Harley Davidson Street 750 Review at RevZilla.com
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00:00Howdy, this is Lemmy with RevZilla TV, I'm beat bopping around today on the Harley-Davidson
00:12Street 750.
00:13With it's long suspension travel, short wheel base, and liquid cooling, this thing is unlike
00:17anything HD has ever offered before.
00:19We're going to take this thing to an appropriate spot to evaluate it, come on, let's go for
00:23a rip.
00:24Now I've got several pet theories as to why the street series of motorcycles even exist.
00:51Could be Harley just trying to modernize their lineup a little bit.
00:53Of course, could be Harley also becoming aware the global customer is changing a little bit.
00:57Could also be a matter just as simple as trying to circumvent some of the Indian tax laws.
01:02Regardless of what I think about any of that, let's look at what Harley says about this
01:05thing.
01:06They're saying the Street 750 is an urban, city built bike.
01:09This thing is for dodging potholes, splitting lanes, and running the back alleys, and I'm
01:13inclined to agree with them.
01:15Harley recognized that urban riders have a different set of needs than their more traditional
01:19customer.
01:20If your own wheelbase is in air cooling, just don't cut it for a guy who's ripping around
01:23the city.
01:24HD also correctly identified the fact that a rider who needs a smaller bike doesn't necessarily
01:28want a watered down or a neutered bike.
01:30They want the same pop, punch, and pizzazz that comes with the standard Harley models,
01:34they just want it in a little smaller package.
01:36So HD has really done a great job packaging this thing up and planting it firmly for those
01:41who are doing city riding and commuting.
01:50Now with respect to competition, Harley Street 750 faces it in two areas, both internally
01:54and externally.
01:55Now internally, the Street 750 of course is going to face some pressure from it's little
01:59brother, the Street 500.
02:01Somebody considering the Street 750 is probably wondering if they can get by with something
02:04with a little smaller motor and they're looking to the Street 500.
02:07Of course, the guy who did set on buying a Harley 2 is probably also looking up the food
02:11chain a little bit at the next nicest model, which would be the Harley Sportster Iron 883.
02:16Externally, however, competition is no less stiff.
02:19Kawasaki has the Vulcan S and Honda also has the Shadow line.
02:23Both of those are very close competitors.
02:25The Vulcan S is newly redesigned and the Shadow series has been around for a long time, but
02:29that means it's also gone through many refinements.
02:31Both are going to be very tough customers for the Street 750 to beat.
02:35So those of you who are observant may have noticed that I'm kind of a big boy.
02:38Typically means I'm riding big bikes for big miles at big speeds.
02:42That's not what the Street 750 is built for.
02:44We brought it here to Filthy, it's intended environment, the city of brotherly love for
02:48some urban riding.
02:49I'm going to rip this thing in the city, all around, in the tight confines of a big East
02:53Coast metropolis.
02:54We're going to see if this thing actually holds up to Harley's claims that this is the
02:58perfect city bike.
02:59Let's jump on this baby.
03:00I'm going to show you what I love about the Street 750.
03:11All right, I'm here in North Philly jamming on the Street 750.
03:15This is where she's supposed to be right at home.
03:18Now normally city riding doesn't really do it for me, especially not on a traditional
03:21Harley.
03:22It's hot, it's packed, I can't see what's going on.
03:25There's terrible pavement all over the place, you can see me bopping over here.
03:29But it's not that bad when I have the correct bike.
03:32Being liquid cool, this thing is designed to deal with stop and go traffic.
03:36Every now and then here I've heard my fans kicking on.
03:39It's pretty nice, I know they're keeping this thing cool.
03:41Now when I first started riding the Street 750, I fell in love instantly with this engine.
03:46It's got plenty of punch, plenty of power to do whatever it is that I'm looking to do.
03:50The other thing I really like about this is that it must have crazy light flywheels in
03:53it.
03:54This thing gets up to power, the engine is super responsive.
03:56Realistically this thing pulls almost like a parallel twin.
03:59It's got lots of oomph, lots of grunt, gives up maybe a little bit of the top end.
04:03But there's plenty of power here.
04:04This engine is also pretty practical too though for an urban commuter.
04:08I shot down the highway here, averaging about 70 miles an hour, and I turned in 46 miles
04:12a gallon.
04:13It's pretty frugal for a bike with this kind of power.
04:15I was really pleased with it.
04:18One of the other things that makes the 750 an excellent choice is how nimble this bike
04:21is.
04:22Boy, I can just slice and juke, get out of the way of anything that's in my way.
04:26It handles way better than a sportster could ever have prayed to.
04:29I really do like that.
04:30Take a peek down here.
04:31Look at that profile on the front tire.
04:33Makes it really easy to flip this bike from one side back over to the other.
04:36If you're trying to dart something or dodge, get out of the way, this bike is on top of
04:40it.
