Harley-Davidson Softail Fat Bob 2018 – First
Impression
I just rode the first miles on a brand new
Harley-Davidson 2018 Softail Fat Bob.
Here in Faak, during European Bike Week in Austria.
Twisty roads through the mountains, that’s the right place to test ride a bike,
and the Fat Bob feels very good while doing so and is looking good at the same
time. Purists may not like the hexagon head light, exhaust system and the rear
fender, which seems to have XR racing gens. Well, I loved the extreme styling of
this bike the moment I laid my eyes on it!
What I don’t like, is the way they mounted the license
plate, it looks like shit. For the rest? I just love this bike. It looks
agressive, mean, racey, and cool, just f*ckin’ cool. Chopped fenders, lean gas
tank, the Fat Bob looks likes she’s ready to rock ’n roll on the streets!
Riding through the mountains is nothing more than
great fun, the new, stiffer chassis, feels responsive and agile, the brakes are
super and the only thing you have to get used to, is the way the rather haevy
and fat front wheel handles while slow cornering. The 114 Milwaukee-Eight has
more torque, feels so responsive and powerful; you just want to roll the
throttle every second! The racing style cartridge fork with linear damping gives
confidence and good feedback, the brakes
are really good and the ABS kicks in the way it should. This whole performance
package works well together with the looks of the 2018 Harley-Davidson Softail
Fat Bob. The new single rear shock is very easy to adjust and works just fine.
The seat feels comfortable and gives the lower back
enough support during hard and fast launches. The wide, flat handlebars give
you control over the bike and make steering easy. Cornering is nothing but fun
and the Bob has enough ground clearance for some serious riding. Shifting
quickly through the gears, the torque keeps coming and I doubt it if the rear
tyre has a long life if this was my bike. It’s a bike that, how can you say,
may not be the one for the purist Harley-Davidson lovers, but might be a good
choice for high performance cruisers.
It is something new, something radical that H-D just launched,
and I love this beast, this Dark Custom creation with loads of power, cool
graphics and it’s agressive looks. Many years people complained H-D never had a ‘realy new’model, but with the launch of the new Softail line-up they sure did.
In just a few weeks time, H-D will provide me a Fat
Bob for a long term test, when I can get deeper into all the ins- and outs and
the details of this bike. But for now, my first impression? Definitively a very
cool, very well handling poweful and attractive bike.
Thanks to H-D for letting me ride this bike as one of
the first journalists and thanks to Peter vd Barselaar for the riding pictures.
www.harley-davidson.com
Easy to adjust the rear suspension
Tekst & photography Onno “Berserk” Wieringa
#fatbob #softailfatbob #harleydavidson #harley2018
#onnowieringa #madnessphotography
The licence plate looks crap. It needs to be mounted under the rear fender out of the way.
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