Say hello to the 2019 Harley Davidson FXDR 114

MANILA: Harley Davidson recently announced its future strategy, called ‘More roads to Harley Davidson’ which pointed towards a slew of new motorcycles to be introduced in the near future. Just a month after this big announcement, the American motorcycle manufacturer has unveiled its new power cruiser – the 2019 Harley Davidson FXDR 114.

In terms of looks, the FXDR 114 stays in-line with Harley Davidsons’ design philosophy. However, there are many elements that loudly differentiate it from other cruisers in the market. The American bike maker claims that the FXDR 114 is designed to look like a ‘drag racer crossed with a fighter jet’. The front gets a LED Daymaker headlamp surrounded by a tiny bikini fairing. LED turn indicators are located on either side of this fairing. The large 16.6-litre fuel tank gives the bike a muscular look, while the single seat setup and humped back make it look compact. The rear end adorns a chopped-off look, while the rear tyre hugger has been given some aggressive slits to aid the bike’s design theme.

Based on the Softail chassis, the FXDR 114 is powered by the Milwaukee-Eight 114 V-Twin engine. This 1,868 cc power plant is capable of churning out 161.3 Nm of peak torque at 3,500 rpm, while being mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox that transmits power to the rear wheel via a belt drive mechanism. The engine is planted using rigid mounts for enhancing the bike’s handling dynamics, while dual counterbalancers have been used to cancel out any vibrations present when the engine is idling.

The aforementioned powertrain helps in making the FXDR 114 one of the most performance-oriented motorcycles ever produced by Harley Davidson. The bike weighs 302.9 kg, despite the use of heavy dose aluminium and composite materials. It comes with 43 mm inverted forks with a single cartridge at the front and a coilover monoshock with remote preload adjustment at the rear. The bike also features 19-inch front and 18-inch rear aluminum alloy wheels, both of which come with Michelin Scorcher tyres that are claimed to offer optimum grip levels. The braking duties are handled by 300 mm front discs and a disc brake at the rear, while anti-lock braking system (ABS) is offered as standard.

To further boost the bike’s package, Harley Davidson is offering a large range of Screamin’ Eagle performance parts, ranging from Stage 1 to Stage 4. Interestingly, if the owners decide to equip their bikes with these parts through authorized Harley Davidson dealerships, the warranty of their bikes won’t get void post the modification.

The 2019 Harley Davidson FXDR 114 has been introduced at a price of $ 21,349 (PHP 1.1 million, approximately). This price is for the base variant with the Vivid Black paint option. Other colours and higher variants will come at an even higher price point. This makes the bike a head-on rival to the likes of the Ducati XDiavel, though it is around $850 (PHP 45,464, approximately) more expensive than the Italian.