2016 Harley-Davidson Softail Deluxe - First Impressions

I got a chance to ride the new 2016 Harley-Davidson Softail Deluxe while I was at Bikes Blues and Barbeque in Fayetteville, AR. I had a great time and hope you enjoy the ride. Yes, I realize Soft tail is spelled "Softail". At least according to HD. Thanks anyway. :)

If you liked this video or at least some of it, hit the like button and let me know how I can improve. I love the feedback.

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[ToniR]

you made one of the best videos to the deluxe in the web..thanx !

[docholliday]

Thanks for sharing your first impressions.  I've thought long and hard about bikes, from BMW (lived in Europe) to Honda (affordable) to HD.  In the end, it's the HD Softail Deluxe (2016/same color) for me.  Classic American icon with a sound that cannot be matched, albeit with Vance & Hines pipes :)

[tomcata]

Good for what you be aware of some of the potential problems, and do your scheduled maintenance on inspect the cam chain tensioners, at least every 10, 000 crankshafts twisting are a hit and miss, type of thing, just when you inspect your tensioner wear, check the pinion shaft run out, with a dial indicator, with the oil pump taken off the run out should not exceed 0.001" which is set at the factory,  and if it does, then the crankshaft has twisted and the run out will only increase till the engine damage to the bushings and bearings in the engine will be occurring as the process runs it's course, till failure, and scratch one TC engine. Enjoy the great

[HepcatHarley]

That switch is for the Aux Lights, cool review :)

[willyb]

Really into this bike for my next ride. I am really disappointed with the floorboard scraping so easy tho. Other than that i love the bike.

[frankiejr]

surpluzz what is scraping on the turns, newbie and want the blue and white one tks?

[bernardlesperance]

Really nice color. Do you know what it is?

[francispetaluma]

Thanks for posting ur test ride video. I own a 2015 SD, and I think it's one of the nicest motorcycles out there. I've been riding since the 70's and HD finally has got it dialed in with there softails. One thing to point out is on the 2016 models, they went with a electronic throttle (no cables) which allowed them to put real cruise control on the bike. The softail slim also has a 110 cid ...nice! Also, I was surprised you scraped, I take tight corners with my Softail, never had it scrape, are u sure the kickstand was all the way up?

[tomcata]

You are welcome. Good looking bikes and great profiles, but, the power plants, need a lot of attention to make them long-lived and to make them a dependable, ride. I miss the old single cam, EVOS, myself, and wish I still had my old 94, FAT BOY.

[tomcata]

Q: What is the favorite accessory for a HARLEY?  A:  A pickup truck.

[delo]

I owned a 2005..I bought it based on its looks. Seat pushes you forward If you are tall be prepared to swap it out....it tracked poorly and was not comfortable on long rides. I believe Harley has re designed the frames. In my opinion It looked better than it performed.

[tomcata]

A study commissioned by HARLEY, after an extensive survey of owners, reveal an interesting fact: the average H-D, owner only rides an average of 1, 150 miles a year. For every owner who rides 10, 000 miles a are 8 NEW owners, who only ride 600 miles a year. So, it tells us there are tons of buyer, who never ride their bikes, at all.  They sit and wash and wax and polish them and ride around the corner to the nearest watering hole, to make a statement, that they are real bikers, cause the own a H-D. Busts the myth, of H-D, owners, being real bikers. That explains why there are a lot of late model, 5 year old, TWINKIES, for sale, with very low mileage on the odometer.

[tomcata]

Like all Twin Cam engines produced from 1999 to the present, it has a FATALLY FLAWED ENGINE DESIGN. Most buyers, don't know about the NYLON (PLASTIC) silent chain drive tensioners that this metal engine has in critical components. It has an inboard, (inside the cam plate) silent chain drive that has a PLASTIC tensioner rubbing against a METAL, chain and is meant to wear out and have to be periodically inspected for wear (at a costly and timely procedure) and an outboard silent chain drive with another PLASTIC tensioner to wear out and periodically have to replace. Failure to change them out, will result in the PLASTIC shoe to break into little pieces inside the engine and the tensioner holder and the METAL chain make METAL TO METAL contact and the metal shavings are inducted into the oil pump, crankcase and cylinders causing, IMMEDIATE, CATASTROPHIC ENGINE FAILURE, as the engine seizes up and is fried. More than one way to crater TWINKIES, though, as they also have a pressed together flywheel with an un-welded single crank pin. The flywheel comes out of true and it begins to cause the pinion shaft to start to "wobble", more and more out of true or exceeds the max shaft run out of 0.001" or less and as it progressively worsens with every revolution of the engine and miles, and it begins to hit 0.003" of run out, it begins the self-destruction process to all the engine, bushings, and bearings, and oblongs the connecting rod themselves. The only solution is to tear the engine apart and take the stock flywheel to a performance specialty shop to have them tear the flywheel apart, and to re-hone the center of the connecting rods, if necessary and place over-sized bearings to compensate for the wear, balance the flywheel components, re-assembly it and have it dynamically trued on a truing stand, and have the crank pin, welded to hold both halves of the flywheel together and maintain the pinion shaft run-out to 0.001" or less of run-out and stick it back into the bike. These engines run extremely hot, as in heat, due to an inadequate stock oil pump, which only puts out 3 to 8 psi, of oil pressure at idle, and about 35 psi, at highway speed. Heat is an engine killer and shortens the life of an engine. All these problems and more can be found on YOU TUBE videos posted by TWINKIE owners, themselves.  CAVEAT EMPTOR - LET THE BUYER BEWARE.