2024 Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide ST First Look

[Hugh Janus]

The Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide ST’s Screamin' Eagle graphic on the fairing and tank is inspired by Harley-Davidson’s factory King of the Baggers racebike. (Harley-Davidson/)

If the MotoAmerica King of the Baggers series made allowances for homologation specials—extra-trick, ultra-premium motorcycles made in small but sufficient numbers to be considered production motorcycles by sanctioning bodies—Harley-Davidson would have no choice but to produce one for purchase at your local dealership. However, the KOTB rules are written to encourage a degree of parity between factory and independent teams, and to instigate some big-time privateer in-house development, so H-D is off the hook. It’s not required to produce a homologation special to support its factory effort. Too bad for us.

But wait. Here’s the 2024 CVO Road Glide ST: your shot at owning a limited-number, tricked-out bagger like we’ve never seen. Homologation special? Not quite (not even close, really), but it’s still a special machine.

While the 2022 Road Glide ST and Street Glide ST models introduced us to the production performance bagger concept, the 2024 Road Glide ST sidles through the CVO department on its way to even greater performance potential. The new CVO Road Glide ST takes advantage not only of the ST designation, but of 2023′s CVO Road Glide overhaul, from which it borrowed a version of the Milwaukee-Eight 121 VVT engine, electronic rider aids, and styling.

Check out that forged carbon fiber front fender. Forged carbon uses chopped pieces of carbon fiber instead of woven sheets for increased stiffness. Looks like it belongs on a supercar, which doesn’t hurt either. (Harley-Davidson/)

At the heart of the CVO Road Glide ST is that Milwaukee-Eight 121 VVT engine (VVT stands for variable valve timing). Displacing 1,977cc and specially tuned to produce a claimed 127 hp and 145 lb.-ft. of torque, it has, according to The Motor Company, the highest performance figures of any production Harley ever. To drive the point home, the CVO ST has a lower final-drive ratio to boost acceleration.

The Wyman brothers’ Screamin’ Eagle factory racebikes use a Screamin’ Eagle Milwaukee-Eight 131 performance crate engine—a modified one at that, dubbed the 131R. But still the 121 engine is no joke. In fact, figures from Harley-Davidson’s website suggest that peak performance figures of a standard 131 crate engine, available to any customer through an authorized H-D dealer, aren’t too far off the numbers Harley quotes for the CVO RG ST’s Milwaukee-Eight 121 VVT.

The CVO Road Glide ST uses the same dash as the standard Road Glide (pictured). (Harley-Davidson/)

Weight reduction is at the heart of performance, so the CVO Road Glide ST uses a generous helping of exotic materials. Harley says the CVO ST is 25 pounds lighter than the CVO Road Glide, bringing weight down to a claimed 800 pounds (dry). OK, using exotic materials to drop 25 pounds may sound like low-hanging fruit when we’re talking about an 800-pound motorcycle, but still, there’s nothing not trick about forged carbon fiber: The front fender, exhaust end cap, seat cowl, and tank console are all made of the stuff. Other weight-saving measures include the use of a titanium muffler. Wave rotors and the design of the wheels are responsible for decreasing unsprung weight.

The Milwaukee-Eight 121 VVT is The Motor Company’s latest flagship Big Twin. (Harley-Davidson/)

The CVO ST uses fully adjustable Showa suspension: twin rear shocks with remote reservoirs and a 47mm inverted fork. Brembo brakes front and rear provide stopping power.

Like other Road Glide models, the CVO Road Glide ST has a suite of electronic rider aids with four preset ride modes, and uses a 12.3-inch TFT dash and an infotainment system powered by Skyline OS. It’s the same kit as on the 2023 CVO Road Glide and the 2024 Road Glide. A 500-watt amplifier and Harley-Davidson Audio powered by Fosgate Stage II 6.5-inch speakers, while not great for weight loss, mean riders don’t have to sacrifice sound quality for speed. Or something like that.

The CVO Road Glide ST is available in Golden White Pearl or Raven Metallic. (Harley-Davidson/)

While the CVO Road Glide ST is no Screamin’ Eagle Road Glide Special factory racebike, it is without a doubt the most performance-oriented production Harley-Davidson bagger ever built, and for that H-D deserves some serious credit. There are some who will say adding forged carbon fiber to a heavyweight tourer in the name of weight loss is just posturing. And in reality, shedding 25 pounds does seem like a drop in the bucket. But H-D knows its CVO audience. For them, the added performance, the pride of ownership inherent to having the latest and greatest—and the premium material/premium cost bragging rights that come with it—might justify the price, which, by the way, is $42,999. Forged carbon fiber doesn’t come cheap…

For those who want the real equivalent of a homologation-spec bagger, well, keep on dreaming and attending KOTB races—maybe one day it will be more than just a dream.

Find the 2024 CVO Road Glide ST in authorized H-D dealerships beginning this month.

Harley-Davidson says the CVO Road Glide ST leads the 2024 CVO lineup, and for good reason. (Harley-Davidson/)

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