Harley-Davidson CVO 1800 ROAD GLIDE ULTRA FLTRSE 2015 — Specifications

Motorcycle: Harley-Davidson CVO 1800 ROAD GLIDE ULTRA FLTRSE (2015)

How can you justify forty thousand euros for a motorcycle that barely puts out a hundred horsepower and weighs nearly half a ton? The answer from Milwaukee comes down to three letters: CVO. Here, we’re no longer talking about simple transportation, but about a cult object, a rolling statement of faith. Take the Road Glide Ultra base, already a comfortable workhorse, and drown it in a deluge of chrome, leather, and high-end technology. The result is this FLTRSE, a machine where excess becomes the norm.

Its heart beats to the rhythm of the Twin Cam 110, the famous Screamin’ Eagle. With its 1801 cm3, it’s the largest V-twin offered by the firm. The figures? A power output of 98 horsepower, which is quickly forgotten in the face of a monstrous torque of 155 Nm, available from 3750 rpm. This wave of torsion almost makes you forget the colossal weight of 439 kg fully fueled. On the road, it’s a sovereign propulsion, a feeling of inexhaustible force that defies the laws of physics and common sense. The announced top speed, 170 km/h, is unimportant; the essential thing is in this ground-hugging thrust, accompanied by the deep and loping melody characteristic of Harleys.

The Rushmore project brought its share of technical refinement. Partial liquid cooling of the engine tames the heat in town, while the 43 mm telescopic fork and pneumatic rear suspension attempt to tame the mass. The braking system, entrusted to 300 mm discs and four-piston Brembo calipers assisted by ABS, is up to the task, that is to say powerful but solicited. The real revolution for the rider comes from the fixed fairing to the frame. Unlike the Batwing of the Electra Glide, this streamlined head fairing with its vents reduces turbulence and offers a more natural steering feel, a key point on a motorcycle as heavy as this one.

But the CVO is above all an orgy of equipment. The list is endless: the sparkling Slicer wheels, the Airflow parts, the perforated leather heated seats, the Boom! Box 6.5 GT audio system with integrated GPS, the cruise control, the hands-free kit. The saddlebags and Tour-Pak top case offer a cargo capacity worthy of a small car. Everything is designed for long-distance travel in ostentatious luxury. That’s where the price is understood, or not: you pay for exclusivity, for impeccable finish, for this status as a rolling collector's item.

This Harley-Davidson Road Glide Ultra CVO is obviously not for everyone. It targets the confirmed globetrotter for whom travel is a ceremony, aesthetics a religion, and the budget a secondary consideration. It is the anti-sport par excellence, a machine that values spectacle, sensation, and standing well above pure performance. Faced with its Japanese or European competitors, which are often more technical and lively, it fully embraces its heritage and its excesses. For the pilgrim of American roads, it may be the ultimate machine. For others, it will be a monument of incomprehension. But in either case, no one will remain indifferent.