If nothing else, Harley-Davidson is all about continuity. The iconic American manufacturer has been pumping out air-cooled V-Twin bikes for over 100 years. Of course, there have been changes and refinements along the way, but the basic recipe has remained the same: big motorcycles, with lots of flash and an engine note that is unmistakable.
And none represent the Harley "thing" more vividly than the Heritage Softail, or FLSTC. You've got your minimalist Sportsters, fairing-equipped ElectraGluides, rubber-mounted Dyna models, and liquid-cooled V-Rods, but the FLSTC still looks like it just roared out of the 1950s, even though it actually debuted in 1985.
That's because it was styled after the FL Hydra-Glide, which first hit the asphalt in 1949. Sixty years ago, the FL line represented the ultimate in long distance touring and the HydraGlide arguably set the stage for every other "big" Harley that's ever come out of the plant in Milwaukee.
Nowadays, the FLSTC is still propelled by an air-cooled V-twin engine, now known as the 88B, or Twin Cam powerplant. But it's substantially more sophisticated than its predecessor. Among other things, it has sequential fuel injection, a pair of engine counter-balancers, two camshafts, and a displacement of 1584 cc. Power is in the 65 hp range, and torque is 86 foot pounds at 3200 rpm. Those that argue about these things claim that torque is much more relevant than horsepower, and indeed, the horsepower output for an engine of this size is pretty low on the scale. Even Harley's old funky Shovelhead engine had similar horsepower numbers, and most of Harley's competitors have similar models with considerably more oomph. Yamaha's XV1900, for example, is good for at least 100 horses, albeit with some 270 cc more displacement, and is undoubtedly a quicker bike.
Except when it comes to off-the-line takeoff power. This is where Harley's V-twin excels, in my opinion. Always has. Even the old discontinued Evo engine has all kinds of bottom end grunt and law enforcement personnel tend to prefer Harleys because of their ability to dash away from a dead stop. In terms of high-end cruising prowess, the FLTSC won't keep up with the fairing-equipped models coming out of Honda, BMW and others, but it's still a decent long distance motorcycle and will happily cruise at highway speeds all day.
Transmission is a six-speed and sixth is essentially an overdrive. If you're clipping along at, oh, 130 km/h and need a handful, you'll probably have to kick it down into fifth if you're really serious. An almost invisible little "6 lights up on the speedometer nacelle when you actually get into top gear, and the shift linkage itself is the best in the industry. Smooth, precise, easy-to-find neutral. Buyers of this kind of bike tend to expect a shifter that makes a bit of noise going into gear, but the FLSTC is bound to disappoint, because it may be the best designed mechanism of its kind. Harley will be the first to tell you that it has spent millions refining its transmissions and there simply isn't a better set-up in this segment of the market.
The FLSTC has more wind turbulence than dedicated touring models, such as the ElectraGlide, due to the lack of bodywork, and is about as close to the old school touring experience of the 1950s and ‘60s as you can get. Thanks to the "Twin Cam" engine, however, it's considerably smoother. Like its forebears and all Softail models, the FLTSC is rigid-mounted.....no rubber between the motor and frame, in other words, and the ride is surprisingly civilized, all things considered. The two camshafts do an outstanding job of smoothing everything out, and, at idle, the FLSTC doesn't bounce around like most of its stablemates. To me, it's a nice marriage of up-to-date technology and old school character. Brakes are a single four-piston disc up front and single two-piston disc in back.
Elsewhere, the FLSTC comes with leather soft bags, foldaway footboards, a passenger pillion with backrest, and a quick detachable windscreen. This last feature is tres cool and you can literally snap the windscreen on or off in seconds. I find the windscreen a little on the tall side and tend to look through it, as opposed to over it when I ride this bike, but Harley does offer a smaller windscreen as an accessory.
I should also mention that Harley seems to have de-bugged the fuel injection set-up on all their bikes. When it first became standard equipment a few years back, there were some issues with jerkiness, top-end power, and transitional power, but I could detect no irregularities, and acceleration is smooth and linear, in all rpms. For what it's worth, fuel consumption for this model is 6.7 L/100 km in town and 4.4 L/100km on the highway. For all its heft, the FLSTC is still a comparatively thrifty way to get from A to B.
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