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Standard
Bearer Harley-Davidson have made it their business to cater for every possible type of rider in their pursuit of the right motorcycle for them. Well, within the context of riders of big American-built V-twins, they have; SuperSports riders might disagree.
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WITHIN
EACH OF THEIR MODEL GROUPS, they have produced a variety of bikes
that best use the components available to create a surprisingly varied
range, and never more so than with the Softails. It is amazing what can
be achieved with a Softail frame and a balanced 88 motor, and fascinating
how different they feel compared one against 
another.
But even the Motor Company can't cater for everyone, and it is just conceivablethat
buyers might just want to do their own thing, and all credit to Harley
for giving them the raw material to do it: a plain finish bike with a
lot of the choice bits on already, but no lavish expensive stuff that
might end up in a parts bin somewhere. That bike, in Softail terms, is
the FXST Softail Standard.
Now I'll grant you that £10,395 is a lot of money, but at seven hundred quid more than the similarly-finished Super Glide, and a full thousand less than a Night Train, it falls squarely into the budget range and represents an excellent blank canvas for the kind of builder who is looking to create a classic chop style. That isn't to say that it isn't a good enough bike in its own right as it comes, because it makes an ideal machine for a self-effacing rider, but that isn't typically what Softails are about.
What you
are getting for your money is the same Softail frame as fitted to every
other custom softail; the same Twin Cam 88B engine, albeit in plain silver;
the same forks, front wheel, fuel tank and mudguards as the Train, and
the familar large-speedo dashboard and 
laced
rear wheel seen on anything from a Heritage Softail to a Wide Glide. In
fact only the pullback risers and gloss black oil tank are hard to place,
and the risers are hardly likely to be unique. I can't see a £1000
saving in there, and I have to say that I actually prefer this bike over
its nearest stylistic rival, the Night Train. There is no compromise.
In fact the only thing I'd change on the stock bike, if it were my decision,
would be to polish the timing cover and gearbox end cover, as per the
Super Glide, because it almost looks as though they forgot to do it.
So, it's one in the eye for those who continue, in the face of evidence to the contrary, that a Sportster is an entry level Harley.
In keeping with the no-frills concept, the Standard comes with a carburettor whether you like it or not, but it remains to seen how long it will be before the new EPA laws in the US will effectively outlaw such fuel metering devices, and the parts industry is gearing up to accommodate a shift in emphasis to fuel injection. Still, for now it means you have a wealth of tuning opportunities and options to be going at, at the expense of having to jiggle with a manual choke control. Stock carburetted motors run very lean and benefit enormously from thorough warming before setting off, if you are to avoid the coughing and spluttering that identifies a cold engine.
The easiest
way to get round lean running is to let the thing breathe more easily.
This is referred to as "The Harley Tax" in the US, and the suggestion
therefore is that it is the factory's way of squeezing a few extra bucks
from you when you buy. In reality it is the only way a volume producer
can sell new vehicles in any quantity, and the same is true here to some
extent but not entirely. Harley build three basic models which can be
split 
into
domestic, California and international. We get the International models.
Not a UK model; not a European model: an International model. That means
that the strictest regulations on the international circuit apply to all
bikes regardless of the destination country, and explains why stock Harleys
are quieter in stock form than other bikes on the UK scene. It also gives
us opportunity to fit louder pipes, and free breathing air-filters without
overstepping the mark, so that's as far as we go: we wouldn't dream of
making them louder, would we? "
Damn right we would!
Doesn't matter whether you're a criminal or a cop, a jailbird or a judge: if you've got a Harley, you've got loud pipes and there are no party lines. HOG rideouts are as loud as anyone else's and the noise levels don't present a problem to anyone I've ever spoken to, from innocent passers-by, to the bike cops who are marshalling. They look like they sound, and it is that natural association that has traditionally acted as their get out of jail free card. It has to be noted, however, the Harley press fleet generally do not have the staged version any more because they are increasingly picked out by the police, and to explain that it was how the bike was supplied cuts no ice. Different forces have different tolerance levels.
