When Harley-Davidson Europe invited us to ride their latest Sportster, we were skeptical. They wouldn’t tell us anything about it?revealing only that it was part of their Dark Custom line, and that we?d like it.
After all, we’re not really your typical Harley folk. But a quick look over our stats revealed that the bar and shield is the fifth most represented marque on these pages.

So we said ?Yes??and breathed a cautious sigh of relief when details of the new Roadster emerged, just days before departure.
For the uninitiated: Dark Custom is a range within the HD line, launched in 2008. It’s aimed at a new generation of customer?with bikes that are minimal, raw and open to interpretation. Bikes like the Forty-Eight, or the best-selling Iron 883.
The Roadster takes this a step further. Its sits higher and straighter than any other Sportster, with inverted forks and dual front discs. It?s not your old man’s Sporty.
I asked Harley?s people: Why did you create the Roadster" Paul James (below), head of product planning, said: ?The brand can stretch in ways we haven?t tried yet.? The inference was clear: There?s a larger audience out there, and Harley wants to speak to them.

Brad Richards (Styling, Creative and Design Director) and Ben McGinley (the designer behind the Roadster) were even more upfront. Their ultimate goal was to build a rider’s bike, with the 1956 KHR flat tracker cited as an influence.

Styling
The Roadster’s bigge...