Harley Davidson has been the one brand which has been very ambitious about its plans in India and has seen amazing growth since it entered India in 2010.
India is only the 2nd country where HD has assembly plant. Rest of the world has to import the whole motorcycles. Also HD has designed a new bike called the Street 750 which is specifically meant for the Indian market. It is also manufactured here in India. So the bike is dirt cheap relative to the rest of the HD range though still quite expensive relative to other manufacturers and you can easily buy 2 tata nanos in top variant! Yeah, it costs Rs. 4.66 Lacs on road but still it is the cheapest Harley you can buy today anywhere in the world! And that shows when you realise that the bike got 1000+ bookings within a week when the bookings started.
I've been a HD bikes critic since the day I heard about them! According to me these are the bikes which are owned by rich fat old blokes who are not fit enough to cruise long distances on it! But what is the harm in having a test drive and get to know what is all the fuss about the cheapest Harley! It's still the biggest and the most powerful bike I've ever driven.
It is also one of the most controversial, mainly because of the looks, but i think that the bike looks perfect for the purpose it is meant to serve- cheapest Harley. You know that it is the cheapest one as soon as you look at it from the front where the short windscreen is merged into the round headlamp. The bike looks retro yet there are cues all around the bike to tell otherwise. The alloys are the first one to give away. Also, the bike has a massive rear wheel which is the one thing Indians die for.
Now this being a Harley, there is no compromise with build quality and the materials used are very nice. The only disappointing thing is that the Harley have used black plastic panels which hide the steel exhausts coming from engine till the start of the single large exhaust pipe from which the melodious roar of the phenomenal V-twin comes.
The seating position is slightly leaned back with the handlebars coming towards you. The seat comfort is amazing and as soon as you sit on the bike you realise how comfortable the bike is.
For this bike HD has developed a new 750cc V-twin engine which is liquid cooled. The engine is very torquey and is quiet revv happy too, all of the things i didn't expect it to be. The engine churns out 60Nm of torque which is more than enough to get the 213kg motorcycle moving. If you are insane enough you can also get to do spectacular wheelies on the bike! YES wheelies on a Harley! But then i said that you have to be a complete looney to do that.
The throttle response is very sharp and it takes time to get used to it. For the first few times you ride it, you'll always end up going at speeds in excess of 80kmph with a slight twist of the wrist. But if you deliberately twist the throttle all the way round you end up at speeds in excess of 140kmph within a few seconds and you won't even notice it until you read the speedo and back off the throttle. But with the phenomenal firepower Harley engineers have failed to give enough stopping power to the bike. The brakes provide very less feedback and don't provide enough stopping power even when applied fully. This might prove fatal to many owners and bad-luck stricken people on the road. The bike also doesn't come with ABS and it is also not an option. So you have to be very careful when you ride it on the highway, specially in India where stray animals are more common site on the roads than they are in the forests.
The engine is very smooth throughout the revv band and you never feel any vibrations at all even if you are redlining the engine. Harley engineers have done a brilliant job in tuning the engine, as new riders can easily learn to ride a bike this powerful without any accidents. The power delivery is smooth and at no point of time did the bike overwhelm with its power. This is a good news for all the riders who will ride a Harley for the 1st time.
THE RIDE
This being a Harley there is no doubt that the bike absorbs bumps like they were never there, but the low speed ride is a bit jumpy but it evens out as soon as you begin to gain speed. The bike at 213kg is very light according to the Harley standards but it still is quite heavy. The bike, though once it gets on its feet, feels very nimble and agile in traffic. But when you take it on the highway and above 100kmph, this is where the bike shines and is in a class of its own. You can easily cruise at 120kmph and even perform quick overtakes at that speed without any hesitation. You can ride the bike at these speeds for hours and still have more to give.
The bike overall, is extremely great value for money considering the fact that you still have a relatively cheap price tag with a relatively expensive badge. Harley Davidson India has done a fantastic job in designing and developing the bike and have fulfilled every criteria which an average Indian wants from a Harley. It has the legacy, the looks, the power and the engine which are worth every penny of the Rs 4.66 lacs which you pay to buy it. Harley Davidson have struck a major chord with the street 750 and have well executed their aggressive strategy for covering the market in India. If this is just the beginning i wonder how the future will be!
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