With the "go" sorted out, you'll be pleased to see that even though there is but a single disk and calliper fitted, that is the newish 4-pot that has gone a long way towards putting Harley-Davidson brake horrors to the backs of people's minds. To be fair, with the smaller contact patch given by the 21-inch, you'd be hard-pressed to stop any quicker with twin disks so why clutter it up with another 10lbs of weight - and before you go off on one about the need for a second disk, spare a thought for FatBoy riders who have both the greater opportunity and a greater requirement than custom Softail riders, and still get the one. Twin disks, it has to be said, are as much a fashion statement as a requirement, and it is only the Sports models that really need them to better deal with late-braking and the attendant potential for overheating, and the big tourers for long descents under massive loads. If you want better brakes, go for better feel rather than more absolute stopping power with machined rather than cast callipers, then start playing with your braking compounds in terms of pads and ultimately the disk itself.
As
a model without any role assigned to it, the Standard comes with a seat
that Night Train pillions would kill for. Not necessarily the prettiest
thing in the world, it is competent and will go a long way to keeping
the peace between passengers and pilots. It lacks the classic two-piece
look of the classics, and the enormous buckets of the Fat Boy, but for
a seat that will possibly be removed in favour of the rider's first choice
of perch, it is more than you'd expect and should see you right for covering
the miles that the FXST is capable of covering.
Former Evo
Softail riders might wonder about that last comment - depending on their
preference in the vibration stakes - but when the 88B motor was developed
to sit rigidly in the Softail frame, it was developed to lose the worst
excesses of the Evo versions the preceded it. Vibration has always been
an issue on bikes since the very beginning, but the original motors generated
bucket-loads of torque at ridiculously low revs and are remembered with
affection for their massaging tendencies. Sadly, but inevitably, with
every successive generation, the power has been delivered higher and higher
up the rev range, and the vibes have become increasingly more intrusive.
The pinnacle of the undmaped big-twin was the Evo Softail: bolted rigidly
into its frame in direct contrast to its contemporary, the new fangled,
rubber-mounted FXR, and it was often reported as being a deliberate ploy
to keep the traditional riders happy. And not without success.People
road-tested FXRs at dealers and then bought the more traditional-looking
Softail, and one or two were sorely disappointed … or was that just
sore? With the 88s, the vibes went higher still, and lost a lot of their
appeal to just about everyone. It was too high a pitch, and not at all
pleasant, so when the Twin Cam motors were rolled out in Dynas and touring
frames, the Softail had to wait for another year, and arrival of the 88B.
In this case "B" stands for balanced and not for the Mark 2
version of the 88. It can be 
visibly
spotted easily by a lump at the front of the crankcase - and the fact
that it is a Twin Cam in a Softail - but also audibly too, with an overhead
cam-type rustling which is just the additional metalwork spinning about,
in front of and behind the crank.
Balance shafts have been around for generations, and used extensively by the Japanese in their attempt to fine-tune lumpy vertical twins as they decimated the British bike industry, before turning their attention to a rough and ready v-twin, and they work. They take out the sensation of a piston travelling up and down a barrel, and the reciprocating forces that are set up, by sending an equal sized lump of metal in the opposite direction, but in doing so they take away the sensation. There are two schools of thought: that is a good thing because it makes it smooth and easy to live with, and that it is a bad thing because it makes it bland and soul-less, and the latter is the classroom that I sit in. I expect it of the Japanese, because they don't understand why anyone would want to ride such an anachronistic relic of a bygone age but don't want to miss out of cashing in on the buoyant cruiser market, but Harley should know better: they've made a virtue out of it for decades.
Until very recently - as the pages on the on-line edition will testify - I thought it was a toss-up between rubber-mounts and balance shafts, and while I know there are complex issue that need to be addressed in rubber-mounting a Softail, I would have gone the extra mile - after all, they're not short of design engineers - but then I rode a Victory again. And then I re-read the book that outlined its development, and a penny dropped. The Victory vibrated. Not much, but enough to make you realise that there is a living, breathing engine beneath you, and it did so in spite of the balance shaft. It actually did so BECAUSE of the balance shafts. Having tuned all the vibration out of the engine, the test riders took it out and found it bland to ride, pinned it down to the lack of feedback from the motor and retuned the balance shafts to give it the right amount of vibration in the right places. Brilliant! Especially brilliant because I have no doubt that the vibes off an unbalanced Victory would make the 88 feel very gentle by comparison.
