Living With The Harley-Davidson X440 For A Month

Let me start this off with a caveat… riding a bike for one month / 1000km is hardly a “long-term” test. But this is the most time I’ve spent with the Harley-Davidson X440 at a stretch. Primarily, I’ve been using the X440 for my daily commute, which is about 40km in total, along with a couple of weekend rides to nearby locations like Lonavala. So this report is about what it’s like to live with this baby Harley on an everyday basis… at least for one month!

A bigger caveat

Ok, so we didn’t get a brand new X440 from Harley-Davidson. The bike arrived in a truck at our office with 6002km already on the odometer. And it wasn’t in great shape to begin with. First of all, the fuel tank was bone dry, and there were already some scuffs and scratches on the crash guards, as well as a bit of rust on some bolts around the handlebar, indicating that the bike had seen a fair bit of (rough) use. Seeing all the ‘Destination X Ladakh 2024’ stickers on the bike, along with a ‘Marshal’ sticker, made it clear where all the damage had come from. But we’ll get to the issues in a bit.

A great commuter

Although it wouldn’t be fair to refer to a 440cc bike as a commuter, I did spend most of my time commuting on it from home to work and back. And in this role, the X440 is absolutely wonderful. The seat is almost throne-like, and while you’re not stretching your feet forward like a typical Harley-Davidson cruiser, the centre-set footpegs do make for a very comfortable riding position.   But more than anything else, it’s that engine that’s really great in the urban jungle. Sure, for a 440cc single, it’s quite laid back in terms of performance. But that’s exactly what worked in its favour when I was doing my daily commutes. There’s lots of torque available pretty much from the word ‘go’, and while it’s not the most tractable motors out there (it can’t carry really low speeds in high gears without juddering badly), stick it in the right gear, and it chugs along to a wonderful soundtrack from its exhaust. Its single-cylinder motor obviously can’t play the typical V-twin ‘potato-potato’ beat, but it’s got a nice thump that’s as pleasing to your ears whether you’re riding at city speeds, or cruising down the highway.

Easy rider

Speaking of cruising down the highway, everything that makes it a great city bike also makes it super relaxing to ride on open roads. Even though it’s packing a 440cc motor, don’t expect crazy performance levels. Cruising at 100kmph happens smoothly without any troubling vibrations on any part of the bike. And since my daily commute is about 50-percent on the Pune-Mumbai bypass, I really appreciated its ability to sit at 90-100kmph comfortably, even though given the traffic now, those 100kmph stretches were far and few between.

A big softie

The X440’s suspension setup is quite soft - it’s supposed to be a comfortable, chilled out bike after all. And since most of the roads in and around Pune are anything but smooth, I had a really good time commuting on it. Most of the time that is. You see, the front suspension can feel a little too soft on really sharp bumps, bottoming out and sending pretty nasty shocks up to the handlebar.

Plagued with some issues

As I had mentioned earlier, our one month long term test X440 had clearly seen heavy use (and probably abuse) before it came to us. Apart from the rusting on some bolts, the cone set was loose, which meant every time I braked a little bit harder, I could feel the front end moving around, preceded by a snapping sound. And if that wasn’t enough, the gearbox on our test bike was extremely hard too, making both up and downshifts a royal pain, and nigh on impossible without wearing my chunkiest riding boots.

It’s been a good month

Switching from my 2013 KTM 390 Duke to the Harley-Davidson X440 for my daily commutes for a month was an eye opener. The Duke, thanks to its manic nature, always makes me ride more aggressively in traffic. It’s a bike that hates going slow. The X440 is the polar opposite. The relaxed pace and the comfortable seating ergonomics meant I would come home from work in the evening feeling almost completely unstressed. And an overall mileage of 29kmpl is not bad at all from my wallet’s point of view. The X440 It brought back fond memories of when I had the Classic 350 as my long term test bike. In fact, the X440 gives me an impression of how a modern-day RE Classic 500 would be like, and for that, I will always admire this little Harley-Davidson.