For those who don’t know what Harley-Davidson’s Dark Customs are all about, here’s the dope – the Dark Custom line-up of motorcycles first popped up in 2008 as the company began aiming its lighter, more agile and faster bikes at the younger riders, to grab their attention. In essence, Dark Custom Harleys have a lot of pitch-black paint, true-blue Harley-Davidson design philosophies, and at least one element that makes the bike leaner, quicker and faster. More or less, it’s all about the attitude, with Dark Customs.

In recent times, the American motorcycle company has dug deep into its bag of ideas to pull out a fresh series of motorcycles – the new Harley-Davidson Street. Aimed at the younger rider, and emerging markets, it’s the company’s new set of entry-level motorcycles, positioned below the Superlows. Smartbuy travelled to Milan to catch the first glimpse of the new Street 750 and Street 500 motorcycles, a day before they were unveiled at the EICMA 2013 International Motorcycle Exhibition. And we observed that the Street series has something that is way different from other motorcycles in its segment.

How does it look?

According to Harley-Davidson, the Street series of motorcycles have been developed after a lot of customer feedback – more than 1,600 prospective customer interactions, to be precise. Based on that, what HD has given out are motorcycles that it claims to be blank canvasses for the young adult who loves customising. But let’s get to the customising part later, and take a look at the basics first.

The Street series motorcycles, like other Dark Customs, have a thick coating of black all over. The Street 750 and 500 borrow not just from the Dark Customs lineage, but also from some of the older, cult motorcycles. Yet, it’s not just a direct lift and drop – Harley-Davidson has redesigned those elements.

You get to see a lot of design cues from the old XLCR Café Racer on the Street motorcycles. The teardrop tank, for instance, carries the design ethos, but it is flatter and by virtue of being set on a low-slung frame, is aptly wide. The bikini fairing on the round headlamp is also reminiscent of the XLCR, as well as the older V-Rods. This too, we were told, is an outcome of customer feedback. The rear-end curves down ever so softly towards the road, with LED tail-lights set in very inconspicuously.

There is a sense of mix-and-match with sharp line, angular side panels, broad and upswept handlebars, traditional instrument panel, seven-spoke blackened alloys, and a steel tank and fenders. But this mix-and-match seems to work, because we are of the opinion that the Street motorcycles look just right grab a young motorcyclist’s attention. It’s got a sense of subtle aggressiveness to it.

What about the ride?

This is the first new platform that Harley-Davidson has designed in the last 13 years. The Street 750 and Street 500 will run on liquid-cooled V-Twin mills, which have been dubbed by the company as Revolution X engines. Harley-Davidson says that though the engines are liquid-cooled to handle urban riding conditions, they will retain the bigger, air-cooled siblings’ character.

Now the exact details about how much torque and power these engines make have not been revealed yet. But we do know that there’s a single overhead cam with four valves per head, typical Harley-Davidson belt-drive, and a new 6-speed gearbox that promises to be able to take on some urban beating.

But more interesting than the engines is the attention Harley-Davidson has paid to the ride quality, in tune with the target audience and the target markets. The frame is much leaner than any of the Harleys we’ve seen so far, and with slimmer 17-inch front tires, it looks nimble enough to weave in and out of traffic without breaking a sweat. The broad sweep of the handlebars should also make sure that the handling is spot-on. And here’s the sweet spot – the Street models will have 2-inches more ground clearance and 2-inches more suspension travel than the Superlow variants. These motorcycles should be able to take on Indian roads.

Bottomline

The Street 750 will come to India first, and the 500 will come in a bit later. The reason behind this, we’ve been told, is that Harley-Davidson propositions to offer more value for money with the Street 750. And HD may just have struck the right chord with its pricing – the Street 750 will be priced at less than Rs 5 lacs, on-road. The Street 750 will make its public debut in India at the India Bike Week, Goa, in January, and the exact pricing and other details are expected to be announced at the upcoming Auto Expo in Delhi. Until then, we think Harley-Davidson has made just the right offering – a motorcycle that retains the Harley character, and is a blank canvas to let imaginations run wild.

sabyasachi.b@thehindu.co.in

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