YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE FAT - OR A BOY - TO BE SPECIAL

+ Click to Enlarge SOFT TAIL? Not all Fat Boy Special riders are fat or boys - but this one's pretty special.

December 8, 2009
By Andrew Kealy

Snobbery in motorcycling works in two directions. Riders of light, high-revving Japanese or Italian bikes tend to regard the owners of heavier, torquey bikes as old duffers reliving past glories on their weekends.

In turn, the old duffers who take great pride in their big machines tend to sneer at the "power rangers" and their "crotch rockets". The new Harley-Davidson Fat Boy Special is definitely not one for the "power rangers".

The Fat Boy Special is a "factory custom" bike and belongs to Harley's Softail range. The oxymoron of the "factory custom" motorcycle comes from Harley building factory models inspired by the look of custom-built choppers - a look made famously cool by Peter Fonda and Denis Hopper in 1969's 'Easy Rider'.

To achieve the right lines on the original "hard tail" bikes, custom builders would remove the rear suspension, giving a great look and a horrible, bone-shaking ride. Harley's Softail range conceals the rear shocks to allow the bikes to keep the retro lines without shortening the rider's spine in the process.

So a lot of care has gone into the look of this bike. And the Fat Boy Special looks cool. As with the Ford Model T and the Batmobile, you can have it in any colour as long as it's black.

As the name suggests, the Fat Boy is no lean Japanese martial artist. It's more of a thickset American GI. The tanks sits over the engine like a wide set of shoulders hunched over a full stomach and the belly of this beast is Harley's Twin Cam 96B engine (that's 96 cubic inches - like all good Americans, the Fat Boy Special doesn't really engage with the metric system but that translates to 1584cc).

The downpipes are finished in the same black as the tank and fenders with the exhaust cans finished in chrome.

The tyres sit on 17'' black aluminium discs, which are solid apart from a string of what Harley calls "bullet holes" - around the rim.

Despite the retro look, the Fat Boy Special does come with mod cons. The keyless ignition is very handy, the self-cancelling indicators less successful. They're supposed to switch off automatically but this doesn't happen if the curve is too gentle or you're merely changing lanes.

But riding a Harley isn't about the technology, it's about the road. In 'Terminator 2' Arnie rides a Fat Boy, and when picking up the Fat Boy Special for a test ride I was a little concerned that not having Schwarzenegger's height or muscles might make this American beast difficult to handle.

I needn't have been. Despite its power and weight, this is a very easy motorcycle to control. The low-tuned engine means the power is all about torque rather than speed. And the bike is low enough to the ground that its 313kg is well balanced.

WORST WEATHER IN YEARS

This style of bike is never going to handle like a racer and cornering is not its strong suit - it's better suited to long curves than sharp bends. And the single-disc brakes don't remove the speed as quickly as you would like, so turning and braking require extra thought.

Unfortunately, the week I took the Fat Boy Special for review coincided with some of the worst weather we've had in more than 20 years. This bike is built for the open road but the open road was wet, cold and wildly windy, making my California dreamin' almost impossible.

The weight of the motorcycle kept it firmly on the road but the absence of any wind protection made riding it exhausting.

The Fat Boy Special, at R253 000, is a pricey investment in South Africa but for those who want a comfortable, powerful slice of American culture, or for those ageing "power rangers", it's a lot of fun. - Irish Indepdendent