It's a daft place to put it but it's in my head and I need to get it out, but I want to know if anyone, anywhere in the massive aftermarket industry is making retuned balance shafts to put the soul back into 88Bs. And if not, why not? Okay, so there's a practicality issue surrounding an invalidated warranty but no-one's been too shy with other things so far so why now? I don't care who does it, as long as someone does, and if they want to give me royalties I wouldn't turn them down.
Come to think of it, wouldn't it be a nice option for Harley themselves to offer on a new bike? And if they find that the retuning kit is fitted to more bikes than go out without it, switch it round and offer the fully balanced version as the option, and give us our Harley-Davidson back. C'mon Willie G. You know it makes sense.
Sorry about
that: I feel better now.
Get past
the balanced motor and the rest is purely Harley design heritage. Fat
Bob tanks might no longer be two-piece jobs bolted either side of the
frame's top tune, but the 
shape
is still there, and the only " giveaway is the fuel-gauge in what
would have previously been the left hand filler cap. The original 5-gallon
capacity - measured in US gallons of course - was maintained on our 2002
test bike, which makes for a steady 200 miles worth of range, or down
to 150 if you really use the available power. The dashboard was designed
to sit in that tank, it its original form, so it would be daft to use
anything else and there are few individual elements that can single-handedly
conjure up the marque than its massive speedometer.
The Softail frame was subtly modified for the 88 motor - whichwas, incidentally, connected to its separate gearbox with the transition - and not least to cut short the seat tube that had been a feature of frames harking back to the days of the motorised bicycle. It made sense to join the Powertrain together for the purposes of rigidity, and they had done so already for the Dynas, but in doing so the seat tube from the rear of the tank could no longer pass through the gap twixt engine and box, so it finished above that union with an engine-mounting bolt. Something of a chicken and egg situation: the engine didn't need to be a more rigid unit, because the triangulation of the frame was plenty strong enough, but remove the bottom of the seat post to get the one-piece unit in, and you'd destroy the triangulation. I suspect there is more to it than that, and that they tried to rubber mount it before they took the balanced route.
Aside from that, the Softail Standard has a heritage that goes back to the first Softail for the '84 catalogue, and shares its FXST identity. Always fitted in the raked-out frame, it has always been the Softail's custom model and was a sole consistent representative before the arrival of first the Night Train and latterly the Deuce. It runs a 34-degree rake, together with its custom running mates, against the 32-degrees of the FLST models - and the Springer Softail which is excused because of the weird angles set up by its use of Springer forks.
It's strange
to think of the Softail as a classic now, as I remember it arriving centre
stage much as the V-Rod did in 2001, and making the same impression among
the smaller Harley-riding contingent then as the V-Rod did on the entire
planet more recently. It arrived in a world where the hardtail chop was
king, and suspension was for woofters, and alluded to a world a mere twenty-five
years previous when the Duo Glide replaced the Hydra Glide, complicating
the previously simplistic lines of the motorised bicycle. It's even more
sobering to think that a lot of people see the hydraulic forked, rigid
framed Harley as the definitive example of the marque, but they only lasted
nine years, and the Softail hasoutlived them twice over already in sales
years, and God only knows how many times in production terms. There will
always be those for who the lines of the Softail are not enough, who hanker
after the simplicity and uncluttered appearance of actually having no
suspension at all, but for the rest of us, the under-slung, wrong-way-round
shocks
on the triangulated swing-arm have transformed the custom motorcycle -
and as Softails go, the FXST is about as minimal as they come. Slightly
more than a Night Train, but the £1000 saving more than makes up
for that.
