Harley Adds Special Low Rider, Street Glide, and Road Glide ST

[Hugh Janus]

Harley’s latest addition to its Enthusiast Collection for 2023 includes this Road Glide ST with Fast Johnnie graphics. (Harley-Davidson/)

Looking back on the last year or so, you could be forgiven for thinking that Harley’s on something of a power trip. Three of its new model releases, including the 2022 Street Glide ST and Road Glide ST and 2023 Breakout models have received the bigger 117 Milwaukee-Eight engine, and a few months ago, H-D’s Screamin’ Eagle division dropped the 135ci Stage 4 Big Crate Engine, Harley’s biggest and most powerful V-twin yet. Then, just last week? We saw the debut(ish) of the new 2023 CVO Street Glide, packing a new VVT 121ci powerplant.

Harley’s latest horsepower-themed release, then, flies a bit under the radar. That’s because the addition of the special Low Rider, Street Glide, and Road Glide ST to the Enthusiast Collection doesn’t result in a bigger engine or power boost, but does continue the horsepower theme in the form of…graphics.

The Fast Johnnie treatment for this year’s Enthusiast Collection is given to three models: the Street Glide ST, Road Glide ST, and Low Rider ST (left to right). (Harley-Davidson/)

Yep, you heard right. To recap, the Enthusiast Collection “celebrates the diversity of our community and the unique backgrounds and interests of people within it,” as official MoCo literature would have it. To that collection H-D has just added not one, but three new limited-edition models: the Low Rider ST, the Street Glide ST, and the Road Glide ST bikes, each of which gets a special factory-direct custom Fast Johnnie paint and graphic treatment as a nod to racing themes of the past.

According to Harley, the Fast Johnnie paint scheme taps into iconic designs featured on high-performance muscle cars and pony cars of the 1960s and 1970s, which often paired “racing” or “rally” stripes over an in-your-face base color, and then usually added a dynamic graphic.

The three new additions to the Enthusiast Collection all get basically this same treatment, with the Low Rider ST, Street Glide ST, and Road Glide ST sporting the new Celestial Blue body color with custom white detailing, the Enthusiast Collection logo on rear fender, and a different graphic on either side of the fuel tank—Fast Johnnie on the left, and the Bar & Shield on the right side. These elements are meant to separate the high-performance version of a vehicle from the standard vanilla iteration, and with the Fast Johnnie character, H-D is also giving a shoutout to its Screamin’ Eagle factory baggers in the King of the Baggers series, which also sport the graphic.

(H-D lore says that a piglet named Johnnie was adopted in 1920 by H-D racer and Wrecking Crew rider Ray Weishaar. The piglet became the team mascot and usually got a ride atop the fuel tank on postrace victory laps, goes the story.)

Related: Harley-Davidson Launches Brand-New Enthusiast Collection

Custom stripes over Celestial Blue paint and Fast Johnnie logo on the Road Glide ST tank. (Harley-Davidson/)

“The striping graphic effect is a powerful signal to the generation that came of age during this era, and is still impactful today,” said Brad Richards, Harley-Davidson vice president of design and creative director. “The Celestial Blue base color selected for Fast Johnnie recalls a popular tone from the muscle car era. For the graphic striping, we created a custom white color formulated to authentically reflect the era, executed in a classic thin-wide-thin pattern on the sides and top of the motorcycle bodywork.”

The Fast Johnnie character is based on an old Wrecking Crew mascot, and can also be seen on H-D’s factory baggers in the King of the Baggers series. (Harley-Davidson/)

As for the underpinnings, all three bikes retain their 2023 base model mechanicals, with the shark-nosed Road Glide ST ripping up the asphalt via a Milwaukee-Eight 117 powertrain while parading West Coast style and black-and-bronze finishes up top. The Street Glide ST offers much of the same performance, also sporting a muscular Milwaukee-Eight 117 powertrain and new dark-and-bronze finishes, but capped by an unmistakable batwing fairing up front. West Coast style comes in a leaner V-twin package on the Low Rider ST, which also delivers a serious punch from the Milwaukee-Eight 117 V-twin powertrain and likewise offers the same mechanical features as the base 2023 Low Rider ST model.

The Enthusiast Collection Road Glide ST is mechanically unchanged from the 2023 Road Glide ST model. Bar & Shield graphic appears on the right side of the tank. (Harley-Davidson/)

The two touring bikes add another layer on the accessory side of things if you so choose: color-matched King Tour-Pak carrier, Chopped Tour-Pak carrier, and saddlebag speaker lids are being offered via Harley-Davidson Genuine Motor Parts & Accessories. This special Enthusiast Collection paint scheme is offered factory-installed for the 2023 models, with combined production limited to no more than 2,000 models.

The Fast Johnnie–treated Street Glide ST also runs with the same underpinnings as the 2023 base model. (Harley-Davidson/)
The Fast Johnnie graphics seen on the back end of the Road Glide ST. (Harley-Davidson/)

Source

[Catteeclan]

I can see the practical side of those fairings but the bikes would look so much better without them.
 

[Sir Fallsalot]

2 hours ago, Catteeclan said:

I can see the practical side of those fairings but the bikes would look so much better without them.
 

And if they didn't make me think of this

[Buckster]

I like the Low Rider ST.

[Catteeclan]

10 hours ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

And if they didn't make me think of this

Not just his name then