Harley-Davidson Softail Slim

The Harley Davidson Softail Slim goes back to the retro design theme of the big old school cruisers from the yesteryears, with its low slung stance and beefy appeal reminding you of the cruisers which Harley Davidson was making in the late decades of the twentieth century. However, there are some bits on the motorcycle which will fast forward the time machine and will make you feel that this motorcycle actually belongs to the present era.

A fine example of this statement can be sensed from the way its front fascia has been styled. The Harley Davidson Softail Slim has been blessed with a very simple looking front end, with a big round headlamp getting chrome surrounds and encased in a black housing in a pop-up manner. However, here, the headlamp is a full LED unit, with dual LED projectors stacked one over the other, and round daytime running LED running across its circumference.

The side profile of the Harley Davidson Softail Slim will impress you with its low slung appeal and beefy looking parts, like the traditional curved fuel tank with a 3D logo, the big V-twin engine sitting in the middle with a good combination of glossy black and chrome finishes, twin long exhaust pipes stacked one over the other, chopped front and rear fenders and bobber-like fat rubbers on either ends. The spoke wheels and high mounted handlebar add to the quintessential cruiser appeal of the motorcycle.

The rear end of the Harley Davidson Softail Slim has been kept simple, with a chopped fender having the mounts of twin round headlamps on its either sides, which also come integrated with turn indicators in them. The high mounted handlebar here on the motorcycle is quite long, and packs in premium switchgear finished in a chrome treatment.

The fuel tank’s upper portion has a slanted black panel, which accommodates a round instrument panel which looks minimalist with an analog tachometer and a tiny LCD strip which can show speedometer, odometer and trip meters in a digital fashion. The chrome-finished rearview mirrors placed on the inner portion of the handlebars complete the wide looking rider’s cockpit of the motorcycle.

Thanks to its massive size, the Harley Davidson Softail Slim is one lazy motorcycle to maneuver around corners, with its high kerb weight and long wheelbase to blame for that. However, the motorcycle benefits from this stance in the form of calm and composed ride quality, with the soft setup of upside-down hydraulic telescopic forks at the front and an easily adjustable mono-shock at the back.

All the Softail family cruisers are known for their big and powerful sounding V-twins under their skin, and the Harley Davidson Softail Slim does not break the norm here either. The motorcycle comes with a four-stroke, V-twin liquid-cooled, fuel-injected, 1746cc engine, which has been dubbed as Milwaukee-Eight 107. This engine, paired to a 6-speed gearbox, produces a peak torque output of 145 Nm at 3000 rpm.

This is one aspect where the Harley Davidson Softail Slim sticks to its old school roots very much. The list of safety features here on the Softail Slim is confined to only the presence of a dual-channel ABS, with many electronic riding aids missing on the motorcycle.

The Harley Davidson Softail Slim might not have brought something revolutionarily new to the table as compared to other motorcycles from the Softail family. It gets the same old school appeal with a beefy looking personality. However, with a couple of modern-looking bits here and there, it does try to have its own personality, while retaining the traditional virtues of the Softail cruisers in a good way.