Harley-Davidson Fxrs
HARLEY-DAVIDSON FXRS
CYCLE WORLD TEST
Look closely at the photos of the new Harley-Davidson FXRS and there’s something you won’t see. It’s not as noticeable as the all-new frame or the rubber-mounted engine or the five-speed trans-
mission or the extra oil drain lines. It doesn’t even stand out as much as the raised white letter Dunlop K181 tires or the new controls. What makes this motorcycle significant beyond its features is the name on the gas tank. It says Harley-Davidson. There are no initials before Harley and, of course, there is no expletive before the Davidson.
This does not mean that in the few weeks after Harley-Davidson separated from AMF that the engineers feverishly came up with a new model. Instead, over the past few years Harley-Davidson’s engineering staff (you’d be surprised) has been working on a number of new projects, some of which were introduced before the separation, some are being introduced now and others are still to come. That notion may get lost before the history books are written, though. As these things sometimes happen, Harley-Davidson Motor Company may very well be judged on the success of the new models to bear that name.
If so, the company is in luck.
The FXRS and its FXR twin were originally supposed to be stripped-down versions of the FLT, aka the Rubber-Glide. On the way to stripping the fairing and saddlebags and other pieces off the FLT, the design was changed. The FLT’s frame has a huge square backbone that sticks way out front so the offset forks have room to operate.
Without a fairing to hide behind, the extended frame of the FLT looked peculiar on a sports bike. So the engineering staff was given permission to design a new frame for the FXRS.
Like the FLT the R-bike gets the rubber mounted engine. The locating arms are in the same places as on the T and they work just as well to isolate 80-cu. in. vibrations from the rider. And like the T, there are no cast iron junctions on this frame. It’s entirely welded steel tubing, with plentiful gusseting around the steering head. Compared with the old frame of the FX series, the new frame is five times stiffer, according to Harley’s chief engineer. Getting to start with a clean sheet of paper also meant that the R-bike’s frame could be designed to provide the best handling for a stripped bike. The rear-set offset forks of the FLT are fine for the fully loaded touring machine, but the R gets to use the Sportster front end with 19-in. front tire and connect it at a 32° angle to the frame.
This frame might appear to be a copy of a non-Harley frame, but it’s not. One look at the 64.7 in. wheelbase makes it clear that this is a Harley. It also uses square steel tubing for the swing arm. And when the one-piece gas tank is removed from the frame there is an enormous amount of steel welded up into a massive backbone, quite unlike the FLT or any other motorcycle.
Where this frame does reflect Harley design is in the relative positions of things like the seat and pegs. Harley’s big motor is relatively tall, so the double downtube frame is deep. To keep the seat height down the top tubes dip low under the seat, enabling the bike to have a 29.5 in. seat height even with the overstuffed perch the RS provides. And the length of the frame and positioning of the engine and transmission leave plenty of room under the seat for the oil tank and battery, where they are easy to check and service.
Laid back is the seating position designed into the frame. The pegs are relatively high, but far forward. Highway pegs are mounted at the extreme forward end of the frame. But the pegs are narrow, folding and have scraping tips at the ends to warn the rider when cornering clearance no longer exists. (That is not a frequent message.)
At both ends of the FXRS are conventional Japanese suspension parts. The telescopic Showa forks provide a long 6.9 in. of travel, but little of that is used in normal use. Spring rates are stiff and stiction is high, so the forks move little. The shocks mount to the wheel-end of the swing arm, rather than half-way back as on the other FX models. Here, the spring and damping rates are well chosen for the weight and use of the machine, though passenger hauling may cause the shocks to bottom often.
Combining a long wheelbase and a none-too-steep steering head angle is normally a prescription for straight ahead stability and a resistance to turn without lots of muscle. In this case it doesn’t work exactly like that. The bike also has a relatively low center of gravity and the engine is narrow, heavy and short enough so the mass is concentrated very heavily in the middle of the bike. In addition, the Dunlop K181 tires have a profile that makes for easy turning and good traction.
