If ever you fantasised about a motorcycle life where you met the world on your own terms, authority figures stood aside when you approached, and days were long, warm and sunny, the bike in the dream would’ve been Harley’s Low Rider ST.
There’s still a great deal of image attached to Harley-Davidson ownership.
The days of the chopper movement are all but gone, and the hordes of noisy Harley riders in cut-off leather vests and faded Levis parading up and down main streets being orthodontists and accountants on annual holiday are fading. Harley-Davidson is changing with the times, offering genuine performance options like both the Pan America and Sportster which have made such an impact in the past couple of years.
But the company hasn’t abandoned its heritage. The V-twin cruiser is still the heart and soul of the American manufacturer, and heart and soul are two attributes the Milwaukee-based outfit values very highly indeed.
The Low Rider ST – the FXLRST Low Rider ST to give it its complete and correct designation – is a bike which fully embraces the thundering, freedom-chasing Harley legend of old, but walks the line between the simplicity and utility of the old-generation bikes and the new, high-tech sleds which are the current marketing flavour of the month.
Harley has done an absolutely superb job of getting the heart-and-soul/tech ratio spot on with the Low Rider ST. We’re still glowing with the joy and emotion of riding a bike as good as this one.
Flash, but not too flash
The bike looks horn, and it looks like a Harley.
That might sound funny, but so many other brands have copied the Harley look over the past few decades it’s really bloody difficult to tell what brand a V-twin cruiser is these days unless you can see the badge. Harley may well have been tempted to try and head off in a new direction to shake off pursuit.
But it didn’t, and the simple, understated colour scheme gently highlights the very nexus of the Harley legend: a 1923cc, push- rod V-twin motor.
And it’s truly beautiful, both to look at and to ride.
Fuel injection is welcome in this day and age, and we let out a ‘Whoop!’ of excitement when we found cruise control. The whooping almost descended into tears of rapture when we realised that was where Harley had drawn the line. There weren’t a heap of rider modes, we didn’t have to connect the bike to a phone to get the best from it, and there was no traction control to dial in or manage. Obviously the refinement of the V-twin concept, and the application of many decades of unrelenting research and development, have been lavished on what is clearly an excellent performer, but Harley has backed itself: this is what the company believes a V-twin sports tourer should be. It’s not an outline where the rider has to select from several large and complex menus to fill in the colour. The Low Rider ST is as Harley wants us to experience the legend, and we can like it or leave it.
We liked it. A lot.
Morning glory
The frame-mounted fairing may polarise a few opinions, but, like the rest of the bike, both the finish and function are superb. The photos won’t do justice to the high quality of the detail on the Low Rider ST, and, in a strange way, the seemingly understated colour scheme probably deflects attention away a little. That’s a sidestep from Harley’s recent history, where chrome and attention- grabbing colour schemes ruled, but look closely. The presentation is excellent. The cable runs are almost invisible, the depth of the Gunship Grey paint is lustrous, and everything about the bike’s look highlights what a masterpiece it is. There’s a Vivid Black option which looks good as well, but the grey bike won us over.
The panniers aren’t huge, but they sit tight into the bike and are up fairly high. They’re also nicely made and well thought out, right down to the dampers which stop the lids crashing open when the catch is released, the red ‘flags’ which stay raised to show the rider if they’re not locked in place, and that they can be removed or replaced with a flick of the wrist. Capacity isn’t huge, but it’s plenty for an overnighter or, if you’re chasing a little of the ‘badass’ culture and don’t mind going commando, maybe a few days. There was no pillion seat, pillion ‘pegs or rack on our ride bike, but they’re available from H-D, along with a huge swag of other accessories, including a stereo-rig – which Bluetooths up to a phone – purpose-built to slot seamlessly into the fairing.
We found the ergos on the Low Rider ST a little strange to start with. The bike uses what Harley calls ‘mid’ controls. The rider’s feet aren’t well forward on straight legs in the classic chopper stance, and they’re not jammed up the rider’s bum on flexed knees like a sports bike. They’re in between somewhere, and it initially felt our knees were up in the air a tad. The feeling didn’t last long. Before we’d made it onto the nearby freeway and set the cruise control for the legal limit we were already settling back into the H-D h-d (Harley-Davison heavy-duty) comfort. As the sun rose over the Pacific and we scooted along in the cool, salty, morning air we loved the shelter of the fairing and couldn’t imagine any better place for our knees to be.
The ’bars are actually a little higher than we expected too, but they felt great.
All about the ride
You can look up all the specs and technical information at harley-davidson.com.au if that’s what blows your skirt up, but no matter what the facts and figures say, it’s the riding experience that makes the Low Rider ST such a magnificent bike. That whopping V-twin punches out gobs of torque and horsepower and is kept amazingly controllable by whatever ignition curve it is Harley decided on. But at the same time, the thing will seriously cut loose with a little right-wrist action. The bike’s slim design and excellent geometry mean the thing can be ridden with serious aggression, but when things mellow out, hitting the cruise control and letting it lump along towards a sunset on the other side of the country is bliss.
On the emotional side of things, the big, pulsing, V-twin has a long-legged cruising pace which demolishes huge ribbons of freeway, seemingly between power pulses, and that just feels damn good. So does the way it slams into gear. Not like a featherweight multicylinder race bike hoping to make it through 40 minutes at the redline before needing a piston change, but like a big, beautiful machine that’ll still be rolling the Earth long after Skynet and Judgement Day have been and gone. Brakes, clutch, handling all the mechanical systems are excellent, as is the small instrument display on the handlebar clamp which is, in fact, very easy to read and just inside the rider’s eyeline.
There’s no need to daydream. Get hold of a 2022 Low Rider ST and make the dream come true.
Harley-Davidson FXLRST Low Rider ST
Engine: Milwaukee-Eight 117
Weight in running order: 327kg
Final drive: belt 32/66 ratio
Engine torque: 169Nm
Engine power: 103hp @ 4750rpm
Rec retail: From $35,250