After 120 years of business, Harley-Davidson has figured out exactly what buttons to push within its fan base. The Badge-and-Sheild brand’s CVO lineup is nothing short of a love letter to the American V-twin touring faithful, used as the vessel to showcase H-D’s latest technologies, exclusive paint finishes, and new powertrains. This year, the 2023 Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide and CVO Street Glide are taking that spirit and running with it, thanks to updates across the board.
What’s new for the 2023 CVO range? Nearly everything. The only piece left untouched is the frame itself, allowing us to pick through the dashing new infotainment system and updated Milwaukee-Eight engine as we absorb what stands as a look into Harley-Davidson’s stylistic future.
With Midwestern plains at our sides and long stretches of open highway ahead, H-D staffers let us loose on the new CVO Road Glide from its home base in Milwaukee, getting a taste of what the Grand American Touring experience is all about.
- The new Milwaukee-Eight VVT 121 is ready for the limelight in the 2023 Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide. Harley’s latest big-inch V-twin puts down a claimed 139 ft-lbs of torque at an easily accessible 3000 rpm and 115 horsepower at 4500 rpm, which should capture the strict attention of any V-twin devotee. What seals the deal are advances such as variable valve timing (VVT), allowing the massive mill to flex its stump-pulling torque on a whim.
- It doesn’t matter if you’re trundling at parade pace or wringing it out; this V-twin’s broad powerband never falters. It pulls hard and steams ahead; if you’re not careful, you’ll make friends with the redline. Beyond the satisfying acceleration, new counterbalancing aids in making this massive mill the brand’s most honed big twin yet, while leaving enough rough and tumble attitude to let us know that it is, without question, a Harley-Davidson powerplant.
- Sometimes bigger is better. The engineering theme with the 121 is more—more air, more fuel, more power, and more refinement. To do that, engineers increased the airbox capacity by 50 percent, compared to the Heavy Breather intake it replaces. As a bonus, the new air filter holder no longer conflicts with my knees. A bigger 58mm throttle body is paired up to a more efficient intake tract, and reshaped combustion chambers accommodate a big compression ratio bump over the Twin-Cooled M8 117. A new high-lift and longer duration camshaft, new valve designs, heavier springs, and computer-aided VVT not only lend a hand in making power, but also facilitate better fuel economy. See? Sometimes bigger is better.
- Cooler temps increase comfort on the 2023 Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide. New cooling channels in the updated heads have helped chill the bagger out, reducing radiant heat by a significant margin. The radiator is hidden behind the front wheel and bodywork, helping maintain the M8 121’s air-cooled masquerade. Notably, the hotter rear jug is fed liquid first, cycles to the front cylinder head, and returns to the radiator. The benefits are clear as your thighs are no longer cooked to a crisp like the Twin Cam era bikes did, and it’s a step up from prior M8 mills. Liquid cooling also plays a significant role in allowing performance strides for those not sold on the heat-dissipation benefits.
- The Cruise Drive gearbox received some TLC. A big, boisterous bagger should have a transmission that’ll withstand the kick of a lumberjack’s boot, and this H-D six-speed pulls no punches. The shifting experience edges towards the more refined side while maintaining that substantial shift-lever feel. Also, with a new neutral shift drum installed, finding neutral is far easier. The most welcome change is a minor one—the gear indicator displays your current gear, even with the full-fat clutch fully engaged. If there’s room for improvement, it’s by further reducing left-hand effort, which will help in stop-and-go traffic.
- Ride modes and rider aids are here to stay. The rider aid package on the 2023 Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide includes the usual suspects—cruise control, drag-torque slip control, hill-hold control, traction control, and cornering ABS with linked braking. The nannies keep a watchful eye in the background, as intended. Three preset ride modes—Sport, Road, and Rain—are available, adjusting everything from throttle maps to engine braking and TC intervention. Sport is the most spirited of the bunch and ramps up a touch too quickly off the line; that said, I preferred its aggressive pull. Road tamps things down for the everyday ride, and Rain needs no introduction. Lastly, customizable riding modes let you configure every setting listed above. Disabling TC can be done at the left switchgear—you never know when you’ll need to do a burnout.
