Harley-Davidson Low Rider ST: Low riding super tourer

Adding the ST suffix to the Low Rider moniker doesn’t immediately transform a cruiser into a tourer, but with some additional luggage, a few tweaks and a monster 117-inch capacity powerplant, Harley has added an impressive big hitter to its range

- Dave Manning

To those who aren’t dedicated fans of the Milwaukee brand, the Harley line-up can be a little confusing – the range being a collection of seemingly random letters tagged around one or two generic titles that have been used since time immemorial. Glides, Low Riders, Softails and more, all appearing to the uninitiated as being pretty much the same type of bike. Of course, the truth is that while much of the range appears to be of generic American cruiser fodder – with a few exceptions such as the Pan America and LiveWire – the individual models actually do offer a variety of riding experiences, and the 2022 Low Rider ST is no exception.

Big muscles

The ST now has the 117 cubic inch (1923cc) version of the Milwaukee Eight powerplant and, if I’m honest, the engine is the best of the Big Twin range so far. Aside from being surprisingly smooth for such a capacity, it also pulls to higher revs than you’d expect, given that many large vee-twins only seem capable of revving to 4000rpm, although with maximum torque at 3500rpm there’s little point in revving it especially hard, and it’s far better to cruise the wave of grunt and keep the revs between four and five grand, as befits a cruiser type machine such as this. But ‘cruiser’ doesn’t mean just slotting it in top gear and chugging away everywhere - that’d spoil the fun and wouldn’t show the engine off to its full potential, especially as running a gear or two too high just makes life uncomfortable with a snatchy on/off delivery.

Low profile