Harley Project Rushmore

Hi, I'm Bob LaRosa. Welcome to Fix My Hog. I want to take a nice thorough look at doing regular maintenance, regular service on the Project Rushmore twin-cooled 103. Just a brief history on what's been billed as Project Rushmore. It is a culmination of over four years of Harley-Davidson doing independent research, logging on thousands of hours in the wind tunnel, logging on uncountable miles on the road. But more importantly Harley-Davidson as a manufacturer allowed the general public to not only give them direct input but also take part in the Project Rushmore concept, from concept right to development. It allowed the general public to ride these motorcycles as they were designing and testing things. This particular motorcycle, there is over 100 feature changes between the last generation of touring model and this particular model that you're looking at. The changes, some are minute, like 1% increase in tour pack capacity. Some are great, right down to the highly-rumored Harley-Davidson liquid cooled engine. This is the twin cooled engine, 103 cubic inch, twin radiator in the lower fairings. Electric water pump to circulate the water which circulates through the cylinder head and takes away the excessive heat created at the exhaust valve. It is also thermostatic highly controlled. It's a very nice tight package. It's not cumbersome like a lot of liquid-cooled designs you may see. And again, being part of the Project Rushmore design, it has form and function. For the first time, I believe, in Harley-Davidson's history, form doesn't follow function. They seem to be running side by side. Where you're able to utilize the changes but also realize that it made a great change to the drivability of the motorcycle. Not only making it easier to ride, whether you're a novice or highly experienced, but also making the motorcycles extremely comfortable and allowing us the motorcyclists to go farther than we've ever gone before. Some of the changes, whether it be the wider stance on the handlebar, the ergonomically correct and located conveniently switches, the joystick-style control for the new touch screen, 6.5, what's known as the boombox infotainment system. Not only does it have a large touch screen, but it also offers unlimited connectivity to the motorcycle. Whether it's wireless Bluetooth, whether it's voice recognition, or again whether it's the ergonomically designed, very easily accessible switches. This system again is rivaled by the automobile industry. We finally have something in our possession, and again we're thankful to the Project Rushmore that this exists. They've allowed us on the limited model painted inner fairing. You have hydraulic clutch, hydraulic master cylinder. A great leap forward in braking capability has been the introduction of what's known as reflex-linked ABS braking system. The reflex-linked ABS braking system not only allows those of you who have plenty of money to buy extra tires, the comfort, I should say, to lock the front brake and do a burnout. But more importantly, it keeps independent systems, front and rear under 25 miles per hour. So you don't need to worry about low speed turns or light parking lot curves. Where if you apply a lot of front brake you're gonna feel the back applied equally. This system only works from 20 to 25 miles an hour and up. It is still in your hands beneath that. Two independent hydraulically-driven brake systems that become one unit, regardless of what lever or pedal is applied above 20 to 25 miles an hour. Other great refinements have been, they introduced what's known as the slip stream design on the new bat wing fairing. Just a flip of the button allows a nice cool stream of air to enter the outside of the fairing and exit behind the windshield for the rider's comfort. You can see Harley's paint is second to none in the industry. The colors are vibrant. The metallics stand right out. Two-tone pinstripes. The entire finish is incredible on all these models. Their primary objective, the thought behind the design, was if you can't operate the fuel door, the saddlebags, the tour pack with one hand with a gloved hand for that matter, it doesn't belong on this new motorcycle. Everything is push and open. Everything operates effortlessly. Again, over a hundred design changes just on this model alone. I want to move on to the front end. They have moved from a 43 millimeter fork tube dimension to 49 millimeter. This is almost a 20% gain in diameter. When you increase fork tube diameter, you increase overall structural rigidity of the front end. The upper and lower fork trees are also cast to be stiffer. The lower slider assemblies are beefier. Again, without compromising excess weight. Another increase in diameter and design has also been applied to the neck bearing assembly itself. Brembo brakes offer four piston dual-disc front, four piston single-caliper, single-disc rear. You can see the beautiful 17-inch impeller design wheel. The open rotor design allows a nice clean view of the wheel. You can appreciate the impeller design. Harley-Davidson's gone as far as coming up with what's known as dual-tread technology for the tires. This means there's a harder compound in the middle and a softer on the edge. Reason for that, this motorcycle loves to take corners. The softer the compound in a corner, the more bite, the better feel you have on the road. Again, whether you're a novice or you're an experienced rider. I can't think of a single upgrade on this model that won't benefit both of you. The 103 is a flawless engine design. Again, it is liquid cooled. It has two passages that are piped in around the exhaust valves to carry away the excessive heat. It's been highly rumored for years. I'm glad to see Harley-Davidson was able to do it in a twin cam configuration. I didn't want to see that nice looking fully-chromed twin cam design go to the wayside in order to get a little liquid for rider or passenger comfort to lower the heat that the engines generate. These motorcycles are designed with a built-in charger plug right from the factory. So you don't have to install your own. You just access the plug, you plug the motorcycle in, keep the battery fully charged. Again, one hand, one finger design is what lies behind the Project Rushmore design. It's one of the many refinements that they've made. And I, again, I can't stress enough, none of them are not warranted. They were a great motorcycle prior to this generation. This Project Rushmore has just made it a better unit. The lock in the saddlebag is now located in the hinge. You don't need to worry about scarring or scratching the premium paint to lock or unlock the saddlebag. Same applies to the tour pack. When it comes to ease of opening and closing, as it does the saddlebags and the fuel door, one finger, everything's opened. There's a new retractable tether and a premium hinge system. Again, if you've ridden dressers with tour packs, you know, the complications and the issues that arise prior to this design I'm showing you. This bike is so well refined, there's even a 12-volt outlet inside the tour pack. What you need it for? Again, the options are endless. We're expected to ride this generation of dresser farther than we ever have before. So when you have new outlets, new ports, what's known as the jukebox for the infotainment system. Allows you direct connectivity with a USB port or you can charge your phone. Latches lock, unlock simple. The tumbler is in the middle. This motorcycle, whether you look at it from front fender to rear fender has a full compliment of LED lighting. Whether they're their day maker headlamp, the LED fog lamps, the beautiful-billet style turn signals with the LED bulbs. Everything on this motorcycle is LED. The tour pack running brake light, the brake light, the fender tip lamp, all LED. We all know LEDs burn much cooler, use less energy and are much brighter. The lifespan is incredibly long compared to what we've been used to in the past. When it comes to passenger comfort, always been a big issue on the dresser. People were just happy to have a space for a passenger. This new design has picked up inches in width, inches in length. They've reconfigured the armrest. They've gone to a nice five and a quarter size speaker that's captured where it doesn't allow the sound to escape but exit in the direction it should. You'll also notice the rear saddlebag guards or bars have been pulled downward and pulled back. This allows for the passenger not to have to worry about rubbing the bar against the back of their leg when they're enjoying the ride. Again, I can't tell you enough how much Project Rushmore has accomplished and what they've given us as an end result product. There is a bunch of information out there. In fact, there is a display at the Harley-Davidson Factory Museum pertaining just to the design of this project Rushmore model. This is eight models deep in the Harley-Davidson lineup, but I can assure you the refinements and the upgrades will tumble down in the next few years. And you're gonna see a lot of these upgrades go across the board to all the Harley-Davidson models. And it's a good thing, because it's gonna give us the riders the motorcycle that we've wanted, that we've needed, that the industry has evolved into to allow us to go longer, more comfortably.