What results from the Harley’s frame geometry and tires is excellent straightahead stability. Yet the bike turns easily, with reasonable effort required for moderate lean angles. The R-bike is capable of more than moderate lean angles. Apply more lever pressure and the bike leans over more and turns harder. It doesn’t turn sharply, but it will lean over considerably, all the while being stable and predictable. What it doesn’t do is fall into turns. Once put in a particular lean, it requires pressure to maintain that lean. Release pressure and the bike straightens up. Finding the limits of this bike’s cornering clearance requires a strong desire to do so, because the high-mounted pegs are also narrow and beveled at the ends to keep from scraping. At speeds where a number of other large bikes will grind holes in the pavement the Harley just glides through corners with no drama whatsoever.
Not only is the FXRS an excellent handling big bike, it’s also smooth and comfortable. The smoothness is deceiving. At idle the big Harley’s front tire bounces around just like it does on any big Twin. The engine is visibly moving around in the frame and the frame passes the pulses along. What Harley had done is tune the rubber mounts to absorb vibration when the machine is being ridden, not when it’s being parked. Out on the highway there no vibration felt in the gas tank. The seat soft and cushioned and very comfortable. The rubber-mounted handlebars do provide some buzz, depending on the engine speed, but they don’t put hands to sleep most highway speeds. At almost 70 the cushioned footpegs begin to dance some, but faster or slower it disappears. The highway pegs allow through the most vibration, though not a bothersome amount. This is a smooth running motorcycle. Better yet, the vibration from the machine is of low frequency, and high amplitude. There is no high frequency buzz that makes a machine feel nervous and tiring on the road. The quaking that comes through is more as though you put 25 cents in.the motel bed. Or in the case of long ride, about $300 worth of quarters.
Suspension doesn’t help the comfort as much as the wheelbase. The rear shocks and spring rate are fine and do a good job of absorbing bumps on a wide variety of surfaces. But the forks just don’t move unless there is a substantial jolt. Because the rider is sitting much closer to the rear wheel, the fork’s resistance to movement isn’t a problem unless the bike is ridden on repetitive bumps, such as concrete freeways that can cause the bike to act like the rocker arm on a CX500. Outside Southern California it isn’t a problem.
One Small Step for Motorcycling One Great Leap for Harley-Davidson.
What makes the bike either comfortable or uncomfortable, and not all riders agreed, is the seating position. The FXRS rider sits as though he were in a chair, with his feet in front of him and his hands relatively close to the body. This is not the sort of bike on which the rider leans into the wind. Riders who can adapt to a laid-back riding style will find the FXRS to be supremely comfortable. The seat is much softer than the other FX models, the vibration is hardly felt at most speeds, the highway pegs provide a convenient perch for straightening legs and the large grips are comfortable for long periods of time. It’s the seat that makes this machine work, though. During the test one rider took the Harley for a 4000 mi. trip and came back reporting that his seat never got tired of the Harley’s seat. There was no squirming around after a few hundred miles. The legs didn’t get cramped. And even without a windshield it was possible to ride 1000 mi. days without undue fatigue.
It wasn’t a unanimous opinion, however. Other riders found the seating position uncomfortable for periods of more than an hour because the laid-back seating position caused backache.
Not everything contributes to comfort. The air cleaner housing is a large box on the righthand side of the engine. It sticks out far enough to interfere with the rider’s right leg, particularly when the rider uses the highway pegs. If the box were smaller or didn’t extend as far back as it does, it would be less of a problem. Also, the controls on the Harley still require Harleysize effort. This is not a motorcycle for pencil-necked geeks. They wouldn’t be able to pull in the clutch lever.
New controls are attractive and relatively easy to use, but could be further improved. The new levers are more convenient to reach and are large enough to be gripped easily. But the effort required for clutch and brake levers is too much. Electrical controls are equipped with large buttons, but the pods are a bit large and require a stretch for thumbs. The throttle tensioner lock is inconveniently located between the two cables coming off the throttle grip, making it hard to use. It also doesn’t hold the throttle in position at the most normally traveled speeds.
