2021 HD Sportster S Announced

[The Pilot]

They lost me with 2 inches of suspension travel... neat looking bar hopper though.   Hard pass.

[betoney]

20 hours ago, texscottyd said:

 

That said, the finish looks pretty impressive.   The one thing this DEFINITELY does is further irritate me that H-D built it instead of the Bronx...  

 

I have to agree. I don’t mind this bike being built but wish it was IN ADDITION TO the Bronx.  Maybe Harley has a strategy and will be announcing/ releasing new models several months apart? 🤷‍♂️

[roadrash83]

23 hours ago, kilo3 said:

Lost me at 3 gallon tank. For f's sakes that's worthless on a cruiser.

 If that de-tuned engine in that bike returns about the same MPG as the Pan America does that's about 120mi give or take. More than enough range to beat up anybody's body with it whopping two inch suspension travel. I guess you could a run those beach cruiser tires with 15psi air in them to smooth those little ripples in the road out.

[nvzman]

OTD will be over 20 Large $.  No thanks!

[Wintersdark]

Yeah... paying over 20k for this?   As I said elsewhere, it feels like they took the Bronx, and just had to ruin it in the traditional Harley way.  The Bronx would have had strong appeal to the Naked set, particularly younger Americans (the very demographic Harley is badly missing) and looked like a very cool bike that would be good at what it's supposed to do.  But this?  Single rotor on the front?  Who needs to stop!  Gigantic honking front tire?  Sure, it ruins how the bike handles, but now it Looks Like A Harley.  A hilariously small tank on a 1250cc bike?  Who needs range?

Maybe some like the exhaust; it definitely doesn't work for me, but at least it's not actively making the bike worse in pursuit of appearance like the other changes.

I just feel like Harley was so close to something that could really appeal more broadly than their current bikes do, and then they panicked and ruined it.  

What's more, it's going to be near $20k Canadian out the door (assuming HD's $17,999 is in CAD, god help us otherwise).  That's a hell of a lot of money to spend on a bar-hopper that's not really good at anything in particular.  That sort of price can get you a whole lot of bike that's good at practically everything, competition is really stiff around there.