I almost gave you the benefit of the doubt but decided to take a closer look. lol Doesn't look like a feet forward position to me. I think we can agree that the Kawasaki Concours is no doubt a sport tourer. Compare the photos of the 1600 B and the Concours. Both bikes share practically identical ergonomics. The BMW has floor boards but they are so far away from the controls I would consider their function to be like highway pegs/bars. I can see how the floor board would provide some comfort on long stretches of highway with no traffic but if someone is riding on more congested roads, though town, or carving through some country roads, their feet will have to be in the traditional sport position to be able to shift and brake. Conclusion: BMW K 1600 B = Sport Tourer with highway boards. You almost had me there. lol

 

Went to the demo day at the Pilgrim Rd plant. Here's my impressions. Just my opinion. I posted this on a board that allows swearing so hence the asterisks.

Heritage 114 - First one I took out so I had to acclimate to the layout. Not a bad bike overall. I actually like the way it looks except for the seat and saddlebags which smack of cheap JC Whitney crap. The seat felt fine. None of the Softails are made for someone my size (6-4/220) but this is as good as it got. The old Heritage fits me much better. The controls are laid out nicely. Everything is in a logical location and it all works well.The gauges, which are on the gas tank, are a joke. Digital tach readout is minuscule and worthless. The analog speedometer is well out of line of sight when riding which is a pain in the ***. Out on the road the increase in torque is immediately evident. This bike is much, much faster than any heritage (or any Softail for that matter) I have ridden. The Softails are now as fast as they need to be and what one should expect from a motorcycle. Anything more would be wasted on a cruiser. As mentioned, the ride quality was okay. Not great, not bad. Much like the outgoing Dyna. I will say it handles much lighter than the old Softail. One might even say it handles pretty well. The small windshield was effective. I liked it. The brakes, despite being single disk up front worked very well. Modulation was excellent and stopping power on par with any modern bike short of a performance bike. The bike shifts very nicely. I hammered this sucker pretty hard and speed shifts went off without drama - nice and smooth. I brought the bike back looking forward to trying the rest.

Fat Boy 114 - This bike blows chow. It just ****ing sucks. One might think it would be very similar to the Heritage. It is in the sense that someone took the Heritage and made it suck. Really bad. Why? The suspension. Or more specifically, the wheels. That absurdly large rear tire mounted to a solid aluminum disk destroys the ride and handling. It's harsh! I was unwinding the **** out of the preload **** 2 blocks into the ride to no avail. The on the fly adjustment **** is very easy to get at and adjust, yes, on the fly. But it didn't seem to do much. They sacrificed any semblance of ride quality to the alter of cool. And it also affects the handling. Turn in was sluggish at best. I really had to muscle that bitch into a corner. The seat didn't help matters. It sucked too. Of course the bike moved out the same as the Heritage I rode - plenty fast for a Harley. I had the opportunity to line up at a stoplight with some guy on a Sportster Roadster. I figured I would hammer it and get him to take chase, which he did. We ran about even - more on that later. On the highway it took suckyness to a whole new level. No cruise - Boo! Here in Milwaukee we have expansion joints that are much like speed bumps. Short of riding a long travel adventure bike, you're going to feel it to varying degrees. This was like a jack hammer to the spine. I know damn well the rear tire came off the road. And my *** definitely left the seat. On the last leg there's a few corners to take. I took them at casual 1971 BMW corner speed and I ground the **** out of the floorboards. **** this bike. I couldn't wait to get off it. I pulled in and the check in guy asked how I liked it. Not wanting to be a dick I just said "It was really something!" and left it at that.

Fat Bob 107 - After the Fat Boy I just wanted to leave. But I figured I should at least ride the one bike everyone is raving about. So I got back in line and signed up for "the 1st available bike". I didn't care if it was 107 or 114. And there I sat for an hour. It was the one everyone wanted to ride so there was a wait. I ended up on a 107, which was nice because it gave me a chance to compare motors. And you know what? I couldn't really tell a difference. As far as the bike, it fell somewhere between the Heritage and the Fat Boy. It's ride was right in between the two - not great, but not super bad. The seat sucked, but not as bad as the Fat Boy seat. The gauges were the reverse of the Heritage in that the tach was the big analog gauge and the tiny led readout was the speedometer - again - worthless. The bars were some attempt at looking like a Pro Taper bar, but they were adjusted all wrong - tilted too far up making the wrist angle awkward. It would be fine once adjusted. Brakes - excellent. Handling - not bad. The inverted fork was for show only. It's no better than the forks on the other two bikes. Much better cornering clearance than the other two. I could see why this is Harley's poster child for the new line. It is clearly an attempt to market to people who aren't "Harley" people.

