Here’s your 2016 Harley-Davidson Roadster

By
Zac Kurylyk
-

The Sportster lineup once again has a new entry, with the introduction of the new Harley-Davidson Roadster.

Of course, the Roadster is just the latest evolutionary step in Harley-Davidson’s long-running Sportster platform. It’s powered by their air-cooled 1200 cc V-twin.

The Roadster is part of the Dark Custom series, intended to look like something a handy garage-based builder would put together. Styling is also intended to bring back memories of the days when Sportsters were high-performance weapons on the drag strip.

Things to like about the new bike: Along with a 19-inch front wheel and 18-inch rear, Harley-Davidson included dual-disc brakes up front (ABS optional) and 43 mm inverted front forks. Harley-Davidson says the Roadster has “premium” rear suspension, which hopefully means they’ve tuned it for more aggressive riding (rear shock travel is allegedly 3.2 inches). They also made sure the bike has mid-mounted controls, which are preferred by many riders for aggressive riding.

Dry weight is 258 kg.

You can find more details on the Roadster on Harley-Davidson’s Canadian website here. At time of writing, no Canadian MSRP was available.

GALLERY

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12 COMMENTS

  1. Not bad but the front end and headlight look a bit Canadian-Tire-ish, Harley gonna have to do better than that to widen their costumer base

  2. Is it just me or does HD seem to be grasping at straws?

    I can see in my minds eye a bunch of blank faces trying to come up with something to spark interest in the young riders coming up. and all they can think off id this!! Holy shit! So they inverted the forks. So they beefed up the brakes but ABS as an option, give me a frickin break! It is still a Sportster frame and will handle like it.

    Harley has little imagination at all. Just throw a few bits and bobs at an old tired design, come up with a clothing line for it. Hire a few skinny jeans plaid shirt wearing hipster dingbats to model it and appear in a ad campaign and hope for the best. Same tired shit they’ve been doing for years. They have had sparks of hope in the past but do NOTHING with them Buell for one, the vrod Revolution engine…..ummm and Ok well 2 sparks then.. HD is done once the guys my age fold the tents and head for the nursing home. Maybe they can call on the Gov’t again to tariff the shit out of all the other manufacturers. That’s the only hope

    OH! and don’t get me started on the 750 Street, or should I call it the Harleyized 1985 Honda Nighthawk S?

  3. It is what it is folks. We’re not the ones buying them. We look at that and a Duc Scrambler or a Triumph Bonnie and we go for them. Our brains tell us the the Bonnies and Scramblers go faster, lighter, stops better. And we don’t want to get lumped in the pirate shirt wearing crowd that ask us how come we didn’t buy a Dyna. I also think sometimes we get caught up in the faster-lighter-stops quicker mindset and put more value on that in the equation of fun, than just trolling around feeling good about being out and just having a ride. The bushy beard, skinny jeans guy down the street who might buy this might not be too worried about the other things. He/she just might like the way it makes him feel.

  5. Oh wow. “Vivid Black with a charcoal denim pinstripe”, gotta have one. And state of the art sized wheels.

    Give it up, gents.

    • I’m with TK, it is a step in the right direction. 18″ rear wheel instead of 16″, decent brakes, inverted forks, all better than previous offerings. Depending on its price it may be the best starting point for creating a modern version of an xlcr using after market tank, seat etc.
      I still don’t understand why it has to be so heavy.

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