04:41I don't have to think about it, I just point and shoot.
04:42Those nice wide handlebars here too make that really easy.
04:46The other thing I love about this bike is kind of related to the handling, and that's
04:49the suspension.
04:50It's not very great suspension.
04:51I'm not winning any AMA Superbike races with this thing, but I can't bottom it out.
04:56That's important.
04:57If I am unable to dodge my way out of something, as you can see me doing now, it's very easy
05:02to get up on the pegs and dirt bike this thing.
05:04But the thing I love is because the suspension travel is so great, when I hop up and I'm
05:09bouncing over stuff, this isn't bottoming.
05:11I'm significantly bigger than the intended purchaser of this.
05:16No motorcycle manufacturer is designing a bike for a 265 pound guy, yet I'm on this
05:21thing, jumping on it, beating it, hitting the biggest potholes I'm running into, and
05:25everything is just fine.
05:26I haven't bottomed this bike once.
05:28It really is kind of incredible.
05:29It's totally different than a standard HD.
05:32I think I started to really fall in love with this machine when I realized that I'm not
05:36the guy that Harley designed this bike for, but I'm still having a blast on this thing,
05:41and I'm having a blast on it when I'm doing things that I don't normally like to do.
05:44This is not my riding style at all, but I'm having a blast doing this.
05:47I can ride aggressively, and I can also know, too, the bike's going to perform when I need
05:51it to.
05:52So if it's not immediately evident, I think the Street 750 has got a lot going for it.
05:59From that darling of a motor to the awesome suspension travel, and then add in that razor
06:03sharp handling, and this thing has got all the bones to be a great city bike.
06:07One of the other things I love about this, too, is all this pillion space back here.
06:10You've got lots of room for a passenger, especially considering the overall short wheelbase of
06:15the Street 750.
06:16Now, I've been riding, building, and modifying bikes for a pretty long time.
06:20I feel very qualified to tell you where a bike might be falling short.
06:24One of the things I noticed as soon as I swung a leg over this thing was the front brake
06:27feel.
06:28It's spongy and mushy.
06:29It's kind of terrible.
06:30It's a one-two punch of badness, though, because the front brake is also not very effective.
06:34It just doesn't slow the bike down adequately, especially when you consider how much power
06:38the 750 has.
06:39One of the other things I didn't really dig on this thing was the shift feel.
06:42If you look down there at the shifter, you can see all sorts of linkage.
06:45Every spot in that linkage is a spot where shifter slop can actually occur.
06:48I had a lot of false neutrals and more missed one-two shifts than I care to count.
06:53My final gripe with this bike is really the overall fit, function, ergonomics sort of
06:57package that Harley provides you.
06:59You can see in a couple areas right off the bat that things are a little weird.
07:02These mirrors look good, but they're really not super functional due to where they're
07:06placed.
07:07Some of the other things I noticed, too, were odd duck things like loose connectors just
07:10sort of hanging out.
07:11It seems a little strange on a $7,500 bike.
07:14One of the other things that I also didn't really love is how my feet, in particular,
07:18interfaced with this motorcycle.
07:19Your feet are in a weird place.
07:20It's not uncomfortable, but it is kind of strange, especially considering how close
07:24some of the other pieces of the motorcycle are to you.
07:27Let's jump on this thing.
07:28We'll get out there.
07:29We'll take a ride.
07:30Let's see how these problems manifest themselves in real-world riding scenarios.
07:33All righty, now the Street 750 has many strong points, for sure, but there's also some things
07:42going against it.
07:43They seem like they're little things at first, but after having lived with them for several
07:46hundred miles, I got some issue with a couple of these things.
07:50The first and most noticeable is this front brake.
07:52It's not doing anything.
07:54Look exactly how far I'm moving this lever, and absolutely nothing is happening.
07:58That's a big problem.
07:59I'm barely at the bars.
08:00I was appalled at how bad this thing actually was.
08:03I just couldn't believe this brake came on a bike in 2015.
08:06I wound up using the old HD method of using all rear brake.
08:09I've come skidding into every stop.
08:11Here, look, just like this.
08:18My rear was all locked up there, as you might have been able to see.
08:21My front, eh, maybe it was coming to a stop.
08:23It's fun, but it's not something that I want to be repeating all the time, and for a newbie,
08:27it can probably be a little disconcerting.
08:29To be on a motorcycle that just doesn't have a lot of front brake, who knows what's going
08:33to happen when you need to stop quick, fast, and in a hurry.
08:36It's a little confusing, especially considering that HD is expecting riders who are looking
08:41at this bike to have some metric experience.
08:43They're going to be expecting a strong front brake showing, but they're not necessarily
08:46going to get it.
08:47One of the other things I didn't dig at all was the shift feel.
08:50The shifts are not positive.
08:51They're not firm.
08:52I have absolutely no idea when I'm making a shift.
