Harley-Davidson's New 'Stripped-Down' Deadwood Is An $18,000 Tourer, But You'll Have To Bring Your Own Bags
This is a year for vintage cruisers, it seems. First Indian gave us the fantastic Chief Vintage, and now Harley-Davidson's matching the ante with a heritage-style cruiser of its own. The new Deadwood is a bike that Harley claims is a "stripped-down" homage to the post-World War II cruisers that made the brand into the name it is today.
The Deadwood has been the subject of some debate around the Jalopnik offices, though, because it's a bit... confusing. It's based off Harley's vintage-styled Heritage Classic, sharing that bike's frame, bodywork, 5-gallon tank, and 117 cubic inch engine making a claimed 98 horsepower and 120 lb-ft of torque, but the Deadwood sacrifices the Heritage Classic's chrome trim and mounted saddlebags in the name of a more lightweight appearance.
The Deadwood does get the tubeless spoked wheels available on the upper spec of the Heritage Classic, though, and retains both the big touring windshield and the triple-headlight setup. Maybe Harley's definition of "stripped-down" refers more to the $17,999 MSRP or the 686-lb claimed weight, both of which sit below the Heritage Classic.
A bike for what, exactly?
This makes the Deadwood a bit of a fascinating prospect. On the one hand, the big windshield and highway-friendly high-mounted bars seem to point towards a bike that wants nothing more than to sit on interstates day in and day out. On the other hand, though, the Deadwood can't be configured from the factory with a pillion seat or saddlebags — you'll have to get some more universal-fit units from Harley's accessory catalog and have them mounted.
Do that, though, and you start to close the $2,000 gap between the Deadwood and the Heritage Classic pretty quickly. That makes the Deadwood the prettier option by far, at least to my eyes, but not so much the stripped-down alternative to that loaded-up tourer. Bring your own universal bags, though, and the Deadwood could still save you cash while netting you extra style — get yourself some aged leather or even waxed canvas saddlebags, park the bike outside until everything gets a little bit dirty, and ride it like the post-war bikes it's based on.