Motorcycle specifications Harley-Davidson1920 Softail Low Rider ST FXLRST 2023 Club style power !

Okay , some might say that all Harleys look alike! Others, more curious, or even downright specialists in the American thing, will argue on the contrary that the Harley universe is populated by a myriad of types of bikes. Call them customs, cruisers, bobbers, choppers, tourers, fat ass, chicano style, power cruiser, bagger and what have you..

With the arrival 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's 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.

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 the biggest and most powerful Harley twins ever to go into production, the CVO twins: 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... eight in all! And to the famous hometown of that American icon, Harley-Davidson. This big twin is faithful to tradition, since its single camshaft, known as a high-performance camshaft on this model, is located in the lower part of the engine. Valve timing is always tumbled and valves are operated by hydraulic tappets, 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 to 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

Let's get down to business: 105 hp at 5,020 rpm! That's how much power this American mill throws at the rear wheel! While this may not seem like much to motorcyclists used to Japanese bikes and other European sports bikes, which now happily offer twice the power for half the displacement, it's certainly a substantial figure for Harley! Not so long ago, the Milwaukee-based manufacturer refused to disclose 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 biggest 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 guns to deliver titanic torque: 168 Nm (or 17.1 mkg, in case that means more to you than Newton-meters) from 3,500 rpm. That's a lot of torque! Since this engine appeared 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.

two main features distinguish it from its sister model, the Low Rider S: a pair of rigid rear panniers, quite high and easily removable, with a total capacity of 53.8 liters; and a new fairing that gives it an unprecedented look! Well, almost, because 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 the old bikers have undergone of late with the appearance of the new Sportster range and the arrival of the Pan America trail bike, a bit of old-school look was welcome so as not to lose them definitively in the meanders of modernism. Proof that respect for tradition and the brand's history still remains a golden rule at Harley, a commandment inscribed from the tip of the footpegs in 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 really 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 on Street Glides, which makes steering considerably lighter. It is fitted with LED lighting via a 14.6 cm-diameter round optic, while the instrumentation consists of a tiny digital display inserted into the fork crown, as already exists on some Harley models, including the Breakout. The atmosphere behind the fairing is stripped back: no speedometer or other TFT screen stands between you and the road. As a result, there are no infotainment systems or other visual pollution to disrupt your ride. 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, as Harley is offering an optional audio system specially developed for this new model (€1307, already available on the site). This system, developed by Rockford Fosgate, delivers 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... You either like or dislike the road movie atmosphere. But I love it!

Audio and Bluetooth aren't the only modules of the digital age. The road can also be enjoyed with cruise control fitted as standard. For 2023, deactivatable traction control can also be added as an option.

The bad tongues will also say that, for once, Harley hasn't just applied a new color or aesthetic appendage to create a new motorcycle. 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 is not really a motorcycle like any other. Although sharing 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 new Low Rider ST isn't the high-performance travel tool 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 theElectra Glide, 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