2016 Harley-Davidson FXSB - Softail® Breakout®

2016 Harley-Davidson® Softail® Breakout®

Nothing compares to grabbing a fistful of American muscle made for the street.

Take a long look at the glittering new High Output Twin Cam 103™ engine on the Breakout™ motorcycle, ready to deliver mountains of torque to the meaty 240mm tire out back. Its profile sits low, long and unmistakably aggressive. Drag bars go on top. This bike exists to defy gravity, along with everything else.

• Authentic Styling

One look at a Softail motorcycle shows you something beyond a teary-eyed nostalgia exercise. What you see is a style with the power to outlast time. It's honest and uncluttered, untouched by whatever fad is current. That's for a good reason. Over our many decades on the road, riding, wrenching and swapping ideas with fellow custom bike fanatics, we've learned what works. We then hold on to it and use it to keep pushing the limits of motorcycle design further and further. Consider the horseshoe oil tank that graces our Softail models. It's identical to the one on a restored dresser from the '50s or a radical Panhead chopper from the '70s. And right now, you'll spot it on future Harley-Davidson models still being sketched out. Other makers might be satisfied copying fragments of our long history. Every single part of a Softail motorcycle, right down to the axle nut cover, springs from authentic tradition. Each with a genuine reason for appearing as it does.

• Iconic Engine

At the core of every Softail model sits the air-cooled 45° V-Twin engine, a prime illustration of why a Harley-Davidson motorcycle satisfies more than anything else. Its shape is clean and uncluttered, and it fits perfectly within the frame's downtubes. Roll on the throttle and torque surges in exactly where it matters. The Motor Company has deep knowledge of what it takes for an engine to genuinely stir a rider, and that knowledge has been put to especially good use powering the Softail family. Because we counterbalance the engine, we're able to mount it straight to the frame. That keeps the styling compact at the bike's center. It allows the rider to feel the V-Twin's pulse. Even so, no vibrations shake the fillings loose from your teeth. For 2016, a good thing improves even further. The Softail family steps up in power with the new High Output Twin Cam 103™ engine. At Harley-Davidson, more power is always tradition.

• Technology

What's beautiful about the technology on a Softail motorcycle is that it never appears technological. That's no accident, and it isn't easy, especially given that the family draws inspiration from the clean, wide-open lines of a vintage hardtail. Load it up with too many high tech gadgets and you end up with an entirely different machine. Consider the anti-lock brakes, now standard on many Softail models and offered across the line. ABS delivers the control you want from a modern motorcycle. Still, our teams of industrial designers and engineers kept going until the entire system had a streamlined design. The same holds true for the clean handlebar look, made possible by a new electronic throttle system on every Softail model. Year after year, putting a bit of technology into the ride looks increasingly good.

• Handling

If a Harley-Davidson Softail motorcycle is something you've never experienced, now's the time to discover what you've been missing. The time-honored Softail frame has racked up untold millions of miles, and we've made good use of every one. The outcome: among the most fun rides anywhere in motorcycling.