This has been a great post, lots o laughs and info.
At the outset of this post I just want to clarify the following, I don’t work for Harley Davidson and after reading the vitriolic comments regarding the Mocos engineers etc I would not want to.
So..... I finally got a test ride on the FXDR!
Not really a test ride though. Not a sprint around town, or a 10 minute buzz up and down the highway.
Rocky Harley Davidson let me take it on the "Shop Ride" last Saturday and I put 300 k's on that bad boy!!
For fair evaluation, here's what the bike had already in the way of mods.....
Bassani SS 2-1 pipe
Improved Cam (I have not asked the details of this, but pretty sure it's SE stuff)
A can tune - not sure which one, but not a full dyno tune (yet)
Healtech iQSE-1 Quickshifter
That's it. Stock tyres. Stock handlebars. Stock seat. Stock suspension.
The chosen route sounded good, as it included a nearby small mountain, so the twisties were in the recipe :)
First impression - ergonomics are ideally suited to a full size rider. I am only 170cm and 63kgs.
The seat height was good enough to get me flat footed, but only just. Not as tall as my V-Max, but sure as hell not on the ground like my Breakout.
The bars felt good, until I started cruising around town. With my arse planted at the back of the seat, I did feel a little hunkered over to the bars. This however would be different for a bloke with slightly longer arms. In fact, I scooted a couple inches forward in the saddle and then the bars felt great. Nearly an upright position. This also reduced the stretch to reach the forward controls.
Low end grunt in town was great! The motor of course sounds different than my Twin Cam 103, but it still sounded damn good.
The tyres, chassis and brakes worked great and were very well balanced. The 240 rear tyre is not really a limitation at all. The bike has a narrow primary cover and heaps of chassis to ground clearance, so you can use the whole tyre quite easily without dragging anything!
Cruising straight down the open highway was nothing special, and the ride position would need a few mods to suit my small frame.
The gearing may be a little lower on the FXDR, as the rpms sounded like they were a bit high at 100kph.
Then we got to the twisties. As soon as I dove into the first corner at 70-90kph, the thing really came to life! The motor has enough grunt to stay in top gear for any mountain shredding. If you were really under 60kph you could drop to 5th, but if you whacked the throttle, you would be quickshifting in the next couple seconds.
The hunkered over riding position melted away as soon as I started to push it through the corners. The bike was easy to force into the corners and the suspension really balanced the load and tracked true. I have done road-race track days on Sportbikes, and if there was a track around here I would be able to embarrass some kiddos on crotchrockets with this thing! Will it outperform a GSXR1000?....NO, but will it outperform any other stock Harley?....duh, Hell Yes!
My Breakout has Carbon Fibre wheels, Galfer brake rotors, fully adjustable cartridge fork internals and a 260 on the rear. It may well be the best handling BO on the planet once I get the Shotguns on it. However, the FXDR would need nothing to blow my BO away.
Later in the ride we came to a miserable stretch of road. It was bumpy as HELL. Everybody on the ride was copping a beating - myself included. It was easy to adjust the rear pre-load whilst riding the bike, and it did make some improvement, but this road was just brutal. I reckon the suspension is ideal for a 100-120kg rider, not my scrawny arse :)
Of course, a proper set of springs, oil, etc and it could be set up for anybody.
Am I trading my BO in??? No, not just yet. I still have a few plans for my BO :)
If I were buying a new bike tomorrow, I would likely pick the FXDR over the BO, especially if I lived in a hilly area.
The motor and wheelbase on the FXDR just scream "Drag Race" to me, and I would love to make some easy low-11 second passes on this thing :)
Looks.....well, yes, it obviously has a Ducati look-alike arse end. It does look kinda like a bastard child. I have a V-Max, so I know what kinda people are attracted to that kinda stuff LOL.
But...it looks purpose built for speed, and it delivers as promised.
I reckon if a guy wanted to tour on it you could put whatever gear you wanted on it to accommodate. The tail tidy is already coming, so looks will be greatly improved in the arse end.
Fuel mileage was damn decent for being hot-rodded for a few hours. I went through basically a full tank of petrol in 300 hard ridden kilometres. My Stage 1 103" would use more fuel.
I didn't rev the guts out of the FXDR, as it never seemed to need it - at all. They tell me the cam in it is good for upper rpms. Once she's a little more broke in, perhaps I'll get on again and stretch her legs some more.
If you're even remotely thinking about getting one, arrange for a proper ride that will take you to the curves where you can feel what it was built for. If it feels or sound a bit ordinary from being BONE stock, remember - they are ALL like that until you throw a few goodies at them. It will liven up for sure - I promise.
Thanks again to Rocky Harley for letting me unleash the beast for an arvo! Much appreciated :)
They’re still made in the USA.
Best looking FXDR I have seen yet, here: https://www.hotbikeweb.com/thunderbike-customizes-2019-harley-fxdr-114
Total piece of crap....Its supposed to be Harley not Honda.
Did you ride one mate or just venting?
The article says it has indicators, really tiny little ones that may or may not be legal ;)
