The Harley-Davidson Breakout 117 New Comfortable And Responsive Chassis

There’s keyless start and cruise control, the latter simple to work, with just a push in to standby mode and a push down to set speed.
There are some traditional features too, like the self-cancelling indicators on the right and left switch blocks, and the unadjustable hand levers for the clutch and front brake.
As per, these are built for the Jack Reachers rather than the Tom Cruises of this world. Being in the latter group, (for hand, not wallet size) we’d put in a request for lever adjustability.
This has a fairly comfortable riding position, the bars slightly closer than they were on the 2021 bike as the risers are almost 20mm higher (they’re angled back towards you).
The LCD screen is so laughably small you might wonder where it is without the ignition on. Turns out it sits atop the handlebar holders.
While it seems to impart precious little in the way of information, we rather like that. Set the bottom readout to revs, trip, range to empty or whatever, only not fuel use; there’s a separate gauge for that and it doesn’t tell you the average consumption figure.
Harley suggests 5.6L/100km. We quite like the minimalism of it though; essentially you only look down to check on the speed and what gear you’re in so there’s very little in the way of distraction.
Speaking of, you might find the hero blobs on the feet-forward pegs touching down on occasion, through tighter bends.
You only need to lean it over to 27 degrees before the sparks fly. But ridden in more cruisy fashion as the design would suggest and progress is good.
Better than on the last iteration too which wasn’t so easygoing over rough roads; this soaks up the bumps better, though for real unruly roads it’s best to weight up the pegs and unweight your bum slightly.
Evidently the seat was reshaped to accommodate the bigger tank, and the riding position isn’t quite so raked out either.
Whatever, we managed a few longish stints with no sore bits resulting. If you’re feeling like a change of position, you can rest your feet on the rear pegs for a bit which makes it feel more like a sports bike.
We rode the Fat Boy not so long ago, and that too had a huge 240 section rear tyre but where that was a bit precious about taking tight turns and didn’t want to change direction that easily at slower speeds, this isn’t like that.
We’d suggest the bigger front wheel with the skinnier tyre makes the difference, as the extra fork rake and 30mm longer wheelbase probably wouldn’t help in that regard.
Whatever, it isn’t so averse to tighter turns, and even U-turns aren’t as precarious as you might expect. You can do them feet up once you’re in the groove.