Push the starter button on Harley-Davidson’s new 2022 Sportster variant, the $13,499Nightster, and things don’t happen as expected. The Revolution Max 975T engine spins up without drama, clatter—or much sound at all from the stock 2-into-1 exhaust. The handlebars don’t throb in your hands at idle, and the shift lever doesn’t clunk when dropped into gear, it just clicks. There are no potatoes to be heard.

The sleeved-down 60-degree V-Twin patiently ticks away beneath you, and as I held the clutch in with a group of journalist riders on a turnout on curvaceous Highway 33 in southern California, it seemed like the Nightster was… waiting. Waiting togo, not show. Waiting to see if my riding skills were up to the challenge of this road, a favorite of local sport riders. Waiting to charge into corner after corner, not cruise through town to yet another club.

It may have the somewhat sinister ‘Nightster’ moniker, but Harley’s latest motorcycle built around the new modular Revolution Max power train is perhaps the Motor Company’s most mixed message yet: It’s no chromed-out, ape-hangered open-piped low-and-slow ego bike. It’s a snapping, middleweight ripper, just as the Sportster was intended to be when first introduced in 1957 as the lighter, leaner alternative to the big bikes. Now, the Sportster is back in truly sporting form.

Our clutch of about a dozen riders seemed to split into two groups: Those content with enjoying the seemingly endless supply of curves on the 33 at a brisk but conservative clip, and those hustling to keep Harley’s Paul James’ tail light in view as the Director of Motorcycle Product Planning pushed his Nightster up the two-lane mountain highway at speeds that seemed to increase along with the altitude.

我骑在短一点的集团,我们慢started up the 33, but as I got a better feel for the Nightster, it egged me on, and before Team James disappeared into the hills, I popped it into Sport mode, gunned the 90-horsepower mill toward its 9,500 rpm redline and clicked up through the six-speed gearbox to catch up, an almost Ducati-esque howl rising within the mill’s intake honk.

For mile after mile, we pushed up the cornering speeds until I was lightly touching the center-mounted pegs down on both sides of the bike to keep up. Nothing serious, except for that one time I had the bike heeled over and the pavement sunk slightly, compressing the suspension and sending a shower of sparks into the path of a rider behind me. But the Nightster remained on line and even when pushed hard, it rides with a calm neutrality and to be honest, unexpected comfort thanks to the firm and well-shaped solo seat.

That may all sound like some heroic riding on my part, but the truth is that besides the semi-mythical Buell-infused Sportster XR1200 from well over a decade ago, this is the fastest, lightest, most agile and confidence-inspiring motorcycle Harley-Davidson has built in many moons. It has more power than the XR while weighing in at 481 pounds wet, over100 poundsless than the old air-oil cooled, push-rod actuated five-speed machine.

Track day experience and decades of road riding certainly helped me explore the limits of the new Nightster, but suffice to say I had to push hard to grind those pegs and I never came close to finding its top speed, despite seeing triple digits peek at me on the speedo more than once. This bike will shameanyair-cooled Sportster – Roadsters included – as well as the majority of the 1,000cc-class V-Twin competition out there, save theIndian Scout machineswith which it directly competes. And that’s all according to plan.

To get the Sportster Nightster into fighting shape, Harley returned to the Revolution Max’s base architecture of using the engine as a stressed member as on the Sportster S andPan America, and then bolted on Nightster-spec front and rear subframes to hold the forks, a 19-inch front rim and a 16-incher on the swingarm. As noted, this engine is now 975cc but it’s still the same physical size and uses the same casings and gearset as the Sportster S. However, it has lost one spark plug per head along with variable valve timing on the exhaust side while retaining it on the intake cam, which saves a bit of weight, lowers complexity and saves a bit of cost as well. Otherwise, it works and acts the same as on the bigger S, but with 90 ponies instead of 121 and 70 pound feet of torque spread across the wide rev range.

It also includes much of the same S-model tech: three ride modes (Rain, Road, Sport), constant hydraulic valve lash adjustment, variable traction control, ABS, a slipper clutch, and a tidy LCD screen in the round speedo with gas gauge, GPI and data bits like RPM and range to empty—and a clock. That “platforming” strategy saves Harley time in design and production of course, and it’s a safe bet we’ll see many more variations on the RevMax theme over time.

