Harley-Davidson Takes The Wraps Off The Sportster Roadster

Few months ago, Harley-Davidson had launched an all new- range of Dark Custom motorcycles, which included the Street 750 and the Iron 883. Continuing in the same vein, the American motorcycle manufacturer has now revealed the Roadster, which carries a minimalistic, fastback styling that harks back to the golden era of classic racing motorcycles of the 1950s. Stripped bare, small fuel tanks and really short fenders were the flavour of the day back then, when it came to drag racing. The Harley-Davidson Roadster will definitely take you back to that era.

The mechanicals include a 1,200cc V-twin engine that pumps out 103Nm at 3,750rpm which also does duty on the Forty-Eight and the 1200 Custom. The engine has been blacked out completely, which makes for solid street presence. The Harley-Davidson Roadster is shod with a fat 19-inch tyre upfront and an 18-inch one at the rear. Owing to the racing heritage that was kept in mind while designing the motorcycle, the handlebar is low and the fenders cut rather short, almost scrambler-esque. The footpegs too are centred so as to help with mid-mass centralisation. There is a change in the steering geometry as well, with the steering rake now being at 28.9 degrees, (1.1 degrees more than that of the 1200 Custom on which it is based). Upfront are 43mm USD forks with tri-rate springs and at the rear are two gas-charged coil over shock units which are adjustable for pre-load. Point being, the Roadster has a travel of over 114mm at the front and over 81mm of travel at the rear. If you want to drop the anchor in a jiffy then the 300mm floating discs up front will do the job for you. ABS is optional though.

The Roadster gets an instrument cluster tucked into the triple clamp which is 4-inch in diameter. It has an analogue tachometer along with a digital speedometer. Harley-Davidson will bring it to India in the festive period towards the end of September and expect the prices to be somewhere in the region of Rs 9-10 lakh. The Harley-Davidson Roadster will be available in a choice of four colours schemes which are Vivid Black with a charcoal denim pinstripe; Black Denim with a red pinstripe; Velocity Red Sunglo with a red pinstripe; and two-tone Billet Silver/Vivid Black with a burgundy pinstripe.