Street 500: Zac rides Harley-Davidson’s “budget bike”

Photography: Laura Deschenes

Ever since the Harley-Davidson Street 500 debuted back in 2014, the question’s been there: What do you get, when you buy Harley-Davidson’s lowest-priced motorcycle?

Despite being on the market now for three seasons (currently, pricing starts at $7,999), it’s very hard to find an experienced rider’s review of the bike, so I picked one up from a local dealer to find out for myself (thanks again, Toys for Big Boys!).

Family ties

First off, the Street 500 is almost identical to Harley-Davidson’s Street 750. The bikes share the same basic platform, with only some changes to the liquid-cooled 60-degree V-twin engine. (Currently, the Street 750 MSRP starts at $8,999).

As a result, I spent a lot of my ride time re-discovering what Costa already found out when he first rode the Street 750 back in 2014.

Like the 750, the seating space on the 500 is cramped. That’s because Harley-Davidson has created a hybrid here: the bike melds cruiser styling (particularly the low seat height) with cafe racer styling (mid controls, straight handlebars). The cockpit is a bit cramped for someone my height (6′ tall), but it wasn’t too bad once I got used to it.

I also noticed the same mediocre braking Costa observed on the 750. The front brakes provided superior feedback to the wooden feel you can get with some Harley-Davidsons, but they were adequate, nothing more (the dealership that loaned me the bike was unsure if had received the upgraded brakes announced for Street models last year). Harley-Davidson has just announced optional ABS is available for the Street lineup, starting in 2017.

Independent conclusions

However, most of my week aboard the Street was spent discovering it on my own terms in Prince Edward Island.

The Street 500 is very different from the last Harley-Davidson I rode. That bike was big, had tractor-loads of torque, was prone to dragging its floorboards in corners, and featured lots of chrome.

In contrast, I spent most of the week hustling the plain-Jane Street 500 around PEI at a healthy clip, with no forward controls and wide gearbox holding me back. I found the seat relatively comfortable and the cafe-style fairing deflected the windblast at moderate speeds, so the bike was comfortable to ride around and take in the scenery at a slower pace. But if I wanted to speed up, the bike felt comfortable cornering (with one caveat, which we’ll discuss in a minute).

When in the saddle, the seating position is actually more like a naked bike than a stereotypical cruiser. However, the engine does not offer the brutal horsepower usually associated with naked bikes. The 494 cc engine has enough snap to keep you out of trouble around town, but once you get on the highway, you have to plan your passes. The bike is capable of sustaining a steady 120-130 km/h on the highway, but I found the engine a bit lacking on hilly secondary roads; dropping a gear or two helped, but the engine lacks the power you’d want for touring or aggressive back-road riding.

For people looking to buy into the Harley-Davidson lifestyle, the engine also lacks the haptic feedback you’d get from a Sportster or Big Twin. It’s not inline-four smooth, but definitely lacks the heavy, low-frequency vibration the air-cooled Harleys deliver through the chassis and handlebars. That could be good or bad, depending on your viewpoint.

And as for the transmission: Harley-Davidson transmissions have often been summed up with the word “agricultural.” The Street 500 doesn’t have that satisfying (or jarring, depending again on your view) “ka-chunk” when you change gears. Instead, it’s smooth and modern. The clutch seemed to have a long throw, but that was only noticeable in first gear.

I was pleased to see a standard layout with the switchgear. Instead of separate buttons on the left and right handlebars for the respective signals (as with some of the lineup), the indicator switch is fixed to the left bar, as is standard across most of the industry. The high-beam switch is a bit unusual, but easy to get used to.

During the week’s mixed riding, I averaged about 4.55 L/100 km (approx. 62 mpg Imp.), so the Street is definitely easy on fuel when compared to some of Harley-Davidson’s other bikes.

One thing that surprised me while riding the Street was the amount of positive comments I received about the bike. Several people came up to me with questions about the machine, and said they really liked its looks. The bike may have a basic paint scheme and a mish-mash of styling cues, but people really liked the end result. Harley-Davidson forums are filled with negative comments on the bike’s fit and finish, but nobody I met seemed to notice or care.

Overall, the week aboard the Street went well, with no mechanical hiccups. Nothing vibrated loose. The engine might have been a bit weak, but this is a 500 cc beginner cruiser, so buyers should know what they’re getting into.

The only real issue I had with the Street was its suspension. There were several times when cornering hard on PEI’s bumpy roads that I found the suspension wanting – the front wheel was noticeably searching for traction, thanks to bouncing around on rough pavement. On the straights, the bike would give you a stiff rap from the rear if you hit bumps going too fast.

To be fair, at just over 100 kg, I’m probably heavier than the rider Harley-Davidson is targeting with the Street, and most of those riders aren’t likely planning to push the speed limit too hard in the corners. The suspension is built to a price point, and most buyers in this range would be fine with what they get, same as the engine. However, if I was considering buying this bike, I would certainly plan to replace the rear shocks and front fork springs in short order, to match my weight and riding style.

Conclusion

The Street 500 is a budget beginner bike, but I still had lots of fun on it; if I’d had the power of the 750 engine, I’d have been very happy, I suspect.

So why sell the 500 in North America? If the only real difference between the engines is a bore job, surely it would make more sense to simplify the product line, unless Harley-Davidson is thinking about insurance rankings. The 500 is much more sensible for overseas markets, which are more driven by displacement restrictions. Unless, of course, the 500 is a loss leader, mainly brought in to make sure riding schools have access to affordable machines, as they once did with the Buell Blast – good luck getting a company insider to confirm that, though.

There are other new bikes available in the $8,000 (or less) price range that would offer superior performance, and theoretically more bang for your buck. However, the eight-grand mark seems to be the starting point for most entry-level cruisers, so Harley-Davidson is competitive on pricing in this segment (most of the competition does have larger engines, though).

Does that make the Street 500 a good purchase? It depends how badly you want to jump into the Harley scene, and whether or not you feel the Street 500 is a good place to start down that road. Remember, the 750 version is $1,000 more, but it will certainly offer more horsepower, even if the suspension remains the same. If it were my money, I’d save up for the bigger engine. There just isn’t enough price difference to make the 500 more attractive than the 750.

Over the next few years, it will be interesting to watch the progress of the Street lineup. I’m very curious to see what happens to the 500 – will it see a price drop, to attract riders with less money, or will they strike it from the lineup? I can’t see it holding the same interest as the 883 Sportster, which remains in the Harley-Davidson lineup despite the 1200 cc version being around for decades. And will the traditional riders ever accept the Street models as “real” Harley-Davidsons? Big Twin owners poo-poo’d Sportster riders for years, so it’s difficult to see them warming to the Street lineup.

But the times, they are a’changin’. While this bike doesn’t revolutionize Harley-Davidson’s lineup, it does take it in a slightly different direction, and if that can be used to attract a host of young new riders, it won’t matter what the old guard thinks. I know I had a good time on the bike and that’s good enough for me. I may not purchase one myself, but after riding it, I can understand why someone else would.

GALLERY

Check out all the pics that go with this story!

The Street 500 riding position is not your classic feet-forward cruiser pose.

The suspension was a letdown, but at just over 100 kg, I’m probably heavier than the Street’s target market.

Although many hardcore H-D enthusiasts dislike the Street lineup, I still got plenty of love from ogling bystanders, even with the plain black paint job.

Cafe racer styling, with a hint of vintage Super Glide thrown in.

The 500 engine doesn’t make much sense for the North American market, but Harley-Davidson must have a plan (yes, those are fake cooling fins on the cylinders).

Switchgear is fairly straightforward, without that “different blinkers on different bars” silliness.