The NIghtster loan came about when my wife and I attended the launch event at Harley-Davidson Cheltenham. My wife entered me in the competition to win the loan for ten days, which much to my surprise I won. I was very grateful for the opportunity to try the new model.

First, some background on myself, to put the loan into perspective. I passed my motorcycle test at 17, owned a number of bikes and then like many riders had a hiatus from motorcycles before getting back into biking later in life. I caught the Harley-Davidson bug in 2005 when the wife and I were on holiday in Florida and coincidentally ran into Biketoberfest. That was it -I was hooked. It’s like a drug! Now I’ve got four Harleys in the garage, starting with a 2002 V-Rod, then a used CVO Ultra bought when my son wanted to go with me to Rome for the 110th Anniversary, then a Road Glide Ultra in 2016 that took me four years to finish customising. Most recently they have been joined by a Pan America adventure bike. I’ve also been a H.O.G. member since 2010 and have ridden in Europe and the USA many, many times – so you could say I’ve got some Harley experience!

Having completed the loan now and returned the bike, here are my thoughts. The Nightster is very light with a low centre of gravity, making it very easy to ride, very competent in the corners and very easy to throw into both left and right bends on twisty country roads. The motor is powerful with a good sporty feel to it and pulls like a train. I’ve got the bigger 1250cc motor in my Pan America, and to be honest I didn’t notice any difference in power between the two. There’s no lack of power at all and it pulls really well through all the gears, even with what seems to be quite a big gap between first and second gear – not really a fault, just a bit of a long leg between the two that you soon get used to.

Criticisms? Well, I did notice some vibration in both the handlebars and the mirrors at high speed; perhaps because the bars are solidly mounted to the yoke – maybe a rubber damper or something similar would eliminate that. I felt it would also make sense to have the mirrors mounted higher to give more confidence when filtering, which I found the bike itself to be excellent at.

Other points are mainly design related, so they are really a matter of personal opinion. The bike is dominated by the size of the exhaust (the standard manufacturer size), which really draws the eye – some people will really like that and others maybe not so much; also if it came with a pillion seat as standard then I think it would appeal to more people instead of being restricted to solo use, assuming pillion pegs could be fitted.

The other main question mark for me is the price point; as the bike seems to be designed to replace the old model Sportsters, it is quite a jump in price, particularly if you wanted to add pillion riding capability and saddlebags, which would make it a more useable everyday bike. I haven’t ridden the more new Sportster yet, so I’d like to try that to see if the higher specification justifies the extra money it costs over the Nightster or not.

Looking at the bike from the point of view of a customiser, I can see an obvious path towards giving it an attractive café racer look with clip-on handlebars, rear pegs and a café style seat and maybe spoked wheels rather than cast alloys. With the earlier Sportster range there was obviously a huge range of options for customisation; I guess it is early days for the Nightster so we will have to see what the options are for different exhausts, seats, and other parts to personalise it.

So, would I buy one? Personally, being over six feet tall and 16 stone, the bike is just a little too small for me, although I can really appreciate the power and the handling, and the liquid cooled engine is clearly a move in the right direction. Even though I’m not the target customer, I thoroughly enjoyed the Nightster, and I think it would really appeal to the smaller rider looking for a fast and great-handling bike. I also think there is huge potential appeal to female riders. In fact, my wife is learning to ride at the moment, and she can plant her feet firmly on the floor with the Nightster, which is a huge advantage. We’ll be looking for something for her in the near future, so who knows, there could be a Nightster joining the other bikes in the garage!