2021 Harley-Davidson Sportster S Review - First Ride

I’m pretty sure ODD is why Harley made the decision to give only the third all-new Sportster since 1957 two (2) inches of rear suspension travel. We coastal elite sporty riders have been bagging on certain Harleys for that lack of rear travel forever, so what else should we have expected from the bad, black t-shirt boys of midwestern motorcycledom? Scratch that! It’s worse than we thought. The press kit says 1.5 inches rear travel. Whichever number is correct, and you know we’ll get to the bottom of it ASAP, it’s not enough. [This just in from H-D: Rear shock travel is 1.5 inches. Rear wheel travel is 2.0 in.]

Lead Designer Brad Richards owns right up. He wants things to be polarizing. If everybody likes it, says Brad, he’s not doing his job. And he’s completely right, because the whole time we latte sippers have been bagging on Hogs for 2-inch rear-wheel travel (forever), they’ve been the biggest-selling motorcycles in the country. ODD, let’s face it, is just good business. Two inches is how we do it in America, and if we have to explain to you why having your lumbar discs reshuffled over every good-sized bump in the road isn’t the greatest moto experience ever, you wouldn’t understand.

At least it’s a really nice 2 inches of travel, controlled by a single linkage-mounted Showa shock that’s damping-adjustable in both directions, and with a remote preload adjuster you can reach back and twist with your left hand. It’s swell over smooth bumps and nice pavement. When we set out in the morning from the Hotel Figueroa in downtown LA all fresh and eager, it all felt good. Rugged. Tough. Our forebears rode hardtails across the prairie. But by the end of a hot day tearing around bumpy canyons, surface streets, and freeways, my old coccyx was no longer so chipper and neither were the tailbones of the youngsters.

Luckily, none of that matters. Perhaps subconsciously, Harley knows it has the Oppositional Defiance Disorder, knows it’s been bad, and extends the olive branch to make it all right in the form of the Mid-Control Kit – at a fairly grudging $659.95. “This complete mid-control conversion kit puts the Sportster S motorcycle rider in a more-aggressive foot position for enhanced comfort and cornering confidence. It also reduces the reach to foot controls, an ergonomic advantage for riders of shorter stature.”

“Shorter stature” in Milwaukee must encompass guys up to 6 ‘2, because the tallest guy on our ride much preferred the mid controls also, along with just about everybody else except our H-D reps, who insist the mid-mount footpegs feel cramped to them. Odd, isn’t it? In a perfect world of smooth pavement, they’d have a wobbly leg to stand on. In our bumpy one, the mid controls not only let you use your legs to help the suspension, they also increase the sportiness of the motorcycle by about a factor of 2.3, allowing you to move around on it more freely and weight the pegs as needed. (A conspiratorial-minded person would surmise, probably on Facebook, that it’s all designed to sell a shedload of Mid Control Kits at $660 each.)

They really did. For one thing, it scoots. Guys who’d also ridden the Pan America said they didn’t really notice the only-121 peak horsepower of the Sportster compared to the claimed 150 of the PA. That’s because there’s so much power packed in the lower part of the rev range you never get to 9000 rpm on the street. Hardly ever. With the variable valve timing and the Revolution Max’s “T” state of tune, by the time the electronic tach needle swings past about 4000 rpm, you best be holding on tight – especially in Sport mode, where the engine delivers the same kind of low-rpm whomp we love in the Indian FTR1200, and even a bit more. The claim is 94 lb-ft of torque at 6000 rpm, which feels entirely believable (probably 79 lb-ft at the rear wheel, says my butt dyno). If you went drag racing you’d miss the extra top end of the non-T Rev Max. Everywhere else, not at all on the unfaired Sportster. If you must wheelie, the new Sportster is your friend; the traction control contains a Front Wheel Lift Mitigation program, which can be adjusted for height and duration or turned off.

Soundwise, you could also mistake the Rev Max T for a really powerful Ducati: The 60-degree V angle and 30-degree offset crankpins give the Sportster a confident rhythm it never had before, while a pair of counterbalancers keep it really smooth, too. At idle, the front wheel does not jump back and forth; potato-potato is no more.

When the light turns green, the Sportster dispatches all traffic with ease even after you dial it back to Road mode (easy to do even on the fly with your right thumb) for less aggressive power delivery. Critical people might say throttle response is a bit abrupt in Sport mode; for some of us the abruptness is kind of the point.

Where it matters, driving out of corners leaned over in the mountains, is never problematic. The rear tire’s fat contact patch has a grip on the situation, and when it doesn’t the bike’s IMU and traction control do. Rolling on and off the throttle results in nothing but smooth power delivery and a surprising amount of thrust. Again thanks to the VVT, you can leave the engine in a higher gear and roll through corners at 4000 rpm or so, or downshift and blast out. The six-speed gearbox works fine; primary drive via scissors gear, and belt drive, keep lash to a minimum. A nice quickshifter would be sublime. It’s strange that a Sportster has you thinking quickshifter thoughts instead of railroad coupler ones. For God’s sake man, the Sportster S even comes with regular-diameter motorcycle grips instead of the thick ones Sportsters have always used to better display one’s LOVE/HATE knuckle tattoos.