- An inverted Showa fork and longer rear wheel travel are up to snuff. A first for H-D’s baggers is a non-adjustable inverted 47mm fork with 4.6 inches of travel. In the rear, new emulsion shocks offer preload adjustment (a remote adjuster on the left side for fine-tuning, with a traditional lock-and-collar behind the bag on the right). The current-gen CVOs have a slight handling edge against prior examples, with the stiffer inverted fork and increased ride height creating a nimbler bagger. Still, a touring machine needs stability, and the new chassis bits double down on that sensation, whether cruising the planes or dragging floorboards. Those are positive takeaways, while the big story here is dramatically improved damping—a much-needed and welcome addition that we hope trickles down as the chassis stays true through a curve or when soaking up the rough stuff.
- The chassis could have taken another road, and let’s examine that. I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, and we must give a hearty nod toward the new suspension; it’s solid stuff. But, as we noted in our CVO SG review, it’s a level that should have been achieved years ago. Likewise, a machine of the CVO’s affluence deserves, nay, demands, the finest equipment available. Although semi-active suspension is the gold standard among Japanese and European luxury touring motorcycles, the American V-twin brands have yet to embrace such technology, even though any touring bike is ripe for it. Automatically adjusting ride height and actively altering suspension damping to suit road conditions are massive benefits. A swing and a miss for the MoCo? No. Instead, it’s a solid base hit, but not the home run we’d like.
- The modern brakes follow modern suspension. A conventional performance theme runs through the CVO camp, revealing another first for the baggers. Radial-mounted four-piston Brembo calipers clamping onto larger 320mm rotors tear a page from the playbook of any sporting motorcycle on the market. Feel at the adjustable lever is improved above current-gen RGs and SGs, but H-D has fixed a longstanding gripe—we’ve got an adjustable brake lever now. As with most lengthy baggers, the single four-piston caliper and 300mm rotor do a lot to halt the 2023 Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide’s march.
- New styling brings aerodynamic advantages. The Road Glide’s iconic shark nose fairing, much like the even more established Street Glide batwing fairing, went under the knife in 2023, adopting a modern, aero-friendly profile. The benefits are self-evident in the calm cockpit, which, according to H-D, provides a 60 percent reduction in helmet buffeting compared to 2022 CVO variants. Wind protection is paramount on a touring machine, and the shark nose won’t let you down. The performance can be fine-tuned with the new adjustable control vane at the center to accommodate various conditions, rider heights, and preferences. The bottom line is that the new shark nose fairing is ready to pound the pavement and rack up miles.
- The design trends continue rearward. Harley-Davidson’s greatest competition isn’t between other brands; it’s an internal battle. For better or worse, H-D designers stay true to the brand’s core aesthetic values, though the 2023 CVO Glides do well to color outside the lines, creating a much clearer division between CVO generations. Naturally, the revised shark nose fairing is a noticeable departure. Still, the RG and SG fuel tanks add aspects like beveling on each upper edge to help the paint pop while simultaneously furthering the sleeker theme. That message extends to the more visually compact luggage, adding more volume due to its curvier nature. This isn’t a mere design sleight of hand, seeing as the CVO Road Glide is 35 pounds lighter through clever weight-cutting initiatives in the fuel tank thickness, new liquid-forged aluminum triple clamps, and anywhere else ounces could be cut surreptitiously.
- Meet your new touring cockpit—analog and LCD are out, and digital is in. The 12.3-inch TFT touchscreen dash mimics the visual designs seen on older models, but delivers the information far more effectively via three customizable layouts—Sport, Tour, and Cruise. As you’d expect, Apple CarPlay, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi are part of the picture. However, Android Auto has left the motorcycle space—Android devices are connected via USB and still function fine. The often-optional Bluetooth module is standard, allowing voice commands to be activated via a paired comm device, like what you’d see in any modern car. Still, the RG screen sits further away from the rider than what’s on the SG, creating quite a long reach.
- The switchgear on the 2023 Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide is chunky. Those with smaller hands might struggle to hit the furthest buttons, with music controls for the fantastic sound system at the right hand.
