Harley-Davidson Fat Boy in the driving report

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Harley-Davidson Fat Boy (2018) in the driving report

Successor to the Terminator bike

The Softail series has reinvented itself, has become modern, but still thoroughly Harley-typical. We got the chance to try out one of the new models, the Harley-Davidson Fat Boy.

W.If he doesn’t really deal intensively with the topic of Harley-Davidson, the question quickly arises in view of the completely redeveloped 2018 Softail family, consisting of eight (or maybe nine?) Models: What do they have in Milwaukee all the time made? Everything looks like it always does! And would be as right as he would be wrong. On the one hand, a Harley, regardless of which model series and which year of manufacture, can be recognized as such by laypeople from afar. And on the other hand, the Americans have mastered it like no other brand, their huge construction kit of wheels, forks, tanks, handlebars, benches, instruments, cladding, exhausts, not to mention colors, in always new combinations. And to market them under new or well-known names. Confusion cannot always be avoided.

Harley-Davidson Fat Boy (2018) in the driving report

Successor to the Terminator bike

Dyna models no longer in the range

The backbone of ALL new Softail models, in the truest sense of the word, is the newly developed frame with a hidden central rear shock absorber. It also replaces the Dyna models recognizable by the stereo struts. The steel structure is up to eight kilograms lighter, significantly more torsion-resistant and much easier to manufacture than the two previous frames.

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This side view gives the true sizes, i.e. widths of the 160s or 160s that determine the character. 240 tires not really again.

Like the other new Softails, the Harley-Davidson Fat Boy is fired as standard by the Milwaukee-Eight large-piston engine with 107 cubic inches (CU), which has been known since the 2017 model year, or 1,745 centimeters to the power of three. If that’s not enough, you can order the Fat Boy (1,500 euros), Fat Bob (1,300 euros), Breakout (1,400 euros) and Heritage Classic (1,400 euros) models with 114 CU, corresponding to 1,868 cm³, for the specified fee. These are achieved through more bore (102 instead of 100 mm) and more stroke (114.3 instead of 111.1 mm) and generate 94 hp and 155 Nm instead of 87 and 145.

Tire dimension not ideal

The Harley-Davidson Fat Boy is best known from the movie "Judgment Day", better known in this country as "Terminator 2" from 1991. It was moved with great commitment by the human machine T-1000, embodied by the later governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. While he or his stunt double only had to maneuver 49 horses, 84 Nm and tires of the comparatively narrow MT 90 S 16 format through straight water channels in 1991, today around twice as much power has to be tamed. So far, no problem, if the fat child weren’t standing on 160 / 60-18 tires in the front and 240 / 40-18 in the back. What is cool in front of the ice cream parlor and doesn’t matter in the Luneburg Heath, optionally in Texas, grows into a real job creation program in the mountains.

Harley-davidson

All eight models in the new Softail range.

The Harley-Davidson Fat Boy willingly masters inclines in the single-digit range, above which it demands vigorous pressure on the protruding handlebars. If there are bumps in bends, the need to brake or both at the same time, every quick cornering is a challenge. Even the experienced driver is amazed at the lines discovered by the vehicle. Fat boy and curves don’t really go together. With the other Softails, it does.

Chopper / cruiser

Harley-Davidson Softail models 2018 in the driving report

Four in one go

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