Harley-Davidson’s 2024 Road Glide ($25,999) is an iconic touring motorcycle that is meant to embody the spirit of freedom and adventure so many people associate with the Bar & Shield brand. It doesn’t hurt that Harley’s touring line is made up of remarkably good all-around motorcycles, with exceptional long-distance comfort, surprisingly good handling, and increasingly broad technical features.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Alright folks, here we are at the official press introduction for Harley Davidson Motor
00:05 Company's 2024 Road Glide.
00:09 This is a heavyweight touring bike from Harley Davidson Motor Company out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
00:17 Now for 2024, Harley Davidson has done some really nice upgrades to this bike that are
00:25 based off the 2023 Harley Davidson CVO Road Glide, which we reviewed earlier last summer.
00:35 Make sure to check out that video.
00:37 There is a lot of insight about that model that you probably won't find anywhere else
00:42 on the internet, so check that out.
00:45 Today we're riding the 2024 Road Glide.
00:48 This vehicle rings in at $25,999, so $26,000 for this 2024 vehicle.
00:58 It's powered by Harley Davidson's 117 cubic inch 45 degree V-twin engine.
01:06 This engine has a number of awesome upgrades exclusive to this 2024 model year model.
01:15 But we'll get to that in a minute.
01:17 Let's talk about the ergonomics sitting on this bike.
01:20 This bike is crazy comfortable.
01:22 If there's one thing Harley Davidson knows how to do, it's comfort and it's touring.
01:28 And this Road Glide is one heck of a comfortable bike.
01:32 I like how the seat really holds you in place.
01:38 There's not a lot of room to move front and back.
01:40 The seat really locks you in place.
01:42 I think that was one of the critiques I maybe had on the previous model, on the 2023 model
01:48 was CVO model that we tested last summer is that the seat holds you so much in place that
01:54 it can be a little bit odd sometimes.
01:57 So for right now we like it, but we're riding in the rain, so you know, it's all good.
02:03 All right, handlebar on this motorcycle.
02:05 The handlebar is a little bit taller than the previous Road Glide.
02:09 We really like that.
02:10 It's very similar to the CVO, nice tall handlebar.
02:14 Of course, you can adjust the position of the handlebar.
02:18 You can roll it forward or backward with these US Allen bolts here.
02:23 There's four of them.
02:24 You loosen that and you can make that adjustment.
02:27 Now, right now, I'm really happy that we have this fixed fairing.
02:35 This fairing does a really good job of blocking the elements and keeping us relatively dry.
02:41 Of course, our AeroStitch suit is also helping with that right now.
02:46 Now, this Road Glide has these really neat deflectors, which you can use to deflect more
02:51 air into the cabin.
02:53 Today we're going to have as much air not deflected on us as possible, so we'll have
02:57 them in that configuration.
03:00 Now, like we said before, this bike is powered by a nearly two liter, 117 cubic inch engine.
03:10 I think that's right around 1934 CC.
03:15 It benefits from four valve cylinder heads.
03:19 It doesn't employ Harley-Davidson's VVT technology.
03:24 The variable valve timing that's on the 2023 Road Glide CVO, that is absent from this vehicle.
03:32 Now, Harley-Davidson did some fine tuning to the intake of this bike for 2024.
03:41 The throttle body's larger, the air box is larger, and the routing of the air into the
03:47 engine has been made straighter, so the engine's just more efficient on the intake.
03:53 Harley-Davidson says this 117 cubic inch engine is good for right around 130 pound feet torque
04:03 and 105 horsepower.
04:05 That's not at the tire.
04:07 That's as measured in the crank shaft.
04:09 Whoa, it's really riding, really raining right now.
04:15 Of course, a six speed gearbox puts power back to the 18 inch rear wheel via a belt
04:23 final drive.
04:25 Now, this Road Glide rolls unlike the CVO with its really up spec inverted fork.
04:33 This Road Glide continues to roll on a traditional telescopic fork, 4.7 inch travel, but out
04:40 back we have the twin shocks that now have three inches of travel, where the old Road
04:46 Glide only had around two, now we have three.
04:49 So much better ride quality, especially out of the rear end of this bike compared to its
04:54 predecessor.
04:55 Triple disc hydraulic brakes keep speed in check.
