Refining The Street Glide | 2010 Harley-Davidson FLHX Street Glide

Since the end of 2005 Harley-Davidson's Street Glide (FLHX) has been a huge hit out on the streets of America. The birth of the Street Glide was another moment in H-D mimicking the real life out on the road. By that, I mean Willie G. Davidson and his creative and engineering crews gave the people what they wanted: a sleeker, more nimble Touring bike. There was definitely a push for more form over function-not something usually drawn into the plans for a Touring motorcycle.

Builders were already chopping parts off baggers, such as the bulky Mickey Mouse ear-looking passing lamps and the front fender light, along with slamming the suspension to the ground. Even though the chopper scene and all its shenanigans was in full force the MOCO saw the future in its Touring platform and created a motorcycle that appealed to a much wider demographic. Suddenly, riding a bagger didn't mean having to make excuses or hiding your face from all of your cool friends.

In fact the FLHX was the first bagger I rode that made me take a step back and reevaluate my priorities. Up to that point I think that I bought into the stereotype of an old guy who gave up his sporting, youthful ways to just sit back and wait until it was all over. In addition, at the time I felt the Ultra was just too big, too heavy, and too tall for my girly, slender physique.

Harley and the Davidson team sure changed my attitude in a hurry, seemingly building the Street Glide just for me: it was lowered from the factory, sleek, and understated. But, the real eye-opener was throwing a leg over the machine and riding it. The steering was so quick and agile that I almost wadded the bike making the first turn out of the Juneau Avenue headquarters. Things only got better as the day progressed and the sparks flew off the floorboards.

That was five years ago on the old FL chassis. There have been some large, incremental changes since the first 2006 FLHX-no more carburetor, fatter and larger wheels, Six-speed transmission, six-gallon gas tank, along with an extra eight cubic inches. Things have gotten even better for the Street Glide with the '09 campaign with the new frame and swingarm as well as new wheel and tire sizes.

In case you are newer to this swanky bagger scene the newest iteration of the stock motor now tops the scales at 96ci. Cradling all of those cubes is a chassis that was redesigned from the ground up for all of the '09 Touring models. The new frame and beefy swingarm were designed to increase load carrying capacity while also improving the handling characteristics. Two new rubber isolators were added to the bottom, front of the motor replacing what had only been one prior to 2009. This change definitely helped with motor shake at idle while the whole package.

While the chassis remains the same for the '10 Street Glide there were a few changes made to the bike that addressed both the cosmetic as well as the functionality of the bike. On the rolling side of things the new FLHX comes standard with a new cast aluminum 18-inch front wheel with a lower profile tire. It was hard to tell a difference between last year's 17-inch hoop but with the new rubber it surely couldn't hurt having less sidewall flex from the new tire. On the rear is still the 16-inch wheel with a 180/65 multi-tread Dunlop tire designed for the best compromise between handling and longevity. Our test bike came equipped with the standard triple caliper Brembo calipers with the added security of H-D's optional ABS. We've come to really like Harley's ABS and figure it's cheap insurance when the going gets rough, especially in wet and sandy conditions. It's mostly invisible until you need it when you can feel the ABS kick in. The ABS will occasionally engage when you don't want it to-such as hitting a sharp bump while moderately braking, but it doesn't make the bike do anything it shouldn't.

Rear suspension duties are handled by twin air-adjustable shocks that do a decent job of controlling the bumps. The FLHX comes with 1-inch shorter shocks than its more dressed up siblings. While the lowered springs help the bike look good and are more manageable for shorter riders the shocks can be on the harsh side, especially two up. There's only 2 inches of travel for the rear wheel. Up front a pair of 41.3mm traditional, telescopic forks do a nice job of handling the bumps providing over 4 1/2 inches of travel. Dive is minimal even with the Batwing fairing and all of the associated electronics attached to the forks.

On the cosmetics side the most obvious change on the bike is the new 2-into-1 exhaust system. There's no longer a crossover or a pipe on the left side of the bike; all exhaust passes through a four-inch muffler. One point that was overlooked by H-D was keeping the left-side exhaust hanger bracket that resides under the saddlebag. It looks cheap and serves no purpose. On the plus side of that is if you decide to go with a traditional 2-into-2 system the hanger is already there. But it bugged me. Another exhaust/emissions change are new heated oxygen sensors and their new home at the base of the headpipes (under the transmission side cover). The new sensors are much smaller than the old units and not as visible. The engineers were able to move the sensors out of the way because they are electrically heated compared to the old sensors that needed the exhaust heat for proper operation. The bike's computer uses information from the O2 sensors (and others on the bike) to maintain the proper air:fuel for efficiency, power, and emissions. H-D's closed-loop feedback-controlled fuel injection varies the fuel output according to real-time sensor data. The system works flawlessly and is very welcome when encountering bad gas or changes in altitude. Returning is the electronic throttle control that operates the throttle body through wires and a motor instead of the traditional cable operated throttle.

Out on the road the Street Glide is a fun bike to ride. It has ample power right out of the box and the gearing seems spot-on. One notable change to the transmission was the addition of a helical-cut Fifth gear inside the transmission. The previous straight-cut fifth gear had an audible whine to it (only while in Fifth gear). This situation seemed to vary between different bikes and models and even depended upon what kind of pipes were on the bike. Gear-whine never seemed like much of a problem but sometimes sounds can be amplified and reflected back at the rider by the fairing.

Sheetmetal on the '10 is the same as the previous model year with the deep, trimless front fender, six-gallon fuel tank, and wide rear fender. Harley cleaned up the rear fender by pitching the traditional tail-brake light setup. Two small lights that sit above the license plate now handle all of the stop/turn/tail light duties. The chrome bracket holding the lights together conceals the license plate light. At the bottom of the rear fender the LED Tri-line provides additional illumination.

All in all the 2010 FLHX delivers a slightly upgraded touring package compared to the '09 model. The Street Glide has been such a good and popular bike from the beginning and was exponentially improved upon last year so it's not surprising that changes were kept to a minimum. From a rider's perspective the Street Glide delivers one of the best all around Touring bike experiences. It's a great commuter, looks good parked in front of your favorite pop and suds establishments, and is a better than average long-distance rider. While not as plush as its taller Ultra sister the tradeoffs are worth it in our opinion.