Reminiscent of the FXRT, this Low Rider ST brings back fond memories.

I might be a little biased towards the 2025 Harley-Davidson FXLR Low Rider ST. You see, it reminds me of the 1991 FXRT Sport Glide I once owned. It was one of several Harleys I’ve owned over the years, but by far it was my favourite. The FXRT was an odd bike at the time for the Motor Company, sitting somewhere between the low-slung Softail cruisers and the kilometre-swallowing Electra Glide touring bikes. It sat tall and boasted the most cornering clearance of any of the Harley models available at the time, including Sportsters. It had a solid chassis, a rubber-mounted drivetrain for silky smoothness, and lots of cornering clearance. Upgraded suspension and brakes (compared to the FXR Super Glide on which it was based), made it a great sport-touring bike, which was unusual for Harleys at the time.

The biggest factors that connect the FXLR-ST to my Sport Glide are its uniquely styled frame-mounted fairing — a design clearly influenced by the FXRT — and its hard-shell saddlebags. But it’s also a great sport tourer.

Harley’s website describes the Low Rider ST as having “FXRT roots, reimagined.” And indeed, that’s the feeling the ST evokes while riding it at a multi-model launch held in the hilly backcountry just outside of Austin, Tex. 

MORE POWER FOR THE ST

The Low Rider ST isn’t a new model for 2025, but it gets many significant upgrades, one of which is a new Milwaukee-Eight 117 H.O. V-twin. This year, Softail models will be powered exclusively by a Milwaukee-Eight 117 engine, as Harley has dropped the 114 cu.in. twin from the models that used it previously. However, there are now three variations of the 117. 

As its nomenclature suggests, the H.O. is the high-output version that powers the FXLR ST and its stripped down FXLR S sibling. The twin claims 114 horsepower and 128 lb.-ft. of torque, up from last year’s 103 hp and 125 lb.-ft. The other versions of the new Milwaukee-Eight engine include the 117 Classic in the Street Bob and Heritage Classic (98 hp; 120 lb.-ft.), and the 117 Custom in the Breakout and Fat Boy (104 hp; 126 lb.-ft.).

All 117 engines have new four-valve heads with design features borrowed from the 117 and 121 engines in Harley’s touring bikes and CVO models. These include reshaped combustion chambers, oval intake ports and low-profile intake valve seats. Compression ratio is a relatively high 10.3:1, thus the bike requires premium fuel. The heads are a kind of hybrid version of the heads on the liquid-cooled Milwaukee-Eight, but instead of coolant circulating through the cooling passages, it’s engine oil that first passes through a large oil…