Custom – Electra Glide Ultra Limited 2014 test: techno”l”eau”gique! – Changes, real ones!

Electra Glide Ultra Limited 2014 test: techno”l”eau”gique !

Custom - Electra Glide Ultra Limited 2014 test: techno''l''eau''gique! - Changes, real ones!

The new 2014 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Ultra Limited features an all-new partially water-cooled engine, improved fairing and sophisticated multimedia equipment. Test drive of Milwaukee‘s most luxurious and comfortable Touring motorcycle.

Changes, real ones !

"Conn-nec-te"! This is the word that best describes the new 2014 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Ultra Limited. Can’t see the difference between the old and the new model, other than the colors? Normal! The Electra must remain an Electra, with all that it has represented for years: long-distance travel (read in particular our).

However, the changes are extremely numerous if we detail it more closely. But no more suspense and fans rest assured: these developments are really beneficial !

This is precisely the purpose of the Rushmore … Rushmore project? The new opus of the next James Bond? Or the Lethal Weapon? No, Rushmore is the code name given to this ambitious project which consists of improving the Touring range without altering the spirit of each of the motorcycles (read).

A word that resonates as if the boss had banged his fist on the table swearing that 2014 – which marks the 110th anniversary of the brand – had to be a "grand cru" for customers … who have precisely played a role. important role in this Rushmore project, started four years ago.

During this period, Harley Davidson did not stop collecting information from its customers, directly or indirectly, in dealerships or during major H-D events. And given the impressive number of "faithful" to the cause of the Motor Company, the hardest part was probably not to collect information but to sort it to satisfy everyone. !

Thanks to this feedback, engineers and technicians began to work on the subject to decline their work around four axes: comfort, control, interactivity and style … In total, nearly a hundred of changes distributed between these different workstations.

Water, do you want some, here is some !

The main change to this new 2014 Electra Glide is the arrival of the revolutionary "Twin-Cooled Twin Cam 103" air-water cooled engine. Note that only the Electra Ultra Classic and Ultra Limited are equipped with this partially cooled engine. by water in the Touring range: the Twin Cam 103 of the Road King Classic and the Street Glide remains faithful to the only air cooling, but a new camshaft would offer it "5%"extra torque.

Like BMW on its, Harley has taken care to very discreetly integrate its liquid cooling device on this new "Twin Cam Fleet" (the only other water-cooled engine in the range is the one developed with Porsche for the V -Rod). Precautions necessary not to shock the "purists", even if this will undoubtedly not be enough to avoid the heated debates in the bars with bikers and below !

Result: you have to be very observant to discover its presence, the cylinders retaining their characteristic fins while the radiators and the pump are carefully camouflaged in the lower fairings. Harley has thus managed to refresh (!) Its mechanics – the use of liquid cooling allows better performance while facilitating compliance with standards – without distorting its visual identity. A first tour de force performed on this majestic 1690 cc twin-cylinder !

Delicious irony of fate: it is precisely under a downpour that Site got to know this "Twin-Fleet"! Difficult conditions which nevertheless allowed us to release very positive first impressions: the Electra Glide Ultra Limited gained pep and roundness at mid-range, a gain that American engine manufacturers estimate at "7%".

In terms of torque, this gives a respectable 138 Nm available from 3750 rpm. Regarding power, however, as usual, the Motor Company does not communicate any value. But since this engine is capable of spinning the rear wheel in the wet all the way to third despite the bike’s respectable "Ultra" weight and wheelbase (397 kg empty and 1625 mm!), Most bikers will estimate the number of horses sufficient.

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