With a large screen, pillion footboards for comfort, a more generous touring seat, saddlebags, and - most importantly - the backrest, your companion will think the world of you if you go for this model! And at only £1000 more than the standard Kingpin, the extras are all easy enough to unbolt. Onlookers will ask if it's a HOG, but you can be smug in the knowledge that it's not so common and possibly more sought after!įancy living more in the lap of luxury? Does your partner always want to come with you for the ride? The Tourer may be the better option for you. It's an extravagance of iron that will have heads turning wherever you ride. Slice of Pie anyone? The Kingpin is a twist on Mom's Apple Pie - with a cherry on the top! Pin the throttle wide open and feel the wind on your face and your eyes water as 92 cubic inches of US muscle propels you forwards in blurred exuberance. Heads will certainly turn as you blip on by pedestrians in the local high street. But even without that additional outlay, the exhaust note is crisp and pronounced even in stock legal trim. If you want to beef up performance, a Stage 1 tuning kit consisting of cans, air box and filter plus a re-map will set you back around £550, but will be well worth it. The idea of this is to produce superior power at high rpm in an attempt to get ahead of the pack - especially a certain 'other' US brand - which it must be said it does admirably. The Freedom engine is the same as used in the Vegas and V92c models and features overhead cams with four valves per cylinder. The spread of the power delivery from the lazy 1507cc lump has been altered from last year's more aggressive Vegas, to produce a more user-friendly spread, giving plenty of To ensure that all important hard-tail image is preserved, the rear shock is hidden deep in the bowels of the Kingpin, leaving simple unadulterated clean lines which only help to bring attention to the twin-port exhaust and belt drive one side, and the aluminium swingarm on t'other.

Coupled with huge 300mm discs at both ends, there are none of the fretting moments where you can only hope that you can stop in time as a car comes to a standstill 200 yards ahead! The slower turning will take a while to get used to, but the wide bars offer enough leverage to countersteer the Kingpin through corners, while scraping the generous footboards on the tarmac.īrembo has supplied the stopping power in the guise of twin pots front and rear. The Dunlops work well, giving plenty of feel and grip on the road and that's very important as the Kingpin is such a long beast. This works admirably, although turning is somewhat sacrificed as the front tyre is a whopping 130 section, while the rear is a fat-enough-for-a-cruiser 180. The idea of an upside-down forks set-up is to make the front end stiffer and more responsive. The front suspension is new, with the addition of upside-down 43mm forks.

American kingpin review