Harley may take offense to this statement but they shouldn’t: The Nightster is not a pretty motorcycle. There isn’t a speck of chrome on it, and the stock exhaust both looks and probably is heavy. You get three tank color options from the factory: basic Black is stock, or choose racy Red or the New Gray (both +$350) as I call it, which I at first dismissed as “shiny primer” but it kind of grew on me over time. The rest of the bike—fenders, frame, the round but largely ceremonial “air cleaner”—is black, save the engine, which stands out in light gray. Up front, there’s a radiator, coolant tank, hoses and even the battery, all largely shielded by plastic covers.

Black seven-spoke wheels carry single Brembo disc brake rotors, and the “gas tank” doesn’t hold a drop of fuel—that’s now held in a 3.1-gallon tank under the seat. The fake tank, formed in metal, is actually a big airbox so the engine can breathe deeply, and moving the gas and battery down low on the Nightster makes it feel even lighter than it already is. A small glossy black bug screen reminiscent of the Low Rider S rides above the headlight. Twin emulsion shocks with preload ride out back, instead of a monoshock as on the Sportster S. The standard-style front forks are not adjustable.

It may sounds like a bit of a mess but the thing is: It works. The Nightster’s “style” is that of a bike withpurpose, and it looks fast, not flashy. If buyers still want an air-cooled Sporty, the 883 Iron and 1200cc Forty-Eight models remain in the lineup in theCruiser category. The Nightster sits with its Sportster S sibling in the newSport category, which is definitely where it should be. I would imagine it will get some more company before long. Still want to cruise-ify it? H-Ddoes offera forward control set, leather panniers, style bits, wind screens, pillion pad, backrest, riser bars and even braced dirt bike style bars, but in my mind if you go all in on those options, you’re sort of missing the point of the bike.

The Nightster isn’t perfect. The gearbox shifter travels through an odd-shaped linkage that made shifts feel a bit vague to me, but I also never missed a gear or had a false neutral, and it’s a far smoother and lighter shifting experience than the old five-speed. Rear shock travel is now three inches, up from two; a bit more would be better along with some adjustability for the forks. And while the single clock keeps the handlebar clean and includes a numerical tachometer in the informative LCD display, the Nightster deserves a proper dial-style display of revs, be it digital or otherwise. Cruise control would be a nice add as well.

In remarks ahead of our ride, James and VP of Styling & Design Brad Richards had a very clear message about the Nightster’s target audience: New riders. Young riders. Women riders. Speed merchants. And if the Harley Faithful shout “sacrilege!” about the new Nightster, James and Richards were clear yet again: We don’t care. It’s not for them. It’s time to move on. Like the LiveWire electric bike, the Pan America adventure machine and the Sportster S, the Nightster points again to Harley’s dual-personality future: cool classic cruisers for those that love them, and modern, competitive high-performance bikes for riders like me that want American-made options for roads both twisting and dirt-covered.

I feel that Harley-Davidson, under CEO andturnaround specialist Jochen Zeitz,一个真正的现实的密苏里州的整体视图torcycle market both in the U.S. and abroad, and they know the competition is fierce outside of the cruiser/touring bubble where the brand prospered—and then found itself imprisoned. Any truly “new” Harleys will need to match or exceed expectations of riders outside of the loyalty crowd, however unlikely many pundits (myself included) initially thought that was going to be.

但很明显,这是可以做到的。锅里美国certainly capable and a hot seller. The fat-tire Sportster S is more of a niche power cruiser, but the Nightster shows that Harley can also build a powerful, good-handling middleweight at a decent price. New bikes with even more sporting capabilities built around the Revolution Max are likely in the pipeline. Is the beefyBronx naked bikereally dead? Hard to say. How about anew VR1000, or a VR1250 or even a newV4 Novato go up against Ducati, Aprilia, Honda and the rest? With this new Revolution Max architecture and more bold bikes like the Nightster and Pan America, it seems all things once thought impossible are now very much in the cards for The MoCo.

Make it so, Jochen.