05:01 Although the calipers don't say Brembo on them, they are manufactured by Brembo.
05:06 They are not radial mount like the CVO bike is.
05:09 However, they are conventional axial mount.
05:13 So Harley Davidson purists will probably like that aesthetic.
05:17 It's just what they're used to, but I would like it if there was an inverted fork on this
05:21 bike and radial mount brakes.
05:23 But then again, you can always get that with the Road Glide S, CVO Road Glide ST or the
05:30 Road Glide CVO, which we operated last summer.
05:34 Now aside from the fitment of this upgraded engine, the fitment of this 12 plus inch color
05:43 TFT, this is the same dashboard used on the 2023 Road Glide CVO.
05:49 It's awesome.
05:50 It's super easy to read day and night.
05:52 The fonts are very crisp.
05:55 The menu navigation system is really easy to use.
06:01 Thankfully Harley Davidson also fitted the 2023 Road Glide CVO's updated switch gear.
06:07 The switch gear is awesome.
06:09 It's nice and chunky.
06:10 It's easy to operate.
06:11 The tactile feel is excellent.
06:14 Harley Davidson nailed it on the user interface on this bike.
06:20 Another plus is you can actually use the screen.
06:22 It's touch screen compatible.
06:25 Thank you, Harley Davidson.
06:27 It's crazy how there's so many motorcycles out there.
06:31 There's really nice fancy TFT dashes, but none of them are touch screen.
06:35 This one is.
06:36 To be fair, we like using this backlight, backlit switch gear so well that we just use
06:43 the switch gear, but if you wanted to, you could totally use the touch screen.
06:50 Now we have a four speaker, a two speaker stereo system, two fairing mounted speakers
06:57 that belt out the tunes.
06:59 The sound quality is decent for sure.
07:03 It's decent.
07:04 It's not quite as loud as the Road Glide CVO with this awesome four speaker system, but
07:11 it's decently loud.
07:13 Of course, this bike is loaded with all the bells and whistles like heated grips and cruise
07:18 control.
07:20 This engine uses benefits from liquid cooling on the cylinder heads.
07:26 So the engine itself is not liquid cooled, but the cylinder heads are.
07:31 And Harley Davidson did that because they wanted to get some extra cooling around the
07:36 exhaust valves because this engine puts out the power.
07:40 So there's a nice radiator tucked in discreetly behind the 19 inch front wheel and there's
07:47 an overflow reservoir that's this basically black metal tube that's mounted vertically
07:55 to the left of the bike.
07:56 It looks really slick.
07:59 Very very slick.
08:00 An electronic water pump is what powers that system.
08:04 So the engine doesn't have an internal water pump to move coolant.
08:08 It uses an auxiliary electrical pump.
08:11 This engine is just marvelous.
08:13 Harley Davidson did a really great job on its CVO this past summer where the vibration
08:19 of this motorcycle is really, really well calibrated.
08:23 You can feel a hint of vibration through the controls, but it's not off-putting at all.
08:29 It really adds to the experience.
08:31 It feels really well calculated.
08:33 It just makes riding fun.
08:37 Of course, the sound and character of this engine is also exquisite.
08:42 These are really fun and awesome sounding motorcycle engines.
08:47 Love that six-speed gearbox.
08:49 The shifts are nice and precise.
08:51 The shift lever really has a nice weighted feel so you really know when you're going
08:57 up or down through that gearbox.
09:00 Equally as awesome is this hydraulic clutch.
09:04 It definitely has some pretty stiff pull.
09:08 Harley Davidson hydraulic clutches have always had a relatively stiff pull, but if you have
09:15 decent left forearm strength, you're going to be okay squeezing the clutch lever on this.
09:24 Clutch action in terms of engagement has always been a little bit muted in these Harley Davidsons,
09:31 and that trait continues with this 2024 Road Glide, but it still gets the job done.
09:40 How neat is that that this $26,000 Road Glide comes with this awesome colored 12-inch screen?
09:47 It's awesome.
09:48 It even has integrated tire pressure monitoring so you can keep tabs on the PSI of your tires.
09:56 It's also got a handy compass.
09:59 Fuel mileage, we've been getting 36 miles per gallon this past summer.
10:04 During our 2023 Road Glide CVO official review, we got right around 40 mpg.
