Throughout its entire tenure, dating back to 1988, the Heritage Classic has led something of a double life, essentially filling a transitional niche between two distinct platforms, the lean retro rigid-mount Softails and the dressed-up mile-hungry Touring models. There was no way around it. The Heritage drew the assignment of being the Softail model purpose-built for extended two-up travel while remaining true to its roots, and it managed that balancing act nicely for a good many years, effectively measuring up to the roadworthiness standards of a basic tourer for the most part while remaining to all appearances stuck in 1951. But then it began to slip, and that’s because while Harley-Davidson’s Touring models stayed current with the ever-increasing competence and amenities of the modern form, experiencing dramatic modifications in both 2008 and 2009, the Heritage Classic actually retrenched further into its retro identity in 2009 with extensive restyling that included a cat-eye dash, half-moon floorboards and oval brake pedal pad, none of which added to its bare-bones suite of touring features—and in the case of the floorboards, arguably detracted from it.
