by Mark Appleton
Leather waistcoats at the ready, tassels steady, goaty beards are go…was what I assumed about Harley’s, as I suspect most of you do as well. It’s an image that Harley has been working had to get rid of. Well that’s not strictly speaking true, they know they need to entice younger riders but at the same time they have come to realise they shouldn’t alienate their existing customer base.
The 2013 Harley-Davidson range sees a few new bikes and a few updates. We have three 883′s with the: Iron, Superlow and Roadster. We then have five 1200′s: Forty-Eight, Seventy-Two, 1200 Custom C, 1200 Custom B and the 1200 Custom A.
You then move up to the Dyna family with the: Street Bob, Super Glide, Fat Bob, Wide Glide and Switchback. Or perhaps a Softail? Then you have a choice of: Slim, Deluxe, Fat Boy, Fat Boy Special or Heritage.
Maybe you want to go touring? Then choose from: Road King Classic, Street Glide, Ultra Classic Electra Glide and Electra Glide Ultra-Limited. Or you’ve two V-Rod’s to choose from with the Night Rod Special and Muscle.
Still undecided? Let’s make it even more difficult then by throwing in six 110th Anniversary Editions: 1200 C Custom, FLSTC Heritage Softail Classic, FXDC Super Glide Custom, FLHR Road King, FLSTFB Fat Boy Special or the FLHTK 110th. No joy? How about a further four CVO (Custom Vehicle Operations) bikes? These are ‘pre-custom’ custom bikes from Harley and include the all new CVO Breakout.
And if non of those take your fancy you can have one of the 110th Anniversary CVO bikes: Road King, Road Glide and Ultra Classic Electra Glide. Phew! That’s a lot of choices from just one manufacturer and it doesn’t stop there as most Harley purchases will then go on to spend a further £5k, £10k, £15k on their bike to make it unique. Some more successfully than others!
So what do you get with all these new machines? Well, the 110th Anniversary models have:
- Two-tone paint
- Contrasting seat panels
- 110th Anniversary serialised badging
- Floating pin stripe pattern
- ‘Single wing’ 110th tank badge with insert
- New timer and derby covers, A/C inserts
- Most models have wheel upgrades
- 110th Tour-Pak medallion
The Street Bob refresh sees a new seat cover, new paint and graphics, new console with ignition switch, isolated risers, gloss black front end and a new battery box cover. The XL1200C has drag style handlebars, 5-spoke black machined wheels and, perhaps most radically, mid-mount pegs.
The XL1200B goes for a black engine finish, black denim paint, mini-ape bars and black laced wheels. Can you guess what the B stands for now?
There’s a new range of colours available for the Seventy-Two, Forty-Eight, Street Bob and Deluxe which is known as ‘Hard Candy’. This is a paint that is apparently very time consuming and involves layering flakes of paint on top of each other and smoothing it out each time. The results looks pretty cool and has names like Big Red, Coloma Gold and Lucky Green.
The Street Glide has had a suspension upgrade for 2013 which allows for hand-turned adjustment and improves rider comfort. Meanwhile the Fat Bob and Wide Glide get an engine upgrade with the old 96 engine getting replaced with the 103 for more power and torque.
Prices for the Sportster’s range from £6,695 to £9,345. Dyna’s range from £10,495 to 13,995. Softail’s are £14,695 to £17,045. Tourers: £17,395 to £21,845. V-Rod’s: £13,495 to 14,645. Anniversary models: £9,495 to £22,995. CVO’s: £21,495 to £29,995 with the CVO Anniversary editions topping out at a whopping £30,095.
