It begins with a high on first clapping eyes on the beast in all its low-slung, chromed-up growly-engined glory. The graph then dips alarmingly as everyday use reveals all the niggly deficiencies which still tend to separate Harleys from ‘proper’ 21st Century bikes.
Then the miles mount up, and the satisfaction line on the graph soars back upwards as all those glitches become endearing character traits. Against my better judgment, I’m charmed.
And so it was with Bob. Street Bob, that is. Daft name, rather good motorcycle. In comparison with some of the more flamboyant examples of the Milwaukee factory’s craft – looking like funfairs on two wheels – the Bob is almost a lesson in understatement. It has what a bike needs and not much else besides: one humungous 1584cc air-cooled V-twin engine, a pair of elegantly-shaped exhaust pipes, a single seat, a single headlight and a couple of very smart chrome wheels. and not much else. No bells, no whistles.
No rev counter either. After all, a Harley rider rarely needs to know that such a thing as a redline even exists.
Black Denim
The model I tried did not even have shiny paint, instead sporting a matt finish they call Black Denim, designed to weather and fade like your favourite pair of jeans.
There are some additions perhaps the Street Bob could use. Another disc brake on the front, for a start. The single disc works OK, but no more than that. I would not want to be doing too many emergency stops on this bike. Perhaps a tasteful screen would be handy too. But then I would be getting away from the whole ethos of the Bob. A ‘bobber’ is a bike customised by stripped of away the extraneous – a practice which started with riders de-cluttering their ex-military Harleys.
The end result is a custom bike but one which, unlike many an extravagant chopper, is practical in the real world.
Of course, Harley have done the customising for you with the Street Bob and perhaps the most radical aspect of it is those ape handlebars – not as extreme as Peter Fonda’s in Easy Rider but certainly an ergonomic novelty for most of us.
While you ride with your arms up high, your legs are in a conventional, albeit low, riding position, rather than the feet-forward, legs akimbo cruising pose which makes the rider look like he has been frozen half way through performing a star jump.
Start the Street Bob and the whole thing throbs in sympathy with that rubber-mounted motor. This is an engine note which is music to the ears.
Kick down into first gear and you notice a smooth, easy clutch action and a clunkily-positive box.
Real rush
And then... whoosh. In a straight line, this bike is a real rush.
The spec sheet tells you that a modest 67bhp is at your disposal, but it’s so torquey it pulls mighty hard right from the chuggy end of the rev range. The engine is new for 2007, upped from 1449cc to 1598cc. The bike’s long, and the combination of that laid-back rake to the forks and those high bars means that at first it seems twitchy, wanting to fall too eagerly into low-speed turns. Familiarity tells you things are much more stable than you first fear.
I took the bike to the Isle of Man to get to know it, and it was perfect for posing along the front. at Douglas. Taking it gingerly on the corners, it was even a blast when blatting across the mountain road.
Harley riding is its own particular kind of less frenetic motorcycling. Little wonder so many men of a certain age no longer needing to etch their manhood across the blacktop in burning rubber, fall for its charms.
Obviously, the luggage-carrying potential of the Street Bob is zero and the wind blast means 70mph really is the maximum motorway speed, unless you lash yourself to those ape-hangers like the helmsman of a storm-tossed ship.
By the end of my time with the Bob, I’d even convinced myself it was an efficient commuter bike. With a price tag equivalent to that of a globe-trotting BMW R1200GS, this is an expensive toy with a limited use. But as Harleys go, it is a righteous, credible machine.
TECH SPECModel: Harley-Davidson Dyna Street BobPrice: £9.095Power: 67bhpTorque: 91ft/lbWeight: 290kgTank range: 135 miles
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