10:11 It's pretty crazy how efficient that VVT engine is.
10:14 This engine probably won't be quite as efficient because it doesn't have the ability to adjust
10:20 the valve timing in cruising mode, but still 36 miles per gallon for an 806-pound cruiser
10:28 is pretty dang good.
10:30 Now, another thing we really like about this bike is just how agile this is.
10:36 806-pound motorcycles aren't supposed to be this agile, but that's exactly what this Road
10:42 Glide is.
10:43 It's very agile.
10:44 It's got a great turning radius.
10:47 It's really easy to do U-turns and ride around in parking lot speeds, and when you're getting
10:53 after the twisties, this chassis has a good degree of road holding for an 800-pound cruiser.
11:00 I remember 15 years ago, cruiser motorcycles didn't ride this exquisitely.
11:05 To be fair, Harley-Davidson really upped the playing field when they went to this new touring
11:09 chassis, I think for the 2008 model year, 2008 or 2009, I think that's when it was,
11:16 and Harley-Davidson touring bikes have been good since then, but this 2024 bike, you get
11:20 it all.
11:21 You get a high degree of comfort, and then precise turning and steering, and really good
11:29 road holding.
11:30 All right, folks, let's turn on the cruise control.
11:34 There's a button atop this switch gear that allows us to set the cruise control.
11:39 That is the light saying it's on, and we can do plus or minus with that switch gear.
11:43 We can also roll back the throttle to disable it, or actuate either the front brake lever,
11:50 the rear brake pedal, or the clutch, and cruise control will turn off.
11:56 We also have these nice little cubby boxes.
12:00 This box is plastic lined.
12:02 It would be nice if it was carpet lined.
12:04 The CVOs are carpet lined, and that just keeps your stuff from getting scratched and barred.
12:10 In this particular pocket, we have a USB-C style receptacle, not USB, but USB-C, so you
12:18 can charge your USB-C type gadgets.
12:22 Very nice.
12:23 In terms of rear view mirrors, the rear view mirrors have a nice shape, and they do a good
12:29 job of showing off what's behind you.
12:32 The vibration of the engine, it definitely clouds the vision of the mirrors a little
12:36 bit, but again, it's not excessive.
12:38 We really like the calibration of this engine.
12:44 Yamaha, the Tuning Fork brand, they do a great job of literally tuning the amount of engine
12:52 vibration to the application of the vehicle.
12:57 To us, the dynamic of this 117 cubic inch Harley-Davidson engine takes a playbook from
13:06 the Tuning Fork brand.
13:08 This is a very well calibrated engine.
13:10 I love the harmonics of it.
13:13 I love the power, the sound.
13:15 This is probably easily one of the best air oil V-twin, cooled V-twin engines out there.
13:23 Well, folks, that wraps up our official review on Harley-Davidson's 2024 Road Glide motorcycle.
13:33 $26,000 for this bike, and it comes with a two-year unlimited mileage warranty.
13:42 This bike's really awesome.
13:44 It's super comfortable.
13:45 It's really easy to ride.
13:46 It's got loads of character, not a crazy amount of vibration.
13:51 This color TFT display is just awesome.
13:54 Super sharp, super easy to read.
13:57 The menu navigation's easy to set up, spot on, which we'll show you here in a minute.
14:04 This switch here is super high quality.
14:07 Really happy Harley-Davidson 2024 Road Glide.
14:11 It adopted a lot of the awesome, expensive features that the $48,000 to $49,000 Road
14:18 Glide CVO has.
14:20 So cool that you get a lot of these features in a $26,000 heavyweight cruiser.
14:25 Well, folks, that wraps up our official review of this product from Harley-Davidson.
14:30 Again, make sure to check out this past summer's CVO review.
14:34 Lots of good details that you probably won't find anywhere else.
14:37 Of course, give this video a thumbs up if you liked it.
14:40 Thumbs it down if you didn't, because we'd love to hear from the naysayers.
14:44 We're an inclusive organization and everyone's opinion counts.
14:47 So sound off in the comments section.
14:49 Let us know what you think.
14:51 We'll see you in the next episode.
14:52 Thanks for riding with us.
14:54 (helicopter blades whirring)
14:57 (helicopter blades whirring)