Aiming at both budget-minded big-inch cruiser fans, as well as serious customizers, the new 2020 Harley-Davidson Softail Standard is all about presenting buyers with a basic motorcycle at an attractive price—$13,599 MSRP. Although it’s easy to call the Softail Standard a stripped-down model, it’s fully rideable and looking good right off the showroom floor. Let’s dive into this new, least-expensive 2020 Softail.1. You get Milwaukee-Eight 107 powerplant with distinct visual touches. This motor is no slouch, putting out 110 ft-lbs of torque at 3000 rpm. The 107 is a mix of black paint along with polished pieces, with the rocker, primary, and timer covers all getting the semi-shiny treatment. The 3.5-gallon tank isn’t exactly a peanut, but it shows off the motor nicely.
Chrome and black are the highlights of the day on the 2020 Harley-Davidson Softail Standard. The Vivid Black frame, fuel tank, air-cleaner cover, and short fenders, are contrasted by chrome rims, exhausts, mirrors, headlight bezel, turn signals, and mini-ape handlebars and riser bar clamp (which incorporates a tiny digital dash). Throw in polishing for the triple clamps and clear-coated fork legs, and you have a striking bobber-style motorcycle.
The solo seat height is approachable, and the suspension is not minimalist. You get the Showa Dual Bending Valve fork with 5.1 inches of travel, as well as the latest Softail back end with 3.4 inches of wheel travel controlled by the emulsion shock. That matches up well with a 26.8-inch seat height.
The 19-/16-inch wheel combo goes perfectly with the mini-apes and mid-controls. Harley-Davidson Series Dunlop D401s are mounted on the chrome steel rims with wire-spoke wheels. The disc is standard 300mm/292mm mix, with ABS as an option.
Harley-Davidson Genuine Motor Parts and Accessories is offering four custom packages to get you started on personalizing your 2020 Harley-Davidson Softail Standard:
Day Tripper Custom Package
Day Tripper Custom Package: Perfect for those who want to go two-up, you get a pillion, 21-inch sissy bar (detachable), and passenger pegs. To make room for the passenger’s legs, this package moves the rider’s foot controls forward. There’s also a Single-Sided Swingarm Bag so you can keep your pockets empty. Day Tripper Custom Package Price: $1050 MSRP.
Performance Custom Package
Performance Custom Package: A 50-state-legal brew, you get a Screamin’ Eagle Stage II Torque kit (improved throttle response), Screamin’ Eagle Breather Performance Air Cleaner, Screamin’ Eagle Cannon mufflers (with bassier tone), plus a Screamin’ Eagle Pro Street Tuner to make it all run perfectly together. If the dealer installs the kit, your factory warranty remains fully intact. Performance Custom Package Price: $1300 MSRP.Coastal Custom Package
Coastal Custom Package: Featuring West Coast styling and performance touches, this adds a quarter fairing, Moto Bar black-anodized handlebar with a 5.5-inch riser, accommodations for a passenger, and wide footpegs from H-D’s 80Grit Collection. Coastal Custom Package Price: $1600 MSRP.Touring Custom Package
Touring Custom Package: You can take it with you, as this package has Detachables saddlebags and 14-inch windshield. You don’t have to leave your significant other behind, as this grouping comes with a Sundowner seat for two, passenger pegs, and a 14.5-inch sissy bar. The Touring Custom Package is convertible, as the bags, windshield, and sissy bar are all easily detachable. Touring Custom Package Price: $1700 MSRP.
Although the 2020 Harley-Davidson Softail Standard is just one low-priced model, it’s actually five models between $13,599 and $15,299.
Hello everyone and welcome once again to Ultimate Motorcycling’s weekly Podcast—Motos and Friends.
My name is Arthur Coldwells.
This week’s Podcast is brought to you by Yamaha motorcycles. Discover how the YZF-R7 provides the perfect balance of rider comfort and true supersport performance by checking it out at YamahaMotorsports.com, or see it for yourself at your local dealer.
This week’s episode features Senior Editor Nic de Sena’s impressions of the beautiful new Harley-Davidson Low Rider ST that is loosely based around the original FXRT Sport Glide from the 1980s. Hailing from The Golden State, these cult-status performance machines became known as West Coast style, with sportier suspension, increased horsepower, and niceties including creature comforts such as a tidy fairing and sporty luggage.
In past episodes you might have heard us mention my best friend, Daniel Schoenewald, and in the second segment I chat with him about some of the really special machines in his 170 or so—and growing—motorcycle collection. He’s always said to me that he doesn’t consider himself the owner, merely the curator of the motorcycles for the next generation.
Yet Daniel is not just a collector, but I can attest a really skilled rider. His bikes are not trailer queens, they’re ridden, and they’re ridden pretty hard. Actually, we have had many, many memorable rides on pretty much all of the machines in the collection at one time or another.
From all of us here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode!
1. You get Milwaukee-Eight 107 powerplant with distinct visual touches. This motor is no slouch, putting out 110 ft-lbs of torque at 3000 rpm. The 107 is a mix of black paint along with polished pieces, with the rocker, primary, and timer covers all getting the semi-shiny treatment. The 3.5-gallon tank isn’t exactly a peanut, but it shows off the motor nicely.
