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| Survival of the Fattest Attitude. With a big A. That's what the Fat Boy is all about. There's nothing obviously sophisticated about this motorcycle, look at it, it's all about front and grunt. If Harley were able to sell 'em loud they would do.
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Sit in the low wide saddle, grab hold of the even wider bars and kiss your sensitivity goodbye. Sat bolt upright, feet planted firm on the footboards, you muscle through traffic and snarl at hapless straights. It's instant antisocial misfit, just add Fat Boy.
But
why such a strange and somewhat suspect sounding name, I mean, Fat Boy,
who thought that one up then? It has been said, incorrectly, that the
Fat Boy was named – rather xenophobically and unbelievably insensitively
– after a bomb dropped on Japan at the end of the second world war, except
that no-one dropped a Fat Boy, and no-one in their right mind would use
that event as marketing collateral. Still, it was funny: haha y'see, clever
huh ... not!
The Fat Boy was first available from dealers in 1990 and immediately became THE Harley to be seen on. If a Harley had been considered as the biking equivalent to a gold card in the eighties, the Harley-Davidson Fat Boy trumped it as the platinum. So successful has the design been that here it is now, the 2001 Fat Boy, virtually unchanged, at least stylistically, 12 years later. Oh, but believe me, it has changed. Beneath the tank is the new all singing, all dancing Twin Cam 88B. 1450ccs of usable grunt and smooth as silk. New for 2000, especially designed for Harley's solid mount Softail range, the 88B features a new balance shaft which Harley claim cancels out most of that nasty vibration. Well I say claim, but it actually does the job.
I was lucky enough to have the 2000 Fat Boy for a few weeks in the late summer last year, having had the Deuce Softail 88 for a couple of weeks a month before. That being the first Softail 88 I'd had an extensive test ride on, I was looking forward to finding out how the two bikes differed. I'd been very impressed by the 2000 Softail Deuce, and had ridden a 1998 Evo Fat Boy in 1999. This was going to be interesting:
As the Fat Boy fired up its 1450cc balanced motor, Harley's newly modded motor specifically (so far) for the Softail range, I was impressed by the complete lack of vibration. Having let it warm while I got my waterproofs on (this was last Summer after all) and blipped the throttle gently to check for a willing response before lowering myself into the generous seat. Then, swinging the huge bike easily off of its stand, I rested my left heel on the footboard, pumped in the surprisingly light but long reach clutch two or three times to free the plates, and selected first gear with a gratifying snick and fed the bike smoothly out of Harley's offices in Brackley.
First
impressions were good: The Fat Boy felt very reminiscent of the Glides
that its style so obviously apes. It felt sure footed, planted firmly
on the tarmac and I felt immediately reassured. The motor was uncannily
smooth, yet not remote from the rider. And, at the first junction a real
surprise, the brakes worked! And I don't mean 'worked' in the old Harley
roadtest parlance meaning 'eventually'. No, Harley had claimed that the
year 2000 brakes were improved, and they weren't fibbing, not only was
the front brake especially effective, it was positively an anchor. Yippee,
at last! Good bog standard Harley brakes - whatever next? Crikey, if that
ever becomes common knowledge ... reliability, speed, finish, lack of
vibration and relative price to the competition, now good brakes ... Harley-Davidson?
F'kin hell, 'proper' motorcycle journalists'll have nothing to write about!
Now, oi, before you get all smug H-D, sort the tyres out!
But anyway - back to the plot - as I wound the motor up to cruising speeds, heading towards the A5, it just didn't feel as responsive as the Deuce, almost sluggish acceleration in comparison and certainly not as rapid at the top end. Mmm, a strange one that, especially as the motors, carburation and even shotgun dual pipes are meant to be exactly the same, surely the 15kg weight difference between the two Softails couldn't explain it all I thought to myself. However, as I swung the Fat Boy enthusiastically in and out of roundabouts, another possible explanation for the performance differences occurred to me. The Fat Boy was nowhere near as nimble as the Deuce had been; whereas part of the Deuce's joy had been throwing it right over into a bend and powering it out again, the Fat Boy just didn't have the same ground clearance - a shame because the newly stiffened chassis is more than capable of handling it - forcing the rider to amble through roundabouts at a much more sedate pace. With more or less the same mileage on the clocks - just a few thousand miles - the suspicion was I was not the first test rider to discover the Deuce's secret desire to be a Ducati, the Deuce had most likely been ridden harder, perhaps a lot harder and its motor had been given the chance to loosen up much more than the Fat Boy's.
Everyone's heard of the infamous Motorcycle News FireBlade test haven't they ... where two identical Honda CBR900 FireBlades were placed into the hands of two very different riders. One rider was from the old school - run the new motor in, change oil when recommended, do the full service thing, while the other rider was from the new school - buy it, thrash it. After a few thousand miles - can't remember how many - both bikes were roadtested thoroughly: the thrashed 'Blade was faster and threw out more horses. Taken off the road and pulled down for a look, the internals were almost identical and the opinion was that the thrashed 'Blade would last as well as the coddled one. Could this, whisper it, be anything like similar to the strange case of the slower 88B? Are Harley's new motors really that advanced? After all, we all know how sweet a Harley motor feels after a really long fast run ... Hey hey, hang on, I'm not saying, before anyone starts getting palpitations, 'starve your Harley of oil changes', neither would I encourage anyone to miss any services - but wringing a Harley's neck once and a while does them a power of good.
True ... and it's fun.
But if you get stopped for speeding I'm pretty sure that claiming "Rich King told me to do it!" won't cut much slack ... if any. It's never worked for me, put it that way.
