2005 Harley-Davidson Softail Deluxe
2005 Harley-Davidson Softail Deluxe
CYCLE WORLD TEST
How low can Harley go?
STEVE ANDERSON
WILLIE G. DAVIDSON AND RIGHT-HAND styling man Louie Netz live in a time warp, the real-world version of a Bruce McCall illustration. It’s a world where the 1940s aren’t over, where Raymond Lowery is still designing streamline moderne radios, and where motorcycles embrace chrome, flowing fenders and two-tone paint schemes.
Of course, just like a McCall cartoon, there’s also something askew. The motorcycles that Harley’s styling department designs are replete with touches from that bygone era, but they’re contemporary at the same time. Park a current Softail next to a genuine antique Big Twin, and you’re struck immediately by the beefiness of the current engine and primary drive, of the slickness of many details, and the robustness of the current machine compared to the almost daintiness of the old.
The latest machine to emerge from this land of dreams is the FLSTN/I Softail Deluxe, a nostalgia bomb aimed at motorcyclists who were still damp with amniotic fluid when its lookalike ancestors first roamed the roads. The design inspiration is clearly Hydra Glide, the first Harley touring machine to move away from a girder fork. Just look at that big front end with tapered covers, the hardtail lines of the Softail rear suspension, the classic Harley touring bike nacelled headlight with twin driving lamps, and the rear seat that mimics the sprung saddle of the 1940s original. But what really separates the Deluxe from all previous production Harleys is a seat height that reaches down into Dan Gurney Alligator territory: It places a seated 180pound rider just 24.5 inches above the ground.
That seat height, amazingly enough, was achieved with the standard 4.3 inches of rear suspension that’s almost uniform across the Softail line. The engineers did chop front travel by half an inch to 5.1 inches, but mostly they lowered the frame in the area of the seat using a trick similar to one employed previously to lower Dyna seat height: thin sheetmetal fabrications replace thicker tubular frame rails under the saddle.
The low seat height transforms the Deluxe. First, the good news: A 5-foot-6-inch rider can sit astride the FLSTN and place both feet flat on the ground. You don’t even have to be that tall to feel comfortable on the machine; a 5-foot-2 rider can readily balance the bike, feeling more comfortable on it than any Big Twin before. If there was ever a machine that will expand Harley’s female market, this is it.
The downside? It’s just what you might expect. A motorcycle that fits shorter riders so well is a tight fit for those 6feet or taller. A 6-footer goes down the road with his knees above his hips, his lower leg at a roughly 90-degree angle to his thigh. To really stretch his legs out, he has to place his heels all the way out on the front end of the floorboards, well past the controls. Similarly, the sweptback handlebar comes close to a tall rider, leaning him back from a vertical position. It’s not so much that the Deluxe is uncomfortable for a big rider, it’s just that it’s far from optimum. We suspect the long-limbed will look for a better-fitting bike, or add a different handlebar (and perhaps a windshield) to tailor the Deluxe closer to his needs.
As with all Softails, the FLSTN comes with the Beta version of the Twin Cam engine. The B-model distinguishes itself with twin counter-rotating balancers that smooth the normal 45-degree V-Twin quaking and shaking right out, leaving the engine smooth enough to mount solidly in the Softail frame, with none of those rubber mounts as on Dynas and FLs. The difference is dramatic. Rubber engine mounting does an excellent job of isolating the vibration from Harley’s unbalanced Twin Cam Alpha at road speeds, but at the cost of amplified vibration and engine movement in the frame at idle. In contrast, the Deluxe’s air-cooled, fuel-injected 1450cc powerplant starts immediately and falls into an idle that elicits instant comments on its smoothness. At the lowest engine speeds, no other Harleys have less vibration than the Betaequipped bikes. Head the machine down the road, get it up to interstate speed in top gear, and you feel an engine underneath you. It hums, it rumbles, it lets you know of each and every firing impulse, but all that really nasty electric shaking that made you never want to take an old, unbalanced Softail above 55 mph is gone, killed by the balancers. The Beta Twin Cam is a good engine, as this Deluxe again reminds.
Of course, with the 1450cc version of the Beta, and weighing in at 696 pounds, the Deluxe is not the fastest Harley, either. Peak horsepower comes in at 62 at 5250 rpm, while peak torque is a solid 70 foot-pounds at 3500 rpm. That’s enough to propel the Deluxe through a quarter-mile in 14.18 seconds at 93 mph, which might seem a little slow in a world that’s brimming with cruisers displacing 100 cubic inches or more from Honda, Kawasaki, Victory and Yamaha.
If that bothers you, help is available in the form of a 1550cc kit (have it installed by your dealer and keep your warranty), or better yet, the new 1690cc factory stroker kit. Many riders may never bother, because in stock form the engine responds so smoothly, has so much low-down torque and its fuel-injection “carburetes” so well that, for them, stock may be best.
Benefiting from the updated shift mechanism introduced to Big Twins several years ago, the gearbox shifts smoothly.
Harley-Davidson
Softail Deluxe
Clutch effort is slightly on the heavy side, particularly as some of the audience for this bike will by definition not possess a “manly” grip. Harley has a nice solution for that in the hydraulic clutch mechanism fitted to some Screamin’ Eagle CVO machines. It’s about time to stop making that part an accessory and fit it as standard equipment across the line. Or is there someone out there who actually enjoys a heavy clutch?
