Harley believes black is beautiful

Sexy used to be tall, dark and handsome but Harley-Davidson is bringing sexy back with short, dark and long.

Harley's new Blackline bike features the maker's Dark Custom treatment, taking a Softail with the Twin Cam engine and the usual suspects of H-D bikes other than the V-Rod, including six-speed tranny and making it low to the ground.

One inch more than two feet, to be exact (about five inches too short for one 5-foot, 8-inch SOB who may be writing this), the Blackline helps pull in the shorter of the Harley riders. With all but one Sportster hitting less than 27 inches on the yardstick, and no bikes making more than 100 horses since the demise of Buell, the Blackline is obviously for the short of stature and for the short of tour.

It is, however, pretty.

One Harley dealers said it should fit in well with the Younger Set, those whom Harley has been catering with the Dark Custom series after announcing, when killing Buell in 2010, that "the adrenaline" market doesn't sell bikes. (EDITOR'S WARNING: This author rides a Buell. It's a Buell B-Last, which was turned into a cube by Erik Buell himself, but the author still has opinions that favor the brand.)

"I think it will be a good fit for the young demographic. Young people like stripping their bikes down," said one dealership sales manager, of the Blackline.

"It's customization through minimization and uses styling cues that are very classic. It's what people want," said one Harley official.

The Blackline joins the Cross Bones, Fat Bob and Street Bob in the Big Twin Dark Custom series. A slew of Sportsters, from the Iron 883 to the Nightster to the Forty-Eight, are available in the black-is-the-new-chrome ethic, an ethic to be appreciated by anyone who rides often.

Harley also has dumped the Sportster XR 1200 in favor of the XR1200X, which has improved suspension and more racy bits. The Sportster has the highest seat height and most horsepower of any Sporty in the line, nearly as much horsepower as the bigger engined Big Twins, but less than the CVOs.

Harleys are good bikes, reliable and fun to ride. They cost more, but they are also built in America, one of fewreadily available brands that are, including Victory. Honda's American factory, which built Gold Wings and Shadows, was closed down in 2009. The Marysville, Ohio plant still makes Honda cars.