Bike Review: 2007 Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail

I have to confess something: I think I fell in love. I feel exceedingly guilty for cheating on my Sportster this way, and I am sure I will never live it down. I just don’t know how you can say “no” to a wide front tire flattening the road out for you, a lower center of gravity that comforts you during those harder-leaning turns, and handling that essentially lets the bike drive itself.

I honestly felt like riding this bike was like taking all of the good parts of riding and all of the good parts of driving a car and blending the two together. You get the freedom and openness of a motorcycle, but the comfort of a car. The seat was much easier on my tailbone than that Road King – much more supportive and I didn’t feel a distinct ache in my butt after riding it for two days.

What’s with the tiny saddle bags though? It seems like slightly larger ones could be attached without sacrificing much in the way of looks. All Heritages come standard with saddle bags, but if you plan on taking this thing on a road trip, make sure you make good use of the luggage rack on the back.

Also, ladies, you really can’t beat the looks you get while you’re riding around on this thing. Like my experience with the Road King, I got a lot of double-takes. While stopped at a stoplight in the middle of a construction zone, I enjoyed a few hoots and hollers. Can you tell I’m a bit of a show-off?

More and more I’m believing that while these bikes such as the Road King and Heritage are larger and LOOK more intimidating, they are so much easier to handle than the smaller Sportsters or other “beginner” bikes. I’d love to see if someone sitting on a bike for the first time could handle something like this, because I really believe that the size wouldn’t be an issue once they got moving. You barely feel the bike underneath you. Obviously you’d want to mess around on a dirt bike a little first, just so you know how to work a clutch and shift gears before getting on something larger, but after that, I think beginners would find these easier to handle and safer to ride than most of the standard “beginner bikes” out there. Thoughts, anyone?