Harley-Davidson FLSTSE CVO Softail Convertible 2010 — Specifications

What if true freedom was the ability to change personalities in five minutes? That’s the bold gamble of this Harley-Davidson FLSTSE CVO Softail Convertible, a 2010 machine that skillfully plays on two different themes. On one side, it presents itself as a perfect touring bike with its compact fairing and leather saddlebags adorned with buffalo hide, a material that also generously dresses the seat and passenger pad. All this touring equipment is cleverly designed to be disassembled without tools, revealing the other facet of the beast: a streamlined custom cruiser, with a solo seat, where the vibrant paint and chrome take center stage. A metamorphosis as rapid as it is radical, perfect for those who would like to ride on the National 7 on Saturday and cruise the quays on a custom bike on Sunday.

Under this chameleon bodywork, you’ll find the large 1800 cm³ Twin Cam 110 V-Twin engine, a mechanical component that delivers massive torque of 131 Nm from 2500 rpm. Power, however, is rated at 96 horsepower, a figure that will make sports bike riders smile, but which makes perfect sense here: it’s the wave of traction, this locomotive thrust from low rpm, that defines the character. With an engine like this, you don’t chase the tachometer; you savor smooth and sonorous accelerations, ideal for swallowing long straight stretches without fatigue. The power-to-weight ratio, with its 343 kg fully fueled, doesn’t invite acrobatics, but the Softail chassis, with its hidden rear suspension, offers that famous rigid line so prized by purists, while also correctly absorbing road imperfections.

When you place this Convertible next to its competitors of the time, such as a Honda Gold Wing or a BMW K 1600 GT, the gap is abysmal. Here, there’s no intrusive technology, sophisticated ABS, or Swiss engines. Harley bets everything on emotion, aesthetics, and raw sensation. Braking, provided by simple single discs on each wheel, requires anticipation, and the 19.7 liters of the tank remind you that breaks are meant to be savored, not avoided. It’s a machine that demands complicity, which is ridden with the heart and arms more than with the knee.

The audience for this CVO? An elegant traveler, an aesthete who refuses to choose between the comfort of travel and the panache of a custom. At 30,000 euros new, it was aimed at a wealthy clientele, willing to pay the price for a rolling work of art and versatile, badged CVO – the cream of the crop at Harley. Its strengths are its ingenious transformation concept, its impeccable finish with details like the chrome tank console or the new digital instruments, and this unique sonic and tactile atmosphere. Its weaknesses? Its weight, its consumption, and dynamic performance far below what modern touring segment offers.

Ultimately, this Softail Convertible is much more than just a motorcycle. It’s a statement of intent, a proposition of motorized double life. It doesn’t seek to be the fastest, the most agile, or the most technological. It offers something rarer: the possibility of embodying two different road dreams with a single machine. For the rider who thrives on adrenaline, it will be too placid. But for the epicurean who sees the motorcycle as an extension of his style, it remains a seductive and profoundly original proposition.