic and set once and for all! This V-twin comes standard with a Heavy Breather air filter facing forward to optimize airflow into the engine, while emphasizing the beastly side of the beast with a hot rod look. Rigidly mounted in the frame to contribute to the bike's overall rigidity and handling, the Milwaukee Eight is fitted with balancing weights to reduce vibrations, especially at idle
The engine is no slouch when it comes to delivering power to the rear wheel, and while its 114 hp may not seem like much to riders used to Japanese bikes and other European sports bikes that happily offer twice as much power for half the displacement, it's certainly a substantial figure on a Harley! Not so long ago, the Milwaukee-based manufacturer refused to communicate power figures, arguing, like Rolls Royce in its day, that power was enough. Only the torque value was announced, which, incidentally, is the most important for this type of engine and motorcycle. Open at 45°, the 117 ci twin boasts an impressive displacement of 1923 cm3. With a bore of 103.5 mm and a stroke of 114 mm, this big twin retains its soul by remaining a long-stroke engine, the stroke being greater than the bore. Long-strokes are the engines with the most character at low revs, lyrical or hysterical surges in the revs being more the prerogative of square or super-square engines. On the other hand, you can count on this engine's two big bowls to deliver titanic torque: 173 Nm at 4,000 rpm. That's a lot of torque! Since this engine was introduced in 2018, these mechanical qualities have been reserved for CVO models, the very top of the HD range. The Milwaukee Eight 117 arrived in 2022 on the Low Rider S, the Street Glide ST, the Road Glide ST and, above all, on this slim GT, this bad boy tourer that is the Low Rider ST.
An infusion of Touring?
Two main features distinguish it from its sister model, the Low Rider S: a pair of rigid rear panniers, quite high up, easily removable and with a total capacity of 56 liters; and a fairing that gives it an unprecedented look! Well, almost, since according to Brad Richards, HD's Vice President of Styling and Design, " the shape is inspired by the classic fairing of the FXRT Sport Glide model, which is particularly popular with West Coast custom enthusiasts ". Or how to make something new out of something old, how to bring out new models without upsetting brand purists. It has to be said that, with the revolutions that old bikers have undergone of late with the appearance of the Sportster range and the arrival of the Pan America trail bike, a bit of old-school look was welcome to avoid losing them for good in the meanders of modernism. Proof that respect for tradition and the brand's history is still a golden rule at Harley, a commandment inscribed from the tip of the toe-kick into the marble of the road!
And so it is that this attractive, wrap-around fairing, a touch imposing without being huge either, takes up the design of the fairing imagined by Willie G Davidson and his team on the 1983 Dyna FXRT Sport Glide, while elegantly modernizing it: " Our customers truly inspire us, and we created the Low Rider ST after discovering some incredible machines at the motorcycle events we visited around the world," explains Brad Richards. In fact, whether in the States, on the West Coast or even in France, some Harley owners, and in particular Low Rider S owners, had already had fun adding a big FXRT-style fork head (with an RWD fairing, for example) and a pair of saddlebags, not hesitating to christen this preparation Low Rider S Club Style. There's no shortage of classified ads in the good corner..
Like the Road Glide, the fairing is fixed to the frame. This means it doesn't rest on the handlebars, as is the case with Street Glides, which makes steering considerably lighter. It is fitted with LED lighting via a 14.6 cm-diameter round optic. The ambience behind the fairing is therefore stripped down: a needle, a digital screen, and no TFT panel to stand between you and the road. So no infotainment systems or other visual pollution to interfere with your driving. Just you and the trajectory you're charting towards the horizon.
You, your Harley... and the music! The engine's, of course, but also your favorite playlist, since Harley offers an optional audio system specially developed for this model by Rockford Fosgate, delivering 250 watts via four speakers (two 13.3 cm woofers and two remote tweeters). Integrated into the top of the fairing, it connects via Bluetooth to your personal player and features digital signal processing (DSP). You've got to admit that a good soundtrack goes damn well with the open road when you're riding a Harley... Whether you like the road movie atmosphere or not. But I love it!
His personality gets to you
Naysayers will also say that, for once, Harley didn't just apply a new color scheme or aesthetic appendage to create a new bike. Although, on a superficial and factual level, we can't really prove them wrong in this common practice, we have to admit that a Harley isn't really a motorcycle like any other. Although they share a common base, chassis and engine, it doesn't take much to radically change a Harley, both in terms of behavior and life on board, and therefore in terms of riding feel and enjoyment. The shape of the handlebars - high, flat, wide or narrow - the footrests more or less forward, the seat more or less high, more or less deep, different front and rear wheel sizes, slightly revised damping - and you're at the wheel of motorcycles that are truly very different, despite their common trunks. And it's only the experience of riding the different models that will show you just how sensitive this is.
It's a safe bet, then, that this Low Rider ST will have a personality all its own, especially as Harley was keen to give it even greater dynamic qualities than the other Softail bikes in the range with which it shares its chassis. In fact, the rear monoshock is 12.7 mm (or 1/2 inch) higher, giving 25.4 mm (1 inch) more travel, which increases cornering clearance and comfort. Compared with the Sport Glide, for example, the rear suspension offers 53 mm (43 mm) of travel, and 112 mm (86 mm) of travel - features it shares with the Low Rider S. Another consequence of this evolution is the seat height, which increases very slightly to 686 mm (compared to 680 mm on a Sport Glide). At the front, the 43-mm inverted fork (identical on the Sport Glide) has a 28-mm rake (30 mm on the Sport Glide), for improved corner entry and easier cornering.
As you can see, the Low Rider ST isn't the ultra-high-performance touring machine that a Kawasaki H2 SX or BMW K 1600 GT can be, but it does offer another way to travel: lighter than a big GT like the Street Glide Ultra, a little more dynamic than the Street and Road Glide, more powerful than a Sport Glide, better equipped than a Low Rider S, it seems to draw the best ingredients from each category to offer a real tourer, beautiful and rebellious! A pleasure that, from the outset, can be enjoyed as a single, as it comes standard with a solo saddle. Rest assured, though, that the accessories catalog is full of solutions for duo riding.
All that's left is to try out this devilish machine on a long ride with friends, club style obliges!
Michael Levivier - manufacturer's photos