Big Improvements: Riding the 2016 Harley-Davidson Sportster Forty-Eight and Street 750 - 2016 Harley-Davidson Launch

In all honesty, Harley greatly overhyped themselves for this event. Making out as though they had huge news to unveil with their live streaming through Periscope, teaser videos, and huge emphasis on embargo. The hype would have been more adequate for say... an announcement that Project LiveWire was going into production. That being said, there were plenty of news-worthy items being announced, despite no specific new model being unveiled.

For 2016, Harley made changes to previous models after media and customer feedback. They introduced the most powerful lineup of Harley-Davidsons ever, two new Softails offerings and some serious Sportster upgrades. So, overhyped or not, there’s some cool things coming to the 2016 lineup. We had the opportunity to try out two of the new upgrades: the Sportster Forty-Eight and the Street 750.

READ MORE: Harley’s Fastest Softails Ever - We Ride the 2016 Harley-Davidson Softail Slim S and Fat Boy S

2016 Harley-Davidson Sportster and Street

This is newsworthy material only if you’re a Harley fan, if not, allow me to take a moment for you to run to the comment section to complain about Harleys after you clicked on a story titled: "We Ride the 2016 Harley-Davidson Sportster and Street 750."

Done yet? I can wait... Now, if you do care about Harley motorcycles beyond just the branding, here’s what’s important from the 2016 lineup:

Forty-Eight

“Riders have long since complained about the lack of suspension with Harley. Here’s our answer," said Ben McGinley, Harley-Davidson's Designer/Stylist and the kid (he's 27) behind the design of the new Forty-Eight, about the new heavy-duty suspension on Harley’s flashy Sporty.

The most notable and noticeable improvement has to be the gigantic 43mm front forks; a size that rivals some inverted fork setups, but still uses standard telescopic forks. They also brought the rake closer to the bike via the triple trees resulting in a 28.7 degrees, compared to a standard Sportster's 30.2 degrees. This made for a tighter turn radius and more agility/handling comfort at low speeds, further emphasizing the “urban” moniker the Forty-Eight has always had.

The new Forty-Eight features cast wheels over the spokes in previous models, losing a total of eight pounds in rotating mass. The cast wheels resemble those sought after seven-spoke mags.

The triple trees are bigger than before, further showcasing the fat front tire. I never liked that big front tire on Harley’s former smallest bike (that title goes to the Street line now), but with the bigger forks and trees, it seems to work from a visual perspective. Now, does it actually handle better?

Ride

We spent only an hour on the Forty-Eight around town, and it felt smooth and lived up to the hype. The hydraulic clutch is heavy as all Harley’s are, but the throttle response is on point and easily manageable. The clutch could still stand some finer engineering as it shows problems when the engines ran hot.

The front end does admittedly have a heavy feel to it, but lighter than you’d think after merely looking at it. Not as heavy as a full size bike like a Dyna, but certainly heavier than an import competitor or a Street.

The lack of rake makes the turning radius comfortable, but as to be expected—it still drags pegs. That’s a big bummer around town. The suspension felt like it had significantly more travel than before, but according to Harley it features the same travel numbers (although they didn't publish them). So it fed up potholes and bumps with no problem, it always felt planted in the corners, and it was overall a big improvement for Harley. For the short time we spent on the bike, we were ultimately impressed with the beefier suspension.

The Iron 883 also received some upgrades for 2016, mostly visual along with a more cushy seat and better tuned suspension.

The seat was also an upgrade with some cushier padding; add that with the bars and it made for a surprising comfortable ride. Normally, that look of forward controls with low slung bars is a back breaker and a terrible--just terrible--design that does nothing but make you sick from riding. Luckily, this was not that. The flipped mirrors helped to make the bars look lower than they actually were. Although if I owned one, I’d certainly install mid controls.

The bar/seat/forward controls combination tip toes on the point between comfort and cool. We only spent an hour on the bike, but I’d say any more time and you’d be sore in the back. Mid controls would mostly solve this issue.

Price

With the new wheels and suspension comes a slight bump in price of $450 for both bikes. The 2016 Harley-Davidson Forty-Eight Sportster retails for $11,199 and the 2016 Harley-Davidson Iron 883 retails for $8,849. Harley keeps climbing the Sportster category in price little by little, but now with the new Street line they have another entry level bike for the brand.