Imagine a Harley-Davidson you can't buy in America: meet the new Street Bob Special Edition, a pure bobber only available in international markets, including the European, Middle East and African regions.
The stripped-down Street Bob SE is based on the Dyna platform, and intended to appeal to purists, with a big-inch V-Twin engine, simple styling, a solo seat and only the most essential equipment.
It's built around a straightforward 1690cc, fuel-injected Twin Cam 103 engine with no balance shafts, rated for 130Nm at 3000rpm. Finished almost entirely in understated wrinkle black, it's rubber-mounted in a Dyna frame along with a six-speed transmission.
The rest of it is about as minimalist as it gets, or 'bobbed' in American biker terms (now you know where the name comes from), with seating for one, spoked wheels wearing Michelin Scorcher tyres (100/90-19 front, 160/70-17 rear), a 17.8-litre Fat Bob fuel tank and the shortest mudguards the styling guys thought they could get away with.
But pared-down doesn't mean plain-jane.
The Street Bob Special Edition comes with two-tone metallic blue paint and red-painted rims, a classic oval air-filter cover, rubber-mounted risers in a forged top triple-clamp and stainless-steel, internally wired, mini ape-hanger handlebars
Harley-Davidson styling maven Tony Pink explained: “This bike is for the kind of guy who would order a muscle-car with the biggest engine and no radio.”
Pared-down also means Nightster-style indicators with built-in brake lights, so there's no tail light on the simplified rear mudguard, and no trim strip on the battery box.
The Street Bob Special Edition is intended to look like you bought a standard bike and then spent some time in the garage stripping it down to bare essentials, a very American way of illustrating the concept 'less is more' - but one you can't buy in America.
You can buy one here, however, starting at R169 950.