First Ride
Rites of passage exist to illustrate your movement through time. You know, birthdays, weddings...your first mortgage. The receipt of an AARP card. Those milestones are often accompanied by a painful epiphany, which-in my experience, anyway-is usually an unwanted reminder of one's age bracket.
My latest aha moment came five minutes into a ride on the new Harley Forty-Eight, when L.A.'s crumbling asphalt swallowed the rear tire, causing my lumbar vertebrae to get extraordinarily intimate with the neighboring sacrum (you'd be forgiven for thinking that a rear suspension is supposed to prevent just this sort of thing).
As my L4 and L5 shook from the hit, it dawned on me: I'm not the target market for this bike.
Late To The Party
But I digress. First, let's meet the Harley-Davidson Forty-Eight-the newest Sportster and a mid-year addition to the family. It may be a 2010 machine, but it gets its moniker from the 1948 S model, apparently the first Harley fitted with a peanut tank. Based on the 1200 Sportster platform, the Forty-Eight feels like a street-fighting riff on the Nightster, and it also happens to slot into H-D's Dark Custom series.
The Nightster, you'll recall, took a standard Sportster 1200, added matte black and grey finishes to the bodywork and engine, a lower rear end, chopped the fenders and stuck on some old-school fork gaiters. The Forty Eight continues in that tradition but basically swaps in forward controls, skips the normal-size fuel tank and lowers and spreads out the handlebar.
The Forty-Eight also skews leaner and meaner, showcasing a good chunk of its blacked-out 1200 Evolution V-twin with polished accents and various finishes. You might recognize that hidden taillight and hinged, side-mount license plate bracket from its shadowy kinfolk, but what stands out most clearly are the under-mounted mirrors and a fat front tire-a 130mm Dunlop nod to the Fat Bob. It's wrapped around a black, 16-inch laced wheel that rolls between a new fork with wider triple clamps.
Unique details continue up front with fork-mounted turn signals, a low-profile speedometer mounting bracket and a fork brace shot through with lightening holes. A dual-texture solo seat sits just 26.8 inches off the ground, and Harley says you can add a passenger pillion, footpegs and backrest, if you're so inclined. We wouldn't recommend it though; with less than two inches of travel out back, your companion isn't likely to be gushing about the luxury level.
The air cleaner, frame and fenders also get doused in black, so the only hint of shine is from the shorty dual exhaust. The Forty-Eight also gets the combined stop/turn/tail lamp found on other Dark Customs, but Sportster aficionados will more likely applaud the resurrection of the 2.1 gallon 'peanut' tank, which, on this model, is contrasted against lightening holes in the backbone mounting bracket beneath. You might also notice the naked headlight bereft of the chrome "eyebrow" that's been seen on most Sportsters since the dawn of time. Forward-mounted controls also make the scene here; the only other 1200 with that configuration is the Custom.
The Forty Eight will definitely get you noticed, which seems to be the point here. With the older members of its Baby Boomer customer base set to turn 65 this year, Harley hopes the Dark Custom sub-brand will appeal to younger, female and upcoming riders, and from what we've heard so far, it is.
Let 'Er...Rip
As you ease down on the DVD-size solo seat, the Forty-Eight splays you out, directing body weight back on the glutes. Unlike the kinder Nightster, with its mid-mount controls and more upright riding position (though lower seat), the Forty Eight makes you stretch more. Internally, it's the same 1203cc Evolution V-twin that powers the other 1200 Sportsters. The closed-loop EFI system comes to life easily, though you have to wait for the bike's onboard computer to complete its self-diagnostics after you flip the switch to "run."