The Best Touring Motorcycle For Riding 80 MPH All Day
Any half-decent touring bike worth its salt can sit at 80 miles per hour all day, but how it feels at that speed is what makes a difference. Some bikes feel strained and not relaxed, while others feel too boring because they have all the juice but not a sharp riding experience. However, there’s a touring anomaly that offers both high levels of sharp performance and touring-friendly comfort. Here’s all you need to know about this awesome anomaly.
Riding 80 MPH All Day Doesn’t Have To Be Boring
What do you really need for cruising at 80 miles per hour all day? Honestly, even a decent street bike with enough power can hold those speeds, but you’ll be exhausted by the end of the ride. Instead, you need something that is not only powerful but offers plenty of wind shielding and comfort. So, when you reach your destination, you arrive fresh, not beaten by the weather or tired because you had to squeeze out every bit of performance from your bike. Finally, you also need storage to carry your gear and luggage.
All of these requirements point straight to touring bikes, especially baggers and full-dressers. These land yachts have couch-like comfort with plenty of tech, massive engines, and plenty of wind protection up front. Think Honda Gold Wing Tour, Harley-Davidson Street Glide Limited, or BMW K 1600 series. As good as these bikes are, they are also pretty heavy, and they trade in an exciting riding experience for comfort. While that’s well and good, it’s fairly easy to get bored with such bikes when you have to ride them all day long.
Fortunately, there is an exception, and no, it’s not a sports tourer. This is an American performance-first bagger that builds on the classic bagger formula with a seriously powerful engine and sporty underpinnings. Showing just how performance-focused this bike is, it also features plenty of forged carbon bits all around. If you ever thought about what it’d be like to tour on a King of the Baggers racer, this is as close as you can get without buying a competition bike.
The Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide ST Is A Split-Personality Tourer
The Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide ST is the kind of bike that will make both touring and sports bike enthusiasts scratch their heads. It’s a race-inspired bagger based on what is already an amazing touring platform, the standard Road Glide. Except, with the full CVO treatment, the CVO Road Glide ST combines touring comfort with genuine track-ready bagger performance. And unlike other sporty tourers, this bagger leans heavily into performance without alienating traditional bagger buyers.
From a distance, one might even mistake it for a slightly souped-up Road Glide; it still features the imposing Sharknose fairing, a laidback flyline, and side panniers at the back. Get a little closer, and you’ll know this one means business. With a Milwaukee-Eight 121 High Output engine, track-ready components, and carbon fiber bits all around, this one is purpose-built for performance.
Don’t worry, it doesn’t lose its comfort for performance, either. Underneath the menacing looks and aggressive stance, it’s still a Harley bagger. The fairing up front works to keep the wind off you, while the seats are said to be surprisingly comfortable. And saddlebags at the back offer enough storage space to carry your gear. The CVO Road Glide ST lets you cruise on the highway all day long and have serious fun when the road gets twisty.
It’s An Expensive Motorcycle, Though
Being a CVO bagger, the Road Glide ST is not a cheap motorcycle. It starts at $44,999 for the Inferno Gray and Electric Coast color options. However, you’d still want to pay the extra $4,500 premium for the spicy Citrus Heat color option. That’s a steep price, but the bike makes up for it with a full CVO treatment, pushing itself into the exclusive territory. As CVO baggers have shown, the Road Glide ST should also hold its value well over the years.
Relentless Acceleration And Relaxed Cruising Are Both Possible
The CVO Road Glide ST is powered by the mighty Milwaukee-Eight 121 High Output engine, displacing 1,983cc with a 11.4:1 compression ratio. Unlike a regular Harley-Davidson tourer, however, this V-twin engine trades in a bit of its calm demeanor for relentless performance. It also loses its variable valve technology in favor of better peak power output. As a result, Harley claims this engine spins quicker, revs higher, and has a much punchier mid-range pull.
The result, you ask? The engine dumps 127 horsepower at 4,900 RPM and a tire-shredding 145 pound-feet at 4,000 RPM. This is higher than any other Harley tourer. For reference, the standard M8 117-powered Road Glide and Street Glide only offer 130 pound-feet of torque, while the flagship CVO Street Glide Limited has 139 pound-feet. Harley-Davidson also claims the bike offers the sharpest throttle response ever to come out of a Harley-Davidson factory.
Keeps Pulling Harder Than You Expect All The Way To The Redline
On the road, this means the CVO Road Glide ST should feel exhilarating to ride. In our review of the CVO Street Glide ST, which shares the same engine, we found it offered an immediate, punchy throttle response that only keeps pulling harder all the way to the redline. This is a thoroughbred performance engine that will let you live out your King of the Baggers dreams.
You’d think its focus on performance would come in the way of touring comfort, but that’s hardly the case. If you don’t twist the throttle like a madman, the engine still lets you take it easy and cruise. In fact, 145 pound-feet of torque means the engine should feel unbothered at highway speeds, with plenty of oomph on tap for quick overtakes or short bursts of acceleration.
Even The Underpinnings Support Its Dual Personality Nature
Under the skin, the bike still features a touring chassis and tips the scales at 838 pounds. It’s a heavy motorcycle. However, we found its twin to handle gracefully in corners, suggesting that the CVO Road Glide ST should feel no different. It also boasts a cornering clearance of 31 degrees on either side. And being a tourer, it should still feel planted on the highway despite its sporty hardware.
The CVO Road Glide ST sits on high-end, fully adjustable suspension, including a 47mm Showa upside-down fork with DLC-coated sliders up front. It’s complemented by remote reservoir rear shocks. The suspension comes with full adjustability, letting you dial it in for precision on the twisties or comfort on the highway. Harley says the suspension makes the bike feel planted on the road while offering plenty of control and feedback, too.
Other Hardware Bits Are Nothing To Scoff At, Either
Other hardware bits further support the bike’s sporty inclinations. Braking duties are handled by dual floating rotors gripped by radial-mount calipers, promising sharp, consistent braking performance. Even the 7-spoke wheels are said to minimize unsprung mass. Oh, and wait till you count all the forged carbon fiber bits on the bike: the front fender, console, rear seat cowl, and more. All of these not only reflect the bike’s performance-oriented nature but keep the weight as low as possible. Compact billet aluminum floorboards and black powder-coated titanium mufflers round things off.
Comfort And Tech Are Still There For The Long Haul
All this while, the CVO Road Glide ST still retains the standard tourer’s soul. That’s reflected best in its relaxed riding triangle. It’s a bit different from the standard Road Glide, though, thanks to the moto-style handlebar that sits on six-inch risers. Harley says this handlebar offers a more commanding, race-inspired riding position. It’s paired with Switchback Collection mini-boards and grips that offer a slightly more aggressive riding triangle for when you want to corner hard in the twisties.
There’s still the imposing Sharknose fairing at the front that promises excellent wind protection as well as aerodynamic performance. It’s topped with a red-tinted windshield, reflecting the Performance Red accents present all over the time. At the back, there’s a pair of side panniers that can hold 2.42 cubic feet combined. Harley also offers two top cases as accessories.
All The Tech You’d Ever Need
Finally, we get to the Road Glide ST’s tech package. It’s headlined by the massive 12.3-inch infotainment system running the Skyline OS that neatly offers critical data. It’s paired with a Rockford Fosgate Stage II speaker setup, including two speakers, but you can upgrade for up to six speakers, too. You also get to pick between 8 ride modes: Road, Rain, Sport, Track, Track+, and 3 custom ones. TPMS, vehicle hill hold, and cornering-enhanced ABS, traction control, electronically linked braking, and drag-torque slip control (E-DSCS) are standard, too.
Source: Harley-Davidson
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