Harley Davidson

Harley Davidson also known as Harley or H-D is an American Cruiser Bike Motorcycle Company. They have very high reputation in bike productions. The company markets, heavy air-cooled bikes which are well received by Bike enthusiasts. Harley Davidson produces Sports, Cruiser, Tourists, Electric, and Street Bikes.

Among all bikes, according to the latest survey, Harley Davidson’s Street Glide is considered best Cruiser bike of the company. The street glide 2021 is a 1753cc bike equipped with an air-cooled V-twin engine and manual transmission. In the Cruiser Bikes, plenty of chrome is used with useful accessories and a quite loud engine. In short, Cruiser Bikes are best used for comfort purposes.

Street Bikes

Standard street bikes are versatile and general purposed bikes. They are recognized by their straight or upward ride position and are equipped with standard features. Not too much comfort is added in them.

It is usually your daily use bike with low cost, high mileage and various beautiful designs. Power, features and design completely depends upon the price of the bike as it determines what the bikes will be equipped with. The weight of bike is minimized to attain high speeds and on body plastics and carbon fibers are used. These bike look quite modern and attractive but they have their cons. Harley Davidson’s newest platform is street bikes. The main purpose of designing this platform was to attract young riders and to make their bikes affordable. Street 750 was designed by Harley for India with 750cc liquid-cooled, V-twin engine.

Harley Davidson VS Street Bikes

Now we come straight to our point. Which is better – A Harley Davidson Cruiser or a Street bike? There are different factors on which the success of a bike depends. Some are discussed in detail below:

Comfort

Comfort is never perfect while you are riding a motor bike. Depending upon rider, some look for ease and comfort other look for speed and thrill.

Harley Davidson CruiserStreet Bike
Street Cruisers such as Harley Davidson are for comfort and making ride enjoyable. Cruisers are designed, so rider   can sit at it comfortably and love their journey. Cruisers have relaxed seating   position. Rider sits on it in upright position with slight backward lean.Street Bikes are for ghost riding mode. Street Bikes can attain high speeds but one has to sacrifice comfort for it. On street bikes, rider usually sits straight or is leaned at front at the tank depending upon shape of bike. Handlebars are narrower than Cruiser Bikes.

Design

            Both bikes are of different categories, so they have different design and looks. One can make difference in them, in one glance if he has some knowledge of bikes.

Harley Davidson CruiserStreet Bike
Harley has classic look and design. They easily grab attention of people around. They are very well seen in movies. Made of iron, steel and chrome; they have class in them. Different colors are available such as blue, black and white. Company offers various customizations and add-ons on the bike.Street bikes are called crotch rockets because of their shape and design. They are available in several body colors usually bright colors. They are made off lightweight materials as discussed earlier. We can add LED lights, number plate mounts and frame sliders. Generally, street bikes have heavy aerodynamic shape and futuristic design. Design can be further enhanced by modifications.

Engine

            Engine of a bike is heart of machine. Without engine Bike is useless piece of design and architecture. Engine is equipped while keeping an eye on physical features of bike such as weight.

Harley Davidson CruiserStreet Bike
Harley’s Engines are tuned for higher torque but with lower revving. Engine sizes of Harley range from 500cc to 2150cc. The weight of the bike ranges from 540 to 905 pounds. Harley’s engine uses V-twin engine technology, where cylinders share common crankshaft.Engines of street bikes are completely opposite. They have higher RPMs but with narrow torque to maximize output. Street Bikes have four-cylinder engine with smaller pistons. Largest engine size of street bike is 2300cc.

Speed

            Speed is actual thrill in bikes. Some prefer high speeding bike while others enjoy soothing bike ride experience.

Harley Davidson CruiserStreet Bike
For smooth, comfortable and relaxing ride; Harley is to be chosen. It gives a very satisfying ride experience. This bike isn’t meant to attain high speed but they will give you greater acceleration.For flashy, fast and lively ride; Street Bikes are preferred. They are made to take you to your destination in no time. These kinds of bikes are racing materials. They achieve high RPMs and fly away in blink of eye.

Handling

            If a bike is faster the handling should be more effective. Handling effects the turning cycle of the bikes.

Harley Davidson CruiserStreet Bike
Harley Davidson has longer wheelbase. It means the turning cycle will be greater than that of street bikes.Street Bikes are lighter and have smaller wheelbase. It will allow them to take sharp turn from edges more and safely, even at high speed.

Risks

            It is the most important aspect of a bike. As bikes are more accident prone and the fatalities in bike accidents are higher than in car accidents.

Harley Davidson CruiserStreet Bike
Harley Davidson Cruiser has low casualty rate of 5.7 deaths for every 10,000 bikes.Street Bikes have higher casualty rate of 10.7 deaths for every 10,000 bikes. Street Bikes have higher death ratio because people go full-throttling, as it can attain high speed.

Budget

            After everything compared, we come to our final point that is budget. In what budget one can buy a Harley Cruise and similarly, a good street bike cost.

Harley Davidson CruiserStreet Bike
Harley’s Cruisers start from 10,000$ and goes up to 19,000$. Plenty of modifications are available in them before purchase.Street bikes are made by number of companies and it’s quite difficult to give any budget range. It’s easier that a person goes to nearest bike dealer and get the idea of street bike pricing.

User Experience

“I recently switched from Ducati to Harley-Davidson. The most difficult thing I had to deal with was finding a bike, so it wasn’t too much of a culture shock for me. I ended up getting the FXDR and realized the Fat Bob was the better choice so I traded in the FXDR only recently. Wow, what a bike.”

By George from Sydney

(A Fat Bob owner)

“Every time I get on it, I have a blast, and as I sit here now, I’m planning my next ride. I have owned and ridden faster machines, but this is just so much more fun and engaging. With a few suspensions upgrades it handles really well, surprising a lot of Sports bike owners when I catch them in the twisty. It’s got a heap of torque and doesn’t mind revving a bit”.

By Leigh Jensen from Perth

(A Sportster 1200 owner)

“There is no alternative to Harley”.

By Xin Wang from Melbourne

(An Iron 883 owner)

“I had considered purchasing a Harley-Davidson wide glide, but why spend so much money on a designer label? To summarize, if I hadn’t owned a bike, I would never have known the joy it brought me.”

By Dave from Metropolitan

(A Kawasaki Vulcan 900 owner)

Brief Summary

            If we summarize all the things we discussed, we can go to our conclusion. Harleys are luxury bikes with plenty of comfort and beauty. Chrome is used to beautify the bike. V-twin engine is used in all Harleys, which attain high speeds but with lower rev. They offer comfort and lesser death rates with some greater price tag on it. Harleys are luxury so; taxes are imposed on it.

            On the other hand, there are some luxury models of street bikes as well. The comfort is sacrificed to attain higher speed with greater revving power. 4-cylinder engine is used. Some models offer higher fuel efficiency and have considerably affordable price tags.

Checkout our article on How to adjust clutch cable on Yamaha R6

            We hope that you found the article engaging and informative. The main question that we’ve addressed throughout this article is why to choose a Harley Davidson or a street bike? Harleys were loved by old age people initially. But now the trends have changed. The company focuses on their designs and it has become the choice of younger people as well. Choosing a bike is completely related to one’s personality and likeness.

Some prefer a relaxing ride with a simple design. Others will go for a thundering power and sound with elegant and unique design. If you are a person who prefers a calm, comfortable ride and you can afford Harleys, go for one of those. But, if you are a person of speed and thrill, and you want to chase a fired bullet, you should go for street bike. The budget of street bikes is not very high. They are mostly affordable. So the final choice depends on your preferences.

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