Other controls and ancillary items are a mixture of good and different. The push button signal lights work better the longer a person rides a Harley. With the larger buttons, they work especially well. The flat mirrors provide a good view for a long way back, despite some vibration that blurs the images. Having the ignition switch under the gas tank is more different than difficult. In any case it doesn’t incorporate a steering lock. For that a padlock must be placed through the holes on the fork lock plate. The locking sidestand is difficult to reach at first, but becomes more convenient with practice. After a week of riding nothing but the Harley it’s no problem, but the first-time rider may never find it. Instruments on the Harley are Japanese and look plastic and a bit out of place. They are canted back where they’re easy to read and the nighttime illumination is excellent. A normal mechanical drive is used for the speedometer and odometer, but the tachometer is electronic. It shows a 6000 rpm redline, though the manual says the redline is 5400 rpm.
For years the small Sportster headlight used on the FX series was a problem for night riding because of the low light output. This year a 43,000 candlepower halogen headlight is used, still a 5.5 in. size, and the light output is excellent. Low and high beams are positioned perfectly and the beam is particularly steady, the headlight being hung from the small plate at the steering head and isolated from a lot of bouncing. >
A more significant change in the Harley way of doing things are the brakes of the R-bike. The most substantial change is the new Girling rear brake with a 1 1.5 in. disc. The long wheelbase and low center of gravity enable the Harley to use more rear brake than most other bikes and the RS has an excellent rear brake. A more curious change is at the front. The pair of 10 in. discs are the same size and configuration that Harley has used for several years now, but the new master cylinder provides a 10 percent better hydraulic leverage on the pucks. Harleys have always required very high lever pressures for the braking power that results, but the change makes a surprising improvement in braking power. It’s still very difficult to lock the front brake on decent pavement, so a rider can just clamp the front brake as hard as he wants with little fear of retaliation from
the pavement, but the stopping distances have been dramatically reduced. From 60 mph the FXRS stopped in 123 ft. And from 30 mph the stopping distance was 32 ft. The high speed stopping distance is particularly noteworthy, being the shortest stopping big bike we’ve tested. The initial rate of deceleration doesn't feel particularly strong when the brakes are applied, but as the brakes heat up the stopping power increases until the RS is stopping at an incredible rate.
Compared with other motorcycles, the Harley still requires greater lever pressure than average for all stopping. But the Harley’s brakes work wet or dry, stop the bike in very short distances and aren't prone to locking up if used carelessly, which doesn't leave a lot of room for criticism.
The same conclusion applies to the engine. It isn’t new, it doesn’t have a radiator, overhead cams, or even multiple carburetors. Yet it provides excellent throttle response hot or cold, starts easily, has enough power to make grown men smile, and gets excellent gas mileage.
As it has been since Pres. Taft could see his feet, Harley-Davidson means V-Twin engine. In this case it’s a 45 ° V-Twin, ohv, 3.498 in. bore and 4.25 in. stroke for 81.6 cu. in. of displacement (or 1338.6cc for those who think God talks to Frogs.) Compression ratio has been reduced from a staggering 8:1 to 7.4:1 so even the bilgewater that passes for unleaded gas can burn controllably across acres of piston top. This latest V-Twin also sports an oil consumption control package consisting of extra oil drain lines for the cylinder heads, longer valve guides and Kayline valve guide seals. Alternator output was raised a year ago from 15 amps to 17.8 amps.
As motorcycle engines go this powerplant is distinctly out of step with its contemporaries. There was a time when it wasn’t. This is not easy to say that the Harley engine doesn’t work. What’s surprising is that in its present rubber-mounted configuration it is a shining example of how nicely an engine can work. The single Keihin carburetor doesn’t have any flat spots, doesn’t have to idle at 4000 rpm when it’s cold, doesn’t gulp gas or quit working at high elevations, doesn’t, in short, do all the things that have become almost normal in 1981. As far as a device to produce a reasonable amount of smooth, useable power with the least fuel, it does an admirable job.
