LAUNCH
Stuart is wearing a Shoei J.O open
face, Ugly Fish sunnies, Segura
Retro jacket, Ixon HP Pro 2 Contest
gloves, Draggin Next Gen jeans and
Sidi Way Mega Rain boots.H
arley-Davidson has roots in dirt
track racing going back many years,
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with a number of models over the years
which have tried to take on a sporty
nature. The XR1200 could really have
taken H-D into the sports world if they
had pushed the design further. Now,
H-D has released the Roadster; intended
to be a sportier cruiser for those who
want a bit of a mix of essentially cruiser,
yet with decent handling and braking
power. That’s what the Roadster offers.
For the Australian launch we set off
from the centre of Canberra, riding past
the pollies giving them the bird and then
setting off for the hills to give the quite
wide footpegs a workout.
Powering the Roadster is the 1200cc
rubber mounted Evolution engine,
which performs just nicely for its size.
But the two main changes to this model
that allow it to handle better, far and
above any other H-D Sportster, are
the premium emulsion technology
rear shocks with screw-style preload
adjustment, and the 43mm inverted
front forks with premium cartridge
dampening technology and a special
triple clamp design. To complete this
package the steering geometry has been
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to assist with fast turn in and overall
handling, a set of lightweight, offset-
split 5-spoke cast aluminium wheels
have been added. I quite like their
offbeat look, yet from a distance
they look just like a normal set of
10-spoked wheels.
Handling is just as H-D had intended.
The Roadster can be ridden with
gusto but you’ll need to remove the
“hero-blobs” and then wear down the
footpegs to get to the point where they
no longer touch down so easily. A day
of spirited riding through your favourite
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To stop all this fun, the single disc
front of a ‘normal’ Sportster just wasn’t