It's a sleeker looking bike than its first incarnation, which is more in keeping with the current ideas of what it should look like. This has been achieved by a lower, leaner, bobbed rear mudguard held in the longest fender rails yet seen,a lower, more streamlined seat and a shallower-looking tank, and by binning the bunny ears while keeping the risers. In many respects it has more in common with the Wide Glide than anything else, and has been around for almost as long - and is probably as under-rated a bike as well.
It should ride very much like a Night Train, but it feels positively luxurious by comparison with that bike's upright, aggressive stance despite the commonality of so many parts. It runs out of ground clearance in exactly the same way, but as you are cruising rather than attacking the road as you do with the Night Train, you find the limitations later.
You'd expect it to be significantly less sophisticated than the Deuce but while the flagship custom Softail is in a different league in terms of price, you can't help thinking that a seventeen-inch rear rim laced to the existing hub would reduce that gap considerably, and the Deuce's forks are available in the P&A catalogue to finish the job off, making it a much more subjective styling decision - and for my money, the Standard's classic bodywork presses the right buttons.
It's biggest strength, however, is that there really is nothing to dislike about it, which can't always be said of the other two: it's comfortable, the right price and not necessarily "finished" in the way that the Night Train and Deuce are. I can't imagine adding to, or removing from its siblings - except perhaps the anniversary stripe from the 2001 black Night Train which has no business being there - but the Standard? Where would you start? Where would you stop? If ever a bike should be sold with a parts catalogue it is this: much more so than the Super Glide or straight 883, because while it is a finished, working bike it's crying out to be something much more - as reflected by the evolving example seen below, that we spotted outside SHD while out visiting.
I'd
start with binning the pull-back drags from the pull-back risers, because
that's just one pull-back too many for me, and then I'd polish the timing
cover and gearbox end cover, stage it and then look at seats, pipes and
price up a seventeen, or even an eighteen-inch rear rim and even think
about what I could do with the front wheel. One certainty is that it wouldn't
stay Standard for long.
And people say the Americans have no sense of irony.
I've not seen Andy's opinion of the FXST as I write this, but I'm willing to bet that you may well be witnessing an extremely rare occurrence - Andy and I in fairly broad agreement. We both like Harley-Davidson's FXST Softail Standard. Maybe the reasons I like it will echo Andy's, maybe not.
I really
love the way the Softail Standard looks for starters, it's a bare bones
motorcycle, or rather, looks like one, for it would be wrong to mistake
'bare bones' for unsophisticated. More accurately, I mean to say it has
a commendable lack of frippery: what you see is what you get … and
what you get is one hell of a nice looking motorcycle. Of all Harley's
entry level motorcycles, both Big Twin and Sportster, the 
Softail
Standard to me is easily the best looking, bar none. The FXST is an honest
motorcycle, it is not trying to be something else: it is not trying to
evoke an era gone by, neither is it echoing a California show winner,
the Standard just is. Bog standard the FXST is always going to turn heads,
public and biker alike.
However many owners have much larger ideas for the machine, for as the basis for a custom project the FXST starts to make real sense. Say, for instance, that someone hankers after a Night Train, but couldn't quite afford one - now look at the Standard and - a seat here, some bars there - see the huge family resemblance? Ride the FXST for a while as you save a few hundred quid, then create your own staged, personalised, unique variation on a stock Night Train theme. A Fat Boy perhaps? Ride the FXST and save up a bit for the wheels and mudguards - you'd save a fortune.
Very few Harley owners opt to ride stock motorcycles, part of the joy of Harley ownership is the gradual transformation of the bike so it looks the way you want it to and its performance reflects the way you want to ride it. In all honesty, all those modifications can cost a great deal of further money than just the original cost of the machine. So my logic would suggest you pay as little for the 'platform' as possible, and the Softail Standard is a real Softail lacking for nothing. For example, it shares exactly the same 1450cc TwinCam 88B engine as its more expensive stablemates and that engine sits in near-enough the same frame and those parts and all the others it shares roll off of the same production lines. Perhaps because the Softail "
Standard is the 'bargain basement' Softail I was expecting some lack of refinement, some sign of cost cutting, but to be honest I couldn't find any. The finish of the FXST seems as good as any of the others, there's less chrome for sure, but castings, welding and cycle parts won't be compromised.
