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When friends and family ask me how long I've been with Cycle World, I don't say, “Since the debut of the Harley-Davidson Dyna platform.”
But I could.
Although Harley claims that the Dyna family can be traced back to the first factory custom, the 1971 FX Super Glide, the actual platform, with its reconfigured frame and vibration-quelling, engine-isolation system, debuted with the 1991 FXDB Dyna Glide Sturgis.
It was the first Harley created with Computer Aided Design, and with its pair of composite rubber-and-steel engine mounts (two fewer than were used on then-current FXRs), set a new standard for smooth.
“At idle,” noted our October, 1990, road test of the monochrome machine, “when the engine's power pulses are at their most violent, some booms and throbs make it all the way to the footpegs, seat and handlebar, but they hardly are annoying—in fact, they make for a rather pleasant sensation. And once the revs climb above 2000 rpm, the shakes and quakes are all but eliminated.”
I was reminded of this as I tooled toward Long Beach on Pacific Coast Highway aboard the solo-only Street Bob, a factory homage to bob-jobs of the past and one of six Dynas in The Motor Company's lineup for 2006. The carbureted, 1340cc Evolution V-Twin that powered the Sturgis has long since given way to the fuel-injected, 1450cc Twin Cam 88, further refined this year with a host of internal improvements, but, overall, the on-the-road experience is much the same.
Startup is immediate, and the black-powdercoated engine (matching the console, battery box and belt guard) settles almost as quickly into an even idle. Regardless of rpm, throttle response is hiccup-free. Output is sufficient for getting away first from stoplights but never intimidating. This is a most pleasant and charismatic powerplant.
Right up there with the engine in terms of user-friendliness—if not spiritual presence—are the new six-speed Cruise Drive transmission and easy-squeeze clutch. The first-gear “clunk” remains, as Harley intended, and the throws are positive. I never missed a shift.
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