STYLING, BUILD QUALITY AND FEATURES

If you love cruisers, the burly Fatboy would spark off a romantic saga with its visual aura. It has the ability to charge you up on a lazy, languid morning with its delightful interplay of chrome and contrasting shade. To go with the name, everything on the motorcycle was meant to look big (or may we say FAT) at all the right places. Starting from the big round headlight to that massive 200 section rear tyre – every bit on the motorcycle was made to overwhelm the rider by its sheer size.

With styling meant to exude domination – the Fatboy is sheer grandeur on wheels. The design tale starts with bullet hole cast 17 inch solid wheels to satin chrome front forks with chromed barrels sporting Harley-specific Dunlop radial tyres. The 18.9L fuel tank bears a chrome Harley emblem and a leather strap.

The glitter quotient is further enhanced by a chromed speedometer and ignition console. But the design highlight of the Harley Davidson Fatboy definitely has to be the engine area, particularly when viewed from the left side. The colossal air-cooled twin-cam 103 engine with a spotless chrome engine cover ensures that your eyes stay glued to it for an extended period.

A vintage frame gives the Fatboy that classic hardtail appeal of the classics from the 60s and 70s era- but the Fatboy is actually a softail model with the frame hiding the horizontally mounted twin rear shock absorbers. A huge belt driven pulley and a fat rear fender with an equally fat rear tyre conclude the design chronicle of the Fatboy. I had my own moments of being in the spotlight when riding the Fatboy around the streets and highways of Goa. From kids to the elderly crowd- the Fatboy commanded attention from one and all.

Talking of build quality- it’s absolutely top-notch. With the exception of the rear frame it would be extremely difficult for even a trained eye to spot a rough edge on the motorcycle. Paint quality feels deep and rich (the yellow hangover is still afresh in my mind). The images clicked of the motorcycle might not do justice to how good that paint look in the flesh. Blame the early morning rains that played spoilsport to a freshly minted coin the Fatboy seemed when it rolled out from the parking lot of the recently inaugurated Two Rivers showroom in Pune.

The switchgear feels durable and constructed out of high grade plastic, but at the same time needs getting used to. The (self-canceling) blinker switches are placed where the starter and the horn button should be, the ignition is allotted in two different switches that also include the hazard light, the horn button is placed where generally you would find the high/low beam switch. A newbie would end up pressing all the wrong buttons initially- but thankfully having ridden the Iron 883 earlier, I was accustomed to the Harley scheme of things.

The low slung leather seat with its neat stitches offers a perfect mix of curves and cushion that should offer comfort for riders of all sizes. Further complementing the luxury quotient offered by the seat are the pulled back handlebars and the floorboards. The combination of these three renders an extremely comfortable riding posture. The floorboards in particular in addition to providing full support, offer freedom to the rider to shift his foot around to positions which he finds most comforting during long hauls. The same cannot be said about the pillion seat, which despite having decent amount of cushion isn’t the most comfortable place to be on the Fatboy. Shorter in length and devoid of a grab-rail or a backrest, the pillion would need to hold onto the rider- something which doesn’t go along very well with a cruiser image.

The chrome-wrapped instrumentation is easy to read and provides all the necessary numbers to refer while on the move, including the distance to empty (DTE) indicator. Though I missed the tacho, but then a humongous v-twin that produces its peak torque at measly rpms doesn’t really need one. The ignition knob (similar to an engine kill-switch) lies below the speedometer which reveals the round key ignition slot when flipped to the side. Since the key need not be in the ignition slot, it’s easy to forget switching off the ignition with the key after the engine has been turned off using the knob. The refueler cap is placed on the right hand side of the speedometer and as is the case with other Harleys, doesn’t come with a lock. Thankfully a motorcycle which looks so vulnerable to miscreants comes with a handle lock located on the right side of the steering column. Even so, I wouldn’t really wish or even dare to park an attention-magnet as the Fatboy in a public place. The moment I would park the bike at any place, people flocked to get up-close with the Fatboy- the Gentleman with his kids was one of them.

Next page for PERFORMANCE

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5