Summary - Fit and finish is very good, as one would expect from Harley Davidson. The bikes are clearly marketed to/built for, smaller folks like women and malnourished Millennials. All that effort spent making the new frame was wasted. It's not great. Sure, the handling is improved over the old Softail, but the ride quality is fair at best. The Heritage does ok because it has a narrow spoked rear wheel. But anything other than that translates into a shitty ride. Handling is improved, but so what? It's a ****ing cruiser. And even at that the Fat Boy touches down WAAAAAY too early. The motor is a win in the power department. But it sends an unpleasant resonance to the rider. It just doesn't "feel" like a harley, nor does it feel like anything else. I didn't like it. By comparison, my 103 TC is much smoother cruising at 3000 RPMs. But it still feels like a Harley. The new motor felt like something was wrong with it at that speed. And the whole 107/114 thing.....wtf? They don't really feel any different. I raced that Sportster and the 114 ran about even. I raced a Street Glide on the 107 and it ran about even. I'm beginning to thing no matter what they put in a bike, they all run about the same. I'll bet that once in the power band, my 103 will run about even too. So why bother? It just doesn't seem to matter. As far as ride quality, it wasn't much better than my 1971 BMW R75/5, and handling falls well short of that bike. If I had to take one of the bikes, it would be the Heritage. it looks decent, handles and rides okay, and moves out alright. It's still too small for me, and I hate that it doesn't have cruise. But it's the best of what I rode today. If I were to compare it to another bike, I would say it's comparable to my 1983 Honda CB1000c. It's about the same weight. It goes almost as fast, handles almost as well, stops better, and rides .....well.......not as nicely as the Honda. So congratulations HD - you made a bike almost as nice as my 35 year old Honda.

 

This makes me want to look the BMW R1200GS or R1200RT even more.

 

thx for taking the time to write up your reviews/opinions...It's nice to read real world experience on them. (Good or Bad) I looked at the new bikes, but didn't ride any of them because I'm not in the market for any of those style bikes. Right now it's a touring bike for me. But also right now, nothing is making me want to part with $28K... Harley NEEDS to fix the tranny fluid migration issue before I'd even consider a new bike.

 

I like the new Fatboy but my 08 Fatboy is paid for and set up the way I want. No reason to purchase an expensive ride when I have a good ride now.

SUP

 

I've talked so much about the new Yamaha Star Venture TC that I'll do y'all a favor and just shut my piehole.

On the other hand, Yamaha has just teased a brand new bike, supposed to be revealed on 9/6. Rumor has it that it's something like the Star Venture, but without a trunk. Touring cruiser, or sporty bagger.

So, think F6B vs Goldwing, or K1600B vs K1600GT.

Should be interesting.

 

Called the dealer today. Star Venture is delayed until Dec...! I was looking forward to taking it for a test ride.

 

You're not the only one. There are hundreds of us across the US waiting for that test ride.

The pisser is that a lot of guys have already sold their current rides, and now they're stuck until December. The good news is that some glitch was discovered during manufacture, and they're going to fix it now before any bikes get shipped. Better than a recall, and way better than relying on the dealer's techs to do the fix.

Whatever it is, good call on Yamaha's part.

And, even better, if you had signed up for the pre-delivery and made your deposit, Yamaha is giving everybody a $1,000 p&a credit for your inconvenience.

Just like the MoCo always does.


BWAHAHAAAAAAAAA.

 

I have not tested the K1600 bikes, but I have read reviews that say the R1200RT actually has roomier ergos. Plus it's considerably lighter. The K bikes do have a lot more power than the boxer engine.

The Honda is still a big heavy bike. I'm not sure about the Yamaha, but it looks big too.

 

Yup, all correct. The Yamaha, with the TC option, is 963 pounds. However, it was designed, from the beginning, to have an extremely low center of gravity, and it was designed for outstanding low speed maneuverability. Guys that have ridden it say it handles like a bike 200 pounds lighter.

Among the Beemers, I'm probably leaning toward the R1200RT.