Old Is The New New

Harley-Davidson’s new Softail Deluxe is far less intimidating to ride than its looks convey. The hefty ₹18 lakh price tag though is a bit too overwhelming.

- Alshaar Khan

MY LAST TRYST with a Milwaukee Eight engine involved its intricate dismantling to pistons and cylinders, at the launch of the Harley-Davidson University in Delhi earlier this year. This time around, the V-twin was between my legs, astride the 2018 iteration of the Softail Deluxe. But before diving into the bike’s specs and performance, a rundown from its past to the present is in order, to give you a better idea about the latest machine from this range.

The new Softail Deluxe follows the American  bikemaker’s unprecedented product revamp last year, which led to the Softail range enveloping the Dynas as one single line of bikes. To avoid a mixup and to also retain the traditions of its rich motoring heritage, Harley might have done just enough as a part of its latest strategy. On the one hand, you have models like the new Fat Bob and Fat Boy, with their contemporary takes on cruiser designs, while on the other there are the originals in their traditional elements, to keep the purists happy.

“They knew that if they were able to modernise the more classically styled models, they could take some liberties with the bikes where they wanted to push the envelope,” said a Harley owner, whom I ran into just outside the Navi Mumbai outlet. And as you might have observed in the pictures by now, our big boy over here belongs to this category.