Harley-Davidson Road King Special 2025 — Specifications

Motorcycle: Harley-Davidson Road King Special (2025)

With your feet flat, eyes on the horizon, unrestricted shins, and pistons pumping, the rider of a Road King Special can travel with authenticity deeply ingrained. The motorcycle carries a piece of the night with it. Was it to avoid a relapse that it reduced the size of its crashbars? Rather to leave more room when you want to use the controls. Or to rest your feet on them, as you choose.

Assuming the posture of a king can go to your head. It's easier to understand the placement of new badges on the tank, the adoption of a Daymaker LED headlight, or the takeover of a Ventilator air filter on the engine. The monarch asserts his status but denies being an aristocrat.

Because the Road King is perhaps the simplest, most obvious, and most traditional way to envision the journey west. Whether it be American or from any horizon. Some years, there is only one Road King in the lineup. Sometimes there are three. The standard FLHR, for cruising with serenity and understated flair; the Classic, to assert a certain vintage attitude; and this Special version. It too is powered by the M8 block, in its 114 ci version. It claims a more taciturn look, an expression situated between the threat and the promise of a bottle of Kentucky bourbon.

To create the Road King Special, MoCo used essentially the same recipe as for the Fat Boy Special. Dark, night-like elements to cover the metal. Scents of black settled in countless places: on the engine protection bars, the manual controls, the mirrors, the turn signals, the engine and air filter covers, the exhaust silencers, and the heat shields, concluding from the bottom of the fork to the end of the Mini-Ape handlebar. This handlebar is intended to place the rider in a more aggressive position, while preserving comfort.

Is it expecting to cross paths with Big Foot? That would explain the mounting of larger shoes. The 16-inch wheels have given way to more substantial elements, 19" at the front and 18" at the rear. The Prodigy rims, that intense black, and the noticeably stripped-down fork make the bow much more aggressive. While the rear sits and tapers with its specific saddlebags, overflowing onto the ends of the exhaust. Its lowered profile is not due only to the design: the saddle is here lowered by 10 mm.

In order to continue the intimidation, a robust engine proves mandatory. Fortunately, the Road King lineup has been offered the Milwaukee-Eight twin. Rich in valves, torque, and presence, it has managed to forget some vibrations and preserve a vintage appearance. On this model, black has almost completely invaded it. Only the cooling fins, the pushrods, and part of the cylinder heads have allowed themselves to be tempted by chrome. Since 2019, the Special has been even more special with an additional 123 cc of displacement. The 1868 cc mechanics offers more than 1 mkg more than the previous 107.

The 2020 evolutions focused on electronic equipment, sensors, and assistance. Equipped with the ReflexRDRS pack, this Road King hides its game well. You believe it cruises as in the old days while it is controlled via a multi-level traction control (Standard, Rain, disconnected), an antidribble by management of engine torque, an ABS and a linked braking system sensitive to the angle, a hill-start assist, and a tire pressure monitoring system. A mastery in silicon that one would not even have dared to imagine 10 years ago on a Milwaukee machine.

As both Road King and Touring, the Special also benefits from emulsion shocks and a double-valve fork. The lineup wanted to offer more comfort for its riders, and made an effort on the suspensions. Enough to satisfy this cruiser with a certain weight, exceeding 350 kilos. Expect to generously enjoy the road, keeping in mind that riding requires a certain posture and anticipation. Don’t try to play with it like it’s a former 883.

M.B - Constructer photos