- Harley-Davidson aims for the top step in fit and finish. The CVO range is where H-D stylists flex their chops, pull out the stops, and give customers what they want—well-executed exclusive finishes. For many, that idea is at the crux of CVO ownership, and the MoCo doesn’t fail here. Between the revitalized infotainment system and aesthetics, the paint is stereotypically jaw-dropping, with every bit of chrome or badging speaking to the commanding price tag on this machine. Few brands pull off this level of two-wheeled opulence so well, and while there are other examples, this is one area that the CVO has no equal.
- The Road Glide and Street Glide are cut from the same cloth, and the core differences are boiled down thusly: The RG has a frame-mounted fairing and taller handlebars that prop the rider in a more laid-back riding position, even when factoring in the RG’s snazzy new adjustable bars with less sweep. Meanwhile, the SG features a fork-mounted fairing and is replete with lower grips that draw the rider forward, adding a dusting of front-end feel that the RG’s casual rider triangle doesn’t capitalize on. One is not objectively better than the other, though there is another element worth mentioning—side winds can influence the SG’s fork-mounted fairing, while the RG’s frame-mounted fairing isn’t impacted to the same degree. Interestingly, that is one of the reasons why Kyle and Travis Wyman use the RG platform in MotoAmerica’s King Of The Baggers racing series.
- The 2023 Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide is a significant step forward for its ritziest lineup. The CVO range is red meat to the American V-twin masses, upping performance, features, and finishes to the extremes. The brand’s latest VVT-boasting Milwaukiee-Eight 121 spices things up, offering a new level of refinement while reaching CVO-level performance goals. What grabs my attention is the chassis fixes regarding damping, offering ride quality that the aftermarket once had to fix, and we suspect that H-D is biding time before semi-active suspension comes into the fold. As history has shown, those core improvements will all do well when they are benevolently passed down the Grand American Touring lineup. But, in the here and now, the CVO RG represents a massive step up for Harley-Davidson.
Location photography by Brian J. Nelson and Kevin Wing
Studio photography by Buddy Wilinski
RIDING STYLE
- Helmet: Arai Regent-X
- Jacket + gloves: Alpinestars Crazy Eight
- Jeans: AlpinestarsCopper V2
- Boots: Alpinestars Monty
2023 Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide Specs
ENGINE
- Type: Milwaukee-Eight VVT 121 V-twin
- Displacement: 121 cubic inches (1977cc)
- Bore x stroke: 4.075” x 4.625”
- Maximum torque: 139 ft-lbs @ 3000 rpm
- Maximum power: 115 horsepower @ 4500 rpm
- Fueling: EFI w/ 58mm throttle body
- Compression ratio: 11.4:1
- Valvetrain: Single cam w/ pushrods; 4 vpc
- Exhaust: 2-1-2 dual
- Cooling: Air, liquid, and oil cooling
- Lubrication: Pressurized dry sump
- Transmission: 6-speed Cruise Drive
- Clutch: Mechanically actuated wet multiplate w/ assist and slipper functions
- Primary drive: Chain
- Final drive: Belt
CHASSIS
- Frame: Mild tubular steel w/ two-piece stamped and welded backbone
- Front suspension; travel: Non-adjustable Showa inverted 49mm Dual Bending Valve fork; 4.6 inches
- Rear suspension; travel: Rebound-damping and spring-preload adjustable Showa emulsion shocks; 3 inches
- Wheels: Combo Cast Laced
- Front wheel: 19 x 3.5
- Rear wheel: 18 x 5
- Front tire: 130/60 x 19; Dunlop Harley-Davidson Series D408F
- Rear tire: 180/55 x 18; Dunlop Harley-Davidson Series D407T
Front brakes: 320mm floating discs w/ radially mounted Brembo 4-piston calipers - Rear brake: 300mm fixed discs w/ Brembo 4-piston caliper
- ABS: Standard
DIMENSIONS and CAPACITIES
- Wheelbase: 64 inches
- Seat height: 28.1 inches
- Rake: 26 degrees
- Fork angle: 30 degrees
- Trail: 6.7 inches
- Fuel capacity: 6 gallons
- Estimated fuel consumption: 45 mpg
- Curb weight: 862 pounds
- Colors: Dark Platinum w/ Pinstripe; Whiskey Neat w/ Raven Metallic (+$6000)
2023 Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide Price: $44,199 (MSRP plus Surcharge)
2023 Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide Review Photo Gallery