A
hundred miles further on and, much as I've found with any of the stock
Softails I've ridden, I started to get fidgety. The Fat Boy was no exception;
despite the wide bars, wide and low stepped seat and big footboards, the
bike was no Glide or Dyna and a shade of discomfort crept in. Not massive
cramps and wrist and neck ache, back in spasm supersports syndrome, where
you get to ride like a tosser for 20 miles then have to hole up at a café
for 3 hours, telling all the other pillocks how fast you bike is 'til
you can face riding it again. No, like I say, a shade of discomfort. If
I had to ride a Harley loaner to Portugal, say, as Stu Garland of BSH
did on this very bike earlier in the year, I wouldn't have chosen the
Fat Boy - if I'd had a choice. But ... if the test needed doing, and I
'had' to ride to Portugal at the same time, neither would I have moaned
one jot about it ... and, in all credit, neither did Stu. If I had to
do lots and lots of miles, all the time, on the same bike, I don't think
I'd opt for a Fat Boy, or any Softail for that matter, is all I'm saying.
Reaching Manchester, it was time for a swift pint and the 'pub test'. Roll up outside my local biker-friendly beverage purveyor, park up and see how many of the regulars get off their arses and peer through the window: five. Pretty good. How many actually come outside while I'm still there: two. Very impressive. But that's the Fat Boy all over, it is a stunningly impressive looking motorcycle - everybody's seen one, most people who ride motorcycles want to hate its guts, but for the life of them they can't, the Fat Boy fires too many primal triggers, it just looks brutal - like a proper motorcycle in fact. But, don't be fooled, like most other Harleys the Fat Boy is great round town too, probably one of the best in fact, the wide bars and low centre of gravity help, but the rider's stance is both relaxing and full of attitude, you have plenty of time to react to situations, and feet planted on the boards of such a stable platform, you're in control - and it shows ... and you know it. Very few other bikes I've ridden have been quite so easy and reassuring to ride as the Fat Boy, despite the butch looks, its a pussy cat that rewards the rider with quality time, allowing him or her to settle back into the seat, enjoy the ride and chill out. Riders don't have to effect 'cool', the Fat Boy allows the rider's natural cool to wash in waves over the hapless normals.
Finish
wise I loved the deep chrome yellow pearl colour of this, the traditional
Fat Boy livery. The colour always works so well I think with the black
frame and seat, chromed bits here and there and striking brushed aluminium.
However some of the chrome in places, like at the business end of the
shotgun pipes and around the fairly tacky welding around the back of the
'tin plate' trademark headlight cowl, was showing a few signs of rust.
Not a problem ever to worry about methinks though with another trademark,
the utterly wonderful solid alloy wheels - ultra bitching - always have
been, always will be.
After about three weeks it was time to take the Fat Boy back to Brackley, another enjoyable ride of many that I'd had with the Fat Boy. Interestingly, the front brake felt as if had gradually faded over those 3 weeks, or perhaps, after the initial shock that it actually worked, I was expecting too much of it. I was not as devastated when I arrived at H-D HQ to hand back the keys as I had been with one or two of the other bikes in their garage. Personally I didn't take to Fat Boy as much as some other of the Big Twin 88s, I don't think, after a self analysis session, for any outstanding reason, I just didn't that's all. I understand that's not a particularly professional stance - and in fact is as about as much use to you as the proverbial chocolate teapot - but, I can't quantify it so I won't try, I won't FIND something wrong with the Fat Boy to try and justify it, there's nothing wrong with them and I wouldn't throw one out of bed okay? Its just ...
Oh I dunno ... nothing ...
All I can say is try one!
Specifications
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Make & Model: |
Harley-Davidson FLSTF (FTSTFI) Fat Boy - specs for 2001 models |
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Engine: |
Twin Cam 88B (balanced). Air-cooled 45° V-twin. |
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Displacement: |
1449cc (88 ci) |
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Compression Ratio: |
8.81 |
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Bore & Stroke: |
95.3 x 101.6 |
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Torque: |
106.0Nm @ 3500rpm (105@ @ 3000 on injection) |
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Fuel System: |
Single
Keihin 40mm Carburettor. |
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Exhaust System: |
Over/under shotgun duals |
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Oil Capacity: |
3.3litres |
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Fuel Capacity: |
18.9 litres (includes reserve on carb version) |
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Primary Drive: |
Double-row (duplex) chain |
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Final Drive: |
Kevlar belt |
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Overall Length: |
2396mm |
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Seat Height: |
673mm |
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Ground clearance: |
129.9mm |
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Rake/Trail: |
32/147.2mm |
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Wheelbase: |
1637mm |
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Dry Weight: |
320kg |
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Lean Angles: |
28.7° left / 28.9° right |
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Instruments: |
Electronic speedo with odometer and resettable trip meter. Fuel gauge, oil pressure light, engine diagnostic light (injection model). |
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Colour Options: |
Vivid black, diamond ice pearl, jade sunglo pearl, real teal pearl, white pearl, luxury rich red pearl, concord purple pearl, chrome yellow pearl, bronze pearl. Two Tone schemes: Luxury blue and diamond ice, real teal and birch white, luxury rich red and black, vivid black and chrome yellow, concord purple and diamond ice |
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Price: |
£13,295
single colour Prices include usual otr inc. PDI, full tank of fuel, 12-months tax, first service, 12 months membership of Harley Owners Group (HOG) including their European roadside recovery |
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Test bike kindly supplied by: |
Harley-Davidson
UK. |