08:56I have so many missed one, two shifts on this.
08:59It really is frustrating.
09:00Don't get me wrong.
09:01The lever is traveling.
09:02I can feel the lever hit the end of its travel, but what I'm not necessarily getting is a
09:07good, solid indication that I've made a shift.
09:09I'm not too picky when it comes to how my shifts actually feel.
09:12Again, whether it's a Japanese snick-snick I'm getting, or if it's a Harley agricultural
09:16clunk, I just need something to let me know I hit the gear, or if I didn't, to go back
09:20and dig again for it.
09:21That's a problem.
09:22So, the final issue I had a little bit of a problem with was fit and finish ergonomics
09:26sort of stuff.
09:27How are the riders actually interfacing with the bike?
09:29Check out these mirrors.
09:30No matter how I adjust these, I can see left, I can see right, but I can't see anything
09:35coming up behind me.
09:36Especially in a city environment, super important to be able to watch your six.
09:40These mirrors have absolutely got to go.
09:42There's some other stuff too, like look at my foot position down here.
09:45I'm sitting my foot on the peg.
09:47I like the way my foot feels in the peg when I rest on the balls of my toes, but it's not
09:52really something I can do because the rear of my boot, as you can see, is tapping the
09:56exhaust shield.
09:57Now, if I put my foot where HD intended, using my heel to sit on the peg, I can't really
10:02be comfortable.
10:03Nobody really uses foot pegs and puts their heel on the foot peg, so you're either making
10:06a choice between uncomfortable foot position or burned boots and ugly looking exhaust shields.
10:12It's not so hot.
10:13The other thing too is this turn signal and kill switch set up here.
10:17Now, these clamshells are a little on the chintzy side, but it's not the worst thing
10:20ever.
10:21I can definitely deal with it, but one of the things I'm not digging is these turn signals,
10:24and over here on the right side is this kill switch.
10:27They're set up to operate laterally, that's no big deal, and the turn signals operate
10:30like standard metric turn signals.
10:32Kind of like that, it is a bit of a standardization.
10:34What I don't like about it, however, is how they're recessed.
10:38See how these things are set deep into the boxes?
10:40It means that a gloved hand can't easily access them.
10:43I can't tell you how many times I thought I wiped the turn signal off, but it just wound
10:46up staying on.
10:47I'd see it blinking later on my dash.
10:50Again, not the hugest thing in the world, and all of these problems are fixable.
11:04Alrighty, now you've just seen the Street 750 in all her glory, warts and all.
11:08Is this thing a worthy contender?
11:09Well, if it's going to ravage the city streets, it's got to do a little bit better than what
11:13Harley sent it out of the factory with.
11:15Now at RevZilla, we're doers, not complainers.
11:17I wouldn't be doing my job as a reviewer if I gave you a list of complaints and didn't
11:20tell you what needed to be done at home by you guys to solve this should you wind up
11:23with the Street 750 in your garage.
11:25First, I discussed that braking, that terrible lever feel, and the awful front end performance.
11:29You can grab a set of two-thee-er pads, a little different compound of what Harley kicked
11:33this thing out of the factory with.
11:34You could also throw a stainless brake line onto this.
11:36I think that's going to improve the lever feel quite a bit.
11:38With a couple of simple parts up front, we can totally eliminate that entire braking
11:42issue.
11:43One of the other things I'd really like to swap out on this thing has got to be the pipe.
11:46This sounds like a kitchen appliance, and it's unfortunate too because this thing really
11:49has the soul of a monster inside of it.
11:51We stuck a couple of slip-on pipes on this thing at the shop, and man, it sounded absolutely
11:55awesome.
11:56I would have to have one of those if I had a Street 750 for myself.
11:59The final item of note is I had said were those mirrors.
12:01These mirrors are just shy of a safety hazard.
12:03When you're bopping around the city, you need to know what's coming up behind you.
12:07You can't do it with these things.
12:08We need some mirrors with taller and wider stems to push them up and out so we can see
12:12everything that's going on behind us.
12:14It'd really be that simple.
12:15Most of you guys who did this should be able to do this in your garage really quickly.
12:18Just a couple of hours worth of work and not too many bucks, and this bike is going to
12:21be top-notch.
12:22Is the Street 750 for you?
12:24Well, if you're an urban rider looking to slay somebody on an 883 and you want a bike
12:27that's a little bit more nimble and a little bit lighter, this is probably your bike.
12:31If you're still on the fence, though, jump over to my Common Tread article where I do
12:34a full-on review on this thing.
12:36I went through it and really pounded this thing down.
12:38I did almost 1,000 miles on it.
12:39I had a lot to say beyond what you've seen here in the video.
12:42Check us out on YouTube, subscribe to us so you can see all of our other bike reviews.
12:46Thanks for ripping around the city with us.
12:48As always, I'm Lemmy, I'm out of here.