2018 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy Breaks Cover

The Harley-Davidson Fat Boy from the American company’s Softail lineup has been a hit among bikers worldwide ever since it was first seen in the movie Terminator, back in the 90’s. Since then, the bike has received tweaks and modifications from time to time. For 2018, the Fat Boy seems to benefit from a range of major updates, also bestowed upon the remaining Softail lineup.

For starters, the halogen headlight has now been replaced by an LED unit on the new Fat Boy. The LED bulbs are covered by oval DRLs that are encased in round-cum-squarish headlight nacelle. This further enhances its already masculine appeal. Harley-Davidson has maintained the Fat Boy’s defining characteristic, its 18-inch disc wheels that get a new ribbed look and come wrapped with wider 160mm front and 240mm rear tyres. The basic styling continues to carry the design roots of the Fat Boy but with a modern twist. Now, whether Harley loyalists will like the new design is something that only time will tell, but we must say the new bike does have presence.

The 2018 Fat Boy features a new version of the 8-valve Milwaukee-Eight engine with dual counter balancers that not only seem to omit primary vibrations but also make room for the engine to be mounted a lot more firmly in the frame, further increasing the stiffness of the chassis for improved handling. Harley-Davidson claims that the 1745cc, V-twin, oil-cooled engine produces 144 Nm of peak torque at 3000rpm, which is 12 Nm more than the outgoing model. The new engine has also made this new cruiser ten per cent faster from 0-60kmph when compared to the Twin Cam 103 motor used earlier.

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The steel tubular frame has also been reworked upon and is said to be 65 percent stiffer than the outgoing model’s frame. The new frame sheds 50 per cent of the component parts with 22 percent fewer welds. All of this, in conjunction with the firmly mounted engine, has made the chassis rigid by 34 percent. The re-engineered frame has also made the 2018 Harley-Davidson Fatboy 11kg lighter than the 2017 variant, making the steering lighter and more precise, as claimed by Harley.

The Showa Dual Bending Valve (SDBV) forks were introduced by Harley-Davidson on its flagship touring line last year and the same has made its way on the 2018 Softail range. The Showa forks are said to offer a more linear damping for a comfortable ride with improved handling. The rear is taken care of by a single under-seat suspension unit, shared among all the new Softail models. The suspension setup has been tuned to offer increased wheel travel and improved damping with a larger range of spring preload adjustment, while still maintaining the softail look of the shockless rear triangular part of the frame. ABS will be available as standard on the bike. Apart from this, the Harley will also get keyless ignition as standard. We expect the 2018 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy to reach Indian shores by the end of 2017, at an estimated price of Rs 17 lakh (Ex-showroom, Delhi). Once launched, it will rival the Triumph Thunderbird Storm and the Indian Chief Classic.