Harley-Davidson 1870 Road Glide Special FLTRXS 2022 — Specifications

Can we still call it a motorcycle when the machine weighs 387 kg fully fueled and packs a multimedia system worthy of a German luxury sedan? The 2022 Harley-Davidson Road Glide Special FLTRXS raises the question with confidence. This bagger with its shark-like snout — the famous Shark Nose fairing mounted to the frame — looks like nothing else on the road. Where an Indian Challenger plays the card of understated refinement and a BMW R 18 Transcontinental banks on Germanic technology, the Road Glide Special owns a raw, almost provocative temperament. Its 45° V-twin displacing 1,868 cc, the Milwaukee Eight 114, produces 93 hp at 5,250 rpm and, more importantly, 158 Nm of torque from just 3,250 rpm. This is no sportbike — it's a steamroller. The six-speed gearbox and belt final drive devour miles without complaint, and the 170 km/h top speed is more than enough for this kind of riding.

On the chassis side, the tubular steel double-cradle frame houses a 49 mm Showa telescopic hydraulic fork offering 117 mm of travel up front. The rear makes do with two side-mounted shock absorbers providing 55 mm of travel. That's barely enough to soak up rough roads, but it's consistent with a seat height of just 695 mm. You don't climb onto this Harley — you settle into it. Braking relies on three 300 mm discs, two up front and one at the rear, all fitted with four-piston calipers. Standard ABS works in tandem with a lean-angle-sensitive system capable of modulating pressure between front and rear depending on cornering angle. For a tourer of this size, it's a welcome safety net.

The RDRS electronic platform doesn't stop at braking. A TCS traction control system offers two maps — dry and rain — that can be switched off on demand and is also lean-angle-sensitive. A drag-torque slip control system intervenes on engine braking during aggressive downshifts, preventing the rear wheel from hopping. A hill-start assist and a tire pressure monitoring system round out the arsenal. We're a long way from the image of a Harley stripped of all rider aids. The Road Glide Special now competes on equal footing with its Japanese and European rivals in this department.

The cockpit deserves a paragraph of its own. The 6.5-inch color TFT screen of the Boom Box GTS manages GPS, Bluetooth, intercom, Apple CarPlay, voice recognition, and music playback via USB or SD card, all delivering 25 watts per channel. The H-D Connect system links the bike to a smartphone over the cellular network to remotely monitor location, fuel level, battery charge, or detect unauthorized movement. The service is complimentary for the first year, then billed at roughly 14 euros per month. The 22.7-liter tank provides decent range for long-haul legs, and the hard saddlebags with "One-touch" latches make loading easy.

Since 2018, the Special version has cultivated a blacked-out look where most of the chrome has given way to dark finishes. Prodigy wheels in 19 and 18 inches, stretched-down saddlebags, a tapered tail, and Daymaker LED headlights. The 2022 model year does, however, offer the option of reintroducing chrome across a long list of parts — from the exhaust to the floorboards, the fork, and the Ventilator air cleaner. The Shark Nose fairing, refined in a wind tunnel, uses a triple-vent design to balance air pressure around the windshield. The handlebar brings its grips 22 cm closer compared to the previous generation, and the improvement in riding comfort is immediately noticeable. At 31,290 euros, the price tag is steep. But for a long-distance rider who wants to cross continents with a rumbling V-twin beneath the seat and a sound system in the ears, few machines offer this combination of attitude and technology.