Then there’s the lightness of the new package: 502 pounds wet is 62 less than the old-school 2021 Iron Sportster 1200, and 59 less than Indian’s Scout spec. A lot of that weight reduction is down to the elimination of the old steel cradle frame, replaced now by front and rear frame sections bolted directly to the new engine. And that new engine was on a careful diet from the start, packed with things like single-piece aluminum cylinders lined with nickel silicon-carbide galvanic coating, and magnesium rocker, camshaft, and primary covers. The kickstand’s a tad on the short side, but it’s still easy to pick the bike up off it.

Braking midcorner doesn’t cause the bike to want to stand up or turn in; it remains neutral. And in fact, the fatness of the front tire gives it a bigger contact patch that feeds back more road feel than most motorcycles give you: It’s fun to bend the Sportster into fast corners with the brakes on. What could go wrong, now that you’ve got lean-sensitive ABS? If those big tires increase steering effort a smidge, it seems worth it for the increased gyro stability they provide, especially on the mostly fast roads we rode.

Another thing I was worried about on my way to LA was how hot was that stainless steel exhaust going to be? The happy answer is it’s not bad at all. The catalyzer is tucked as low and rearward as possible, and a few layers of various kinds of high-tech insulation mean that even with your inner pants leg touching the outermost black plastic shield when stopped, it’s warm but not hot. It also sounds louder than 80 dB, but we know H-D always follows the letter of the law.

There’s a new 7.6-liter airbox under the gas tank with a pair of tuned velocity stacks and internal ribs that Harley says quell intake noise, leaving more leeway for the newly tasteful exhaust racket.

The rear cylinder puts out more heat than the light, 304-series stainless steel exhaust system, but it’s not bad at all even sitting in traffic on a 100-degree day; we also get rear cylinder deactivation. Brad Richards says he was amazed and happy the high exhaust made it from early planning through to production, even though it required ditching the dual shocks. Win/win. He also says the modular construction of being able to bolt things onto the front and rear of the engine opens up many more possibilities than the old steel-framed Sportster allowed.

Speaking of the law, various manufacturers over the years have explained away big ugly fenders by telling us there’s a federal requirement. The shorty fenders on this one means when it rains, you get wet from the front and the rear tires. We’re in a megadrought in California; we care not. If you do, we’re told the Passenger Pillion Kit has a rear fender extension which addresses water coming in over the stern.

It’s a completely new motorcycle that has almost zero in common with the outgoing Sportster, but the design and engineering teams knew (along with everybody else on the planet) that they needed to retain some Sportster character. Because, you know, Oppositional Defiant Disorder. It’s a shame they mostly kept some of the worst Sportster characteristics, but there it is: There’s not enough wheel travel out back, and forward foot controls are not as good for most people. But we all know this is how it had to be to appease the H-D base, and the solution to the problems for the rest of us, like we said up front, is already standing by in Parts & Accessories.

Even we coastal elites have to admire the long, low rake of the thing, basking there in the setting sunlight. You have to admit that the Sportster profile, even with all-new components including radiator and a couple of unobtrusive hoses, remains intact and distinct. And it really is nice to be able to swing a leg over it without throwing out a hip when you’re a paunchy 5’8, and to plant both feet firmly on American soil. Makes you feel tall, patriotic even. This we’ll defend. Death before Depends.

Furthermore, the Sporty doesn’t have a hair out of place, nor an exposed wiring connector nor a visible hardware store fastener. Lessons learned by the failure of an entry level model or two in the last decade were not lost on the current H-D regime. Enough said.

While the crowd was gazing on in admiration, Brad and Kyle Wick and the engineering team slid in a fantastic new ripsnorter of an engine that’ll save you the price of a longer rear shock the first time it doesn’t need a valve adjustment, thanks to the hydraulic lifters. Not only is it stupid-fast in the part of the powerband where you can most appreciate it, it’s also smooth-running and docile in the non-Sport modes, not too hot between your thighs – and it better get close to H-D’s 49 mpg claim, or the 3.1-gallon tank is too small. In fact, the tank’s still too small, but ODD.

I only rode the bike for one day, so don’t hold me to this. But I think the Revolution Max might not just be my favorite Harley engine, it might be my new favorite motorcycle engine. And the rest of the new Sportster S isn’t far off the pace, including its standard cruise control. I take back all the nasty things I’ve said about lame Sportsters over the years. This one makes up for all of them, and it only took H-D 30-some years to get it right.