American-V Blog

The much maligned Blackline is with us, and you've really got to ride one to appreciate what Harley have managed to achieve with it!

Mechanically, it's a proper Harley for the Shovelhead generation, even if it's supposed to be aimed at youngsters trading up from Sportsters. The Dyna FXs have got some serious Softail competition.

Major anti-climax at Harley-Davidson, at least as far as the publicly announced 2011 range is concerned: one new Sportster model, the return of the Softail Deluxe and Electra Glide Classic with 103-inch motors in the Tourers and a new range of colours.

The official news, range by range is that the Sportster SuperLow is a revamped Sportster with different ergonomics and radial tyres for the 21st Century, designed to be more super-nimble for the competent rider. It will join the 883 Iron, 883R, the Forty-Eight, Nightster and the XR1200X ...

The Dyna range gets nothing much more than a repaint, with new White Hot Denim for the Fat Bob, but more interesting three flamed paint schemes for the Wide Glide based on Vivid Black - as current - but also Chrome Yellow and the new Sedona Orange. The Street Bob and Super Glide Custom get the Michelin Scorcher tyres and new colours ...

The Softails are joined by the returning Deluxe, the second year for the Fat Boy Special in a range of monochromatic hues, including the new White Hot Denim,; the Rocker C is more obviously embraced into the family and together with all telescopic forked Softails gets ABS as standard for 2011. Which means the Cross Bones doesn't. Sorry Martin: no 103-inch option announced yet ...

The water Hogs have lost the original V-Rod leaving them as a duo: the Muscle, which is on the receiving end of new graphics, and the Night Rod Special, which this year is hurtling towards a bright new dawn with a Chrome Yellow among other vibrant schemes, and with ghost flames ...

The Touring models don't get a 103-inch option so much as lose the 96-inch on everything but the Road King Classic, which will give the new frame, introduced last year some extra work to do. The Road King Classic can be specified with a 103, but it's not compulsory. All models also get a new ergonomically designed, and one inch lower saddle. We lose the Electra Glide Standard, but gain a reintroduced Classic ...

We lose the CVO Dyna but keep the Convertible Softail which joins an Ultra, a Street Glide and a Road Glide. And that, which apart from prices (up) and the full range of colours (extensive) rounds it up nicely for now.

Now the hard work of getting into the minutae starts ... Nurse? The screens!

This isn't a definitive list, or an idea of the models that we might get over here, but the 2010 model range as certified for California 2011 has a much reduced 883 range, a 103ci option on the Heritage Softail and most of the Tourers.

CVO Street Glide, CVO Road Glide Ultra, CVO Ultra Classic

And that's it, as far as I can ascertain from the certification sheets. There's no new Night Train based on the Rocker platform, no 103-inch Dynas and nothing massively adventurous, just an evolution of the 2010 range.