Harley’s approach to engineering is a big displacement engine, mildly tuned, with lots of flywheel. This enables the bike to pull strongly from idle to redline with no discernable power peak or camminess at any speed. For normal riding the clutch can be let out with the engine at 1000 rpm and the bike will chug away. Shifting at 3000 rpm, or 2000 rpm or 4000 rpm or 5000 rpm works just fine. There isn’t any reason not to shortshift because the engine has adequate torque and the compensator sprocket on the engine smooths out impulses to the drivetrain.
By the numbers, this isn’t a particularly fast bike. With a 14.26 sec. quarter-mile time, it’s about a half second quicker than the last 80 cu. in. Harley tested, probably due to the better gear spacing of the new five-speed transmission and the additional break-in miles on the bike when it was tested. Trap speed was 91.46 mph, a hair faster than the 91.18 sec. recorded by the FXB-80 tested last year, indicating very little additional power. As dragstrip times go, these are comparable to figures from 500cc Singles and 400cc Twins. Much of this can be attributed to gearing that enables the bike to cruise at 2500 to 3000 rpm on the highway. Lower gearing would help the FXRS off the line for dragstrip starts, but for other use would be less satisfying.
A number benefiting from the gearing is mileage. On the regular mileage loop the FXRS turned in 50 mpg, a creditable figure for any machine. Better yet was the highway mileage. On a 4000 mi. trip halfway across the country the Harley regularly ran 55 mpg when cruising at around 65 mph. At 70 to 80 mph the mileage dropped to 50 mpg, even at elevations of nearly a mile. Ridden at similar speeds and elevations the other over-1000cc machines regularly dip into the 30 mpg range. This mileage enables the Harley to run 200 mi. before going on reserve under most highway use, even with the mediumsized 4.2 gal. gas tank. Oil consumption averaged 1500 mi. per quart with the chain oiler turned on.
While the gearing of the FXRS is relatively high compared with non-Harleys, it’s not unusual for Milwaukee iron. The FXRS is even a tad lower geared than the last 80 cu. in. Harley tested. The fivespeed transmission isn’t used in this case to raise the gearing in 5th, it’s used for a lower 1st and narrower gaps between gears. More important, the new transmission shifts smoothly and easily, something that couldn’t be said about the old fourspeed.
Functionally, the FXRS has made about 10 years of progress in one new model. It’s taken the best features of the FLT, reduced the weight, improved the handling and refined more small details at one time than Harley’s ever done. 'The changes make this bike more appealing to riders who aren’t long-time H-D owners.
How this bike works, however, may not be what makes it a success or just another motorcycle. Like so many motorcycles before it, the FXRS may be limited by its styling. Other Super Glides may depend on this same basic styling, but the RS has other charms. Its highway aptitude alone is reason enough for its existence. But what motorcyclists of all backgrounds noticed first, last and at all times inbetween is that it looks like a Harley. To the rider who doesn’t want to be a traditional Harley owner, the styling is an impediment. Of course the rider who’s always wanted a Harley but has been put off by vibration or handling or braking can now have his Harley and enjoy the performance, too.
Riders who don’t like puffy, overstuffed seats and sissy bars and Roadmaster styling felt compelled to complain about the FXRS even though they liked the way the machine worked. The standard model FXR is more subdued, with its wire spoke wheels and single-color paint and not having a sissy bar or highway pegs or polished covers. But the shape is the same and that’s going to put off riders who would otherwise enjoy the bike.
For now, that doesn’t matter. The FXR and FXRS are wonderful machines. The massive improvements are well thought out and successful. The bikes still look like Harleys and sound like Harleys and feel enough like Harleys that Harley riders won’t mind the improvements. And the rest of us ... we can enjoy the smoothest, most comfortable and easy to ride Harleys in history.
With machines like these under the Harley-Davidson decals, the HarleyDavidson Motor Co. is bound to succeed B3
HARLEY-DAVIDSON
FXRS
$6990
SPECIFICATIONS
PERFORMANCE