Similarly, the single front disc brake stops the Deluxe adequately, but requires more effort than that of recent twin-disc Harleys. A four-fingered squeeze is required to hold the front tire near lockup, a regression from the lighter control efforts we’ve come to expect from recent Motor Company products.
Ride quality on the Deluxe is reasonable despite the shortened travel, and assisted by big 16-inch tires at both ends. The Deluxe seemingly crushes small pavement irregularities into nothingness, while a real pothole will hammer the rear suspension (and the rider’s back). It’s not a bike designed to handle frost-heaved backroads, but will cope if you ask it. Cornering is secure to a point-the point being when hard parts on the sides begin scraping. Lean angle on either side is limited to just 28 degrees-a little less than required to comer at 0.5 lateral gs. In comparison, a Softail Deuce will lean up to 37 degrees on the right side, while a sportbike, such as Wisconsin’s own Buell XB series, will lean almost 45 degrees on either side. No, the Deluxe is not about going around comers quickly. Instead, it’s about the sure and stable feel it provides, and its complete lack of nervousness when cruising down the highway. Again, this is a machine from a dream, and that dream is about appearance and cruising, not speed.
Functional concerns fade farther into the background the more time you spend just looking at the detailing on this latest Softail. The crystal-clear headlight and driving-light lenses are new this year (and shared with other Softails), giving the front of the Deluxe an almost bejeweled look. The bar supporting those auxiliary lights is particularly smooth and elegant, as is a similar part carrying the rear tumsignals. The sculpted headlight nacelle is unique to the Deluxe, as are new cloisonné gas-tank badges. The seat has checkered sidepanels in real leather, and the little chrome luggage rack extending out over the rear fender is so thin and streamlined that you almost wonder what it could carry. The domed, brakeless side of the front hub almost harks back to dmm brakes, while the optional “Profile” rims ($275) arc from one white sidewall to the other in a near-perfect curve-at the press intro,
Netz couldn’t help showing the same kind of pride over the rims as a father for his newborn child. Even the speedometer is a period piece, its 10-mph divisions marked by a single digit: 1 for 10, 2 for 20, and so on, all in a script that could have been on the menu in a diner scene from a Humphrey Bogart movie.
No, the Softail Deluxe is not a motorcycle about speed, or power or performance bragging rights. It represents a more pacific view of motorcycling, one where details of aesthetic design are labored over with the same intensity that some companies reserve for enhancing engine performance. It’s a motorcycle that takes you back to a kinder, gentler time, a time that never fully existed except in our imaginations. As such, the Deluxe isn’t merely a motorcycle; it’s a magic carpet ready to fly you into Willie G.’s dreams.
H-D SOFTAIL DELUXE
$17,780
EDITORS' NOTES
As A 6-FOOTER WHO’S RIDDEN LITERALLY thousands of motorcycles, I’ve come to a solid and personal conclusion about lowered seat heights: Please don’t. Hey, I realize that being able to touch the ground is important to those of you with shorter inseams; I do appreciate that. There have been a few very tall and top-heavy adventure-touring bikes that have driven that point home. But bikes that were originally designed for a near-6-foot rider that then have their seats lowered are almost always cramped. As an example, Harley’s Road Kings became less comfortable for me over the years as The Motor Company chopped their seat heights without moving floorboards and handlebars accordingly.
With the Softail Deluxe, Harley has gone to considerable effort to scale the riding position to the machine’s very low seat heigh t-you couldn’t move the floorboards lower or farther forward, for example. But it’s still sized for a smaller rider than me. Next time, guys, if you make it lower, make it longer.
-Steve Anderson, Contributing Editor
THIS IS THE SMALLEST BIG TWIN HARLEY I’ve come across, which believe you me is no bad thing. Actually, it’s a brilliant marketing move on the part of The Motor Company. This, despite the fact that at 6-foot-2, I’m too long of arm and leg to fit comfortably on the bike for any extended period of time. That’s because the Softail Deluxe wasn’t intended for me-or you, if you buy your T-shirts and jeans at Big & Tall stores. This is a bike for the other end of the size spectrum, shorter riders and lessexperienced folk who previously only felt at ease flat-footing Hugger Sportsters.
Thing is, the Deluxe is a bike I could see myself owning. I’ve always liked the way Softails looked, particularly the retro-sty led models. And when the counterbalanced Twin Cam 88B was rolled out a few years back, my biggest gripe-ride-ruining engine vibration-was exorcised forever. Guess I’ll just have to wait for the Plus Size version...
-Matthew Miles, Managing Editor
To THE NAYSAYERS IN THE AUDIENCE, the anti-Milwaukee types who just don’t “get” Harley-Davidsons, I say do yourself a favor. When the factory demo fleet comes to town, check your sensibilities at the sign-up booth and treat yourself to a little ride, preferably on a fuel-injected, counterbalanced Twin Cammer like the Softail Deluxe. You’ll be impressed by how the motor springs to life, warms quickly and is soon ready to chug away. Note that you do not feel fully 90 percent of the big 45-degree Vee’s primary imbalance. Parts are not jettisoned along the roadside; the bike does not mark its territory by piddling 20w50 at every stop sign.
Still not convinced? Don’t make me play the resale-value card. While the Kelly Blue Book’s suggested retail price for used 2002 heavyweight retro-cruisers from the Big Four shows an average $3000 devaluation from their MSRP, an ’02 Fat Boy is valued at $16,900, a paltry $80 less than it stickered for originally. That’s almost like riding two years for free. -David Edwards, Editor-in-Chief
