i
am fortunate in that I get to ride a lot of different motorcycles and when I’m traveling, especially to LA, I always try to get on a new bike. I was going to make a visit to Arch Motorcycle and go to Chopperfest, and there is no better way to get around LA then on two wheels, so I contacted Harley. I knew that after all the bikes that we have ridden over the last 12 months it made sense to review the least expensive big twin Harley has to offer, the 2019 Street Bob. I arrived in LA early on a Friday morning and took an Uber to the Harley fleet center. Alan, who runs the fleet center, has always been great at making sure bikes are ready to go. After only 5 minutes of paperwork, I was standing in front of the Red Denim 2019 Street Bob admiring its styling and aesthetic. As I straddled the big twin, I was struck by the comparative comfort of the solo seat. The foot controls were set slightly forward and mini-ape hangers complimented the natural
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riding position. I always look at comfort first, because if it isn’t comfortable, really nothing else matters. It can be the coolest looking two-wheeled rocket, and if it isn’t comfortable, well it’s going to be hard to convince me to look at it objectively. The caveat is that there are purpose-built bikes that are just meant to go fast, and comfort is a secondary concern, we don’t ride too many of those at Cycle Source, but we get the reasoning behind them. The Street Bob is one of the Milwaukee Eight Softails that used to be on the Dyna platform. Chris and I have debated, on our weekly news show, Shop Talk (Live on Facebook every Thursday at 9 PM EST and also on iTunes, etc. under 4Ever2Wheels) if it made sense to go with the Softail moniker over the Dyna, considering the resurgence and passion for Dynas these days. The Softail naming system has been around since 1990 and has a lot more history than Dyna, so, from a historical standpoint, merging them under the Softail name made sense. If you look at the 2016 Street Bob you will notice exterior
