Harley-Davidson Sport Glide: A Classical Softail Of The American Collective Unconscious.

Harley-Davidson Sport Glide: A Classical Softail Of The American Collective Unconscious

Mark Ewing , Contributor Automotive design, engineering and technology. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

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Harley-Davidson Sport Glide is a Harley Softail for Saturday afternoon and weekend overnight rides.

Harley owns more than half the U.S. motorcycle market, and the boys from Milwaukee are masters of batch-built and demand-pull variations of each chassis, exercising marketing and design skills to match or surpass the very best European supercar makers I regularly deal with.

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Saddlebags and fairing clipped into place, Sport Glide can serve as a weekday commuter or a two-up traveler for Saturday tours of beautiful destinations.

Harley stated last year that it will develop and market 100 unique “high-impact” bikes in the coming decade, clearly a sign they intend to raise their game in a relatively static U.S. market. With new chassis and a family of new engines all designed to be cost-effectively evolved and developed, and also thanks to Harley’s Custom Vehicle Operations (CVO) in-house hot rodding capability, Harley will bring more than new paint schemes and trim pieces each of the next ten years. With layers of both minor decorative and significant functional pieces available from dealerships, buyers should strive to create a bike unlike any other.

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To reduce fatigue across the upper body, the fairing deflects wind from the rider’s chest while leaving the head in a clean stream of air. Modeled after the “batwings” of Harley’s touring models, the fairing mounts to the fork tubes with quick-release clamps. Fairings with a 4-inch taller windshield are available to further reduce upper body and neck muscle fatigue at highway speeds.

Harley recently unveiled its ninth variant of the new Softail chassis, the Sport Glide, which in many regards defines the classic Harley of our collective unconscious: amply proportioned Softail, low-slung seat, Milwaukee-Eight motor rigidly mounted to the frame for the Milwaukee Vibrator experience, loads of torque at very low revs for pulling away from lights and the curb in style, and practicality to serve workaday duties thanks to easily detached batwing fairing and saddlebags.

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Sport Glide has LED lights all around: headlamp, tail and brake lamp and turn signals.

A veritable wisp of a girl in the Harley universe, Sport Glide weighs 670 lbs., not 800. If you aspire to be one of those women I see riding Harleys to chic cantinas along Pacific Coast Highway anywhere between San Diego and Santa Barbara—tightly braided ponytail, Perisol shades, fashionista leather and jeans—you must be fit and physically strong enough to balance the bike at lights and curbside. Even with a low saddle allowing feet planted firmly to pavement, 670 lbs. is a lot of heft. That said, changes to handlebars and pegs at the dealer can tailor a riding position comfortable and wieldy for petite women or lanky men. All for just shy of $19,000.

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Electronic throttle control brings standard electronic cruise control, a big help on highway sections when the right hand might benefit from a little isometric shake, squeeze, and wrist roll to relieve tension reaching up the forearm.