Cruisers have a reputation for not always being the best handling machines, and it's not entirely undeserved. The Motor Co. can make a hell of an engine, but the inherent nature of something like say, a Fat Boy, with its slammed stance, steep rake, and fat tires, precludes any potential it might have had of handling happily. The 2026 Harley Davidson Low Rider S is a West coast take on the cruiser idea, and you know what they have on the West coast? Winding roads! Lots of em!
Chassis
The Low Rider S is handily the most aggressive of Harley-Davidson’s Softail-chassis bikes, being stripped down and lean, with hardly any chrome, narrower 19 and 16-inch wheels, a steeper 28-degree front fork, with dual 300mm Brembo discs up front and anti-lock brakes.
The 43mm front forks get flipped upside down and fitted with firmer, linear-rate springs, instead of the usual progressive coils. The rear shock also gets hardened with a linear coil and higher shock position, and mid-mounted, high-ish foot pegs round out the changes, and it all adds up to a cruiser that can lean! Not only can it tilt over 31 degrees, it feels like it wants to!
Muscle
Power comes from a rubber-mounted Gen 2 Milwaukee Eight 117 High Output engine. Obvious improvements to this unit include the badass Heavy Breather intake and nasty 2-into-1 exhaust, but it goes more than skin deep. It gets a new aluminum intake with a larger throttle body breathing into new, high-flow heads, with a hotter cam and stiffer valve springs, plus improved cooling.
The result is 114 horsepower and 128 foot-pounds of torque, with all the breathing improvements leading to very eager response that doesn’t run out of breath at high revs, and it’s still a stump-puller, too. The relatively new addition of ride-by-wire throttle control means you now have ride modes and traction control to help protect you in sub-optimal conditions, which isn’t a bad thing.
On the road
Harley pitches this as a cruiser that rips. That is 100% accurate.
You’ll probably get used to the seating position very quickly; you’re still upright, just not quite lounging like on other Harleys, and it makes sense once you start hustling, which you’ll be encouraged to do almost immediately. The big H.O. motor is so eager to pull that you’ll have to recalibrate your wrist, and it sounds properly mighty through the murdered out headers.
The 6-speed gearbox on this bike is gorgeous too, actuated by a long-ish throw lever with a crisp, decisive action. There's no quickshifter, and I didn't miss it; the interplay of the shift action and clutch throw and throttle response are all very harmonious at speeds high and low. It gets going quick, with a very satisfying action between gears, piling on the miles in a hurry. The feel from the binders is good, with the front feeling just a tad more alert than the rear, but it’s reassuring and easy to modulate in bringing things back down.
You’ll have to get used to some bicycle steering at lower speeds, and you still gotta push it to start a lean and hold a line, but you don’t have to fight it like a Fat Boy. It’s still very much involving and engaging, it loves being thrown around and encourages you to do it; it's invigorating because it's fun, not because it's hard work. It’s really impressive what the Softail chassis can do when set up to handle like this.
When you’re not hustling it, it’s still a pretty comfortable bike. And, despite the hot rod among Harley Softails, it's probably the easiest to ride, it's forgiving, the clutch is very progressive, and neutral is very easy to find. You’ll have to shell out for the ST if you want wind protection, and the firmer suspension is, well, firm, but the excellent seat makes up for it, and it’s still satisfying to cruise - I’m not sure I’d say it felt any less stable than any other Harleys, and the maneuverability only proved to be a boon around town, rather than a burden on the highway.
Wrap it up
This bike’s murdered out metal and Aurora Blue paint add two grand to this bike’s base price, bringing the total up to $27,599. I am a little taken aback at how much I loved riding this bike. Easy to ride but not at all characterless, tons of charm and style, it's faaast, and has kick-ass sound at speeds high and low, it’s comfortable, and it’s fun to fling around, which I didn’t know was possible on a cruiser. I didn’t even get it home once before I decided I need something like this in my life.