Another
reason I learnt a new respect for the FXST was out on the road. A Softail
in its purest essence, nothing had to be sacrificed for the sake of any
additional style, the designers and engineers could concentrate on just
making the thing work well. I got the feeling that the Standard is the
Softail, all others are variations on its theme, the Softail Standard
isn't a Heritage without deep mudguards, fat white walls, FL forks and
soft luggage, the Heritage is a Standard with if you get my drift.
The 88B doesn't carry any extra weight and therefore the performance seemed very brisk for a stock Harley big twin, and the stock set-up meant that it could be ridden well too. For a start the attractive wide handle bars, mounted up on risers, are set at chest height offering plenty of leverage around town and easy trouble free cruising out on the road. The width of the bars makes the most of conscious or unconscious counter-steer and the machine just seems to sweep through the curves practically by itself.
Push the Standard harder and the bars still inspire confidence, the rider is definitely the one in control. The frame won't budge off of its line, and the suspension though fairly soft, worked fine. While you may be tempted to think that the single front disk brake does not have enough stopping power for modern conditions, it is perfectly capable for any but the most extreme of conditions. You might argue with some fair point that 'the most extreme conditions' is exactly when you need stop-dead brakes. And yeah, granted, if you are the kind of rider that pushes the bike to the edge every time you're out on it, howling around at 80mph everywhere, then you might consider dual disks as your first performance modification. Or an entirely different bike in all honesty. Basically the Standard can handle spirited, aware riding easily and is hugely enjoyable when ridden like that.
The
FXST is also extremely comfortable for a Softail, again nothing sacrificed
for the sake of pure style, the stepped seat offers great support and
is firmly padded allowing long, tank-draining distances to be covered
with no discomfort. The forward-set foot controls are intelligently sited
too, allowing the legs to flex. While the riding position does seem classically
'laid back', when riding harder or through city traffic, tilting yourself
forward more over the bars and bending legs over the forward sets offers
a very commanding, controllable position from which to tackle the road
conditions. Open road gained again, just ease yourself back and enjoy.
Neither is the rear pillion too bad, its not perfect without a sissy bar,
but its not a disaster either, certainly I heard no complaints, however,
I didn't hear any praise either. Note for playgirls and boys: pulling
totty on a Harley is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel, however a decent
pillion seat decides whether you get to keep them. Note for couples: If
your partner rides with you, then a decent pillion seat decides whether
you get to keep your bike.
However, the foremost reason I like the Softail Standard is its price. While not jaw-droppingly cheap, it does represent extremely good value when compared to the rest of the Softail range. It could be argued for instance that the price difference between say a brand new Standard and a two or three year old Fat Boy can be so close, you'd be crazy to contemplate the Fat Boy. However, if you really wanted a Fat Boy to start with and that Fat Boy is already sporting many of the modifications you would want to make, well, that's an entirely different story. Take a closer look at the FXST, I was most impressed with the Softail Standard, it looks very well, goes better, and if you are in the market for a Softail, offers excellent value for money.
Specifications
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Make & Model: |
Harley-Davidson FXST Softail Standard |
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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: |
8.8:1 |
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Bore & Stroke: |
95.3 x 101.6 |
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Torque: |
106NM @ 3,200rpm |
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Fuel System: |
CV Carburettor |
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Exhaust System: |
Staggered shorty duals |
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Oil Capacity: |
3.3litres |
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Fuel Capacity: |
19.7 litres |
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Primary Drive: |
Double-row (duplex) chain |
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Final Drive: |
Kevlar belt |
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Overall Length: |
2412mm |
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Seat Height: |
720mm |
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Ground clearance: |
138mm |
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Rake/Trail: |
34/127mm |
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Wheelbase: |
1695mm |
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Dry Weight: |
305kg |
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Lean Angles: |
33.7° left / 31.4° right |
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Instruments: |
Electronic speedo with odometer and resettable trip meter. Fuel gauge, oil pressure light.. |
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Colour Options: |
2002:
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Price: |
2002:
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. |