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By Jim Adam

Deja vu

Blast to the past on Harley-Davidson’s Road King Custom

Unlike most of its competitors, whose prosperity largely depends on their ability to continuously churn out lighter, faster, more technologically advanced motorcycles, Harley-Davidson thrives by looking to the past.

That’s not to say that the Milwaukee maverick’s bikes are relics. Far from it. Nearly all of them feature double overhead cam motors, four-pot front brakes, fuel injection, belt drives and other modern technology. But you have to search hard to find a piece of plastic, now-common equipment like antilock brakes remain absent and, just like in the days when gasoline cost 15 cents a gallon, the gas caps don’t lock.

Even in a showroom packed with Milwaukee iron, the new-for-2004 FLHRS Road King Custom stands out. With its massive fork stanchions, sweeping fenders, huge chromed headlight and streamlined leather panniers, the bike looks like it rolled straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Most parts are covered with thick layers of lustrous paint or dripping with chrome—the rest are either leather or rubber.

The price of this traditional Yankee craftsmanship is weight. Lots of it. Tipping the scales at a ponderous 349kg, the Road King’s heft will have small men and non-Amazonian women straining to heave the bike off its side stand. And even though the seat is set at a lowly 66cm, good luck paddling the bike over anything but smooth, level ground.

Happily, once underway, most of the weight evaporates. At least until you run into your first traffic jam. Then you learn to your chagrin that while you fancied yourself to be in decent shape, you lack the kung fu grip necessary to constantly operate the bike’s heavy, non-adjustable clutch lever. And just to rub it in, neutral sometimes plays hard to get at red lights, forcing you to engage in impromptu endurance exercises that eventually transform your left hand into an aching, shaking shadow of its former self. It’s this trait, rather than the Road King’s width or weight, that rules it out for daily city use.

But spending ¥2.6 million on a Road King Custom to use as an urban runabout makes about as much sense as buying a Humvee H2 for commuting. The open road is where the big Harley shines.

The sleek leather-covered saddlebags don’t hold as much as traditional Harley panniers, but they’ll swallow enough for a weekend getaway and still let you lane-split. On the highway, the bike’s bulk keeps it glued to the road, shrugging off even the strongest gusts of wind from passing tractor trailers. The prodigious torque renders the five-speed transmission redundant, and you soon find yourself shifting into top gear just to get the task out of the way. Thanks to its rubber mounts, virtually none of the 1450cc v-twin’s throbbing power pulses reach the rider, and the mirrors stay crystal clear even at arrest-me speeds.

With the pullback beach bars falling comfortably into hand, backside cosseted by a thickly padded seat, and feet resting comfortably on floorboards, life is good. Except for that missing windscreen. Once you hit triple-digit speeds, the splayed bars turn your body into a giant sail and your hands start to slide off the rear-facing grips, forcing you to tighten your hold.

Of course, this problem is easily solved by a trip to the Harley-Davidson accessory store—if you can bear the thought of altering the bike’s exquisite lines.

Considering the Road King Custom is in the Harley touring family, its super-slab manners aren’t exactly headline news. The big surprise is how fun the bike is to ride on twisty country roads. With neutral handling, wide bars and effective suspension, the Road King corners so effortlessly that it’s easy to get carried away, whacking open the throttle, stomping on the heel-toe shifter and surfing a wave of torque from corner to corner, picking up the pace as you realize how capable the bike is.

That is, until the harsh sound of a scraping metal jars you back to reality. While the stonking motor begs for abuse, the low floorboards are quick to call foul, and you realize all too soon that you have to slow down.

If you’re a dedicated back-road burner, it’s hard not to feel disappointed at first. But eventually you adopt a cruiser mindset—I dubbed it the Big Chill—and everything becomes dandy once again.

Under the spell of the Big Chill, the need for speed fades. Instead, you find yourself becoming one with the bike thumping away below you and the world around you, soaking up the sights, scents and sounds. In this altered state you won’t even mind flipping on your blinker and pulling to the left, so the farmer tailing you in the little white pickup can pass. It may take you a while longer than usual to get to your destination, but that’s OK. And when you do arrive, you feel as refreshed as when you started.

A card-carrying member of the Harley Owners Group once told me that the reason why Hog riders are never in a hurry is because they’re already where they want to be. At the time, I had to bite my lip to stifle a laugh, but after riding the Road King I can understand. Come to think of it, in a decade of riding I’ve yet to see a crashed Harley or even one pulled over by the police. Now I know why.

Photo Credits: Jim Adam

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