02 April 2026

Time to Breakout again

Whilst not quite ready to embrace the mullet, Paul Browne is happy that a returning favourite from Harley Davidson has re-awoken his inner 80s vibe.

Please also accept our apologies should you later find yourself annoying the household by throwing shapes, pretending you’re playing a squeaky synth line and loudly singing “Breakout”.

 

While the Blow Monkeys’ ‘It Doesn’t Have To Be That Way‘ may have been the song of 1987,  Swing Out Sisters ‘Breakout’, from the year before, is the one that’s been living in my head for the last few days and refuses to go away.

The girls and boys from the band are living there for a good reason.

I went to Waterford last week and called in to the local Harley-Davidson outlet, where, unlike Bono and the boys, I found what I was looking for. My very favourite H-D was back in stock, refreshed for ’26, in the dealership. You guessed it. The Breakout.

Torque talk

There are two liquid-cooled Milwaukee-Eight powered engines available, 107ci and 114ci.

The one featured here is the larger of the two. In new money it’s a shade under 1,870cc.

Because it’s a v-twin it produces buckets of torque – 155Nm of the stuff!

The Breakout pulls like a train in the right hands, or, perhaps, in the mitts of someone remarkably irresponsible. Obviously irresponsibility is not endorsed here.

Mean machine

The bike has the look of something mean.

It’s stripped down and minimised in a wonderful way.

While there’s a pillion seat it’s not very obvious and it’s also really easy to detach.

The omission of  panniers and and screen add to the bare-bones look.

Even the ‘clocks’ are a small LCD display incorporated into the handlebar clamp.

The 21” front wheel is complemented by the utterly fantastic 2490mm rear.  

 

Spin doctor

‘Hidden’ in the bike is a whole lot of tech.

There’s ABS, plus traction and drag torque control systems. That last one stops the rear wheel from spinning up on departure.

All of these are up to date and even work when cornering.

And just in case you wouldn’t notice such things on your bike, there’s even a tyre pressure monitoring system.

The one in the Waterford store is an almost completely black motorcycle with the forks, that mighty engine and a set of contrast cut wheels all adding a perfect touch of chrome to the machine.

Once out on the road the rumble from the engine is somewhat subdued courtesy of a conventional twin exhaust system.

Despite the Breakout stretching to over 2.3 meters long, or maybe because of the way the suspension and wheel size, it handles much better than I thought it would.

I assure you, it’s  a whole lot of fun to ride.

A new 114 machine starts at €31,000 or a perfectly good 2018 one will run you slightly more than half of that at €16,999.

When it comes to engine size, bigger is always better and when it comes to eighties music, The Blow Monkeys always out did Swing Out Sister…

 Mohamed is the man you want to talk to in the dealership about a test ride. You can get him on 051 844200.

Our best Harley-Davidson motorcycle insurance quotes? Call the two-wheel team on 0818 945 950.

 

Back to listing