Harley-Davidson kicked the Road Glide Ultra to the curb from its touring lineup ahead of MY2020 in favor of its new FLTRK Road Glide Limited. The Road Glide Limited takes touring comfort and safety up a notch with a host of new electronic features to go with its already-fabulous Infotainment system, and it all comes wrapped in a premium paint along with special bits of bling to finish off the package. Best of all, Harley powers the Road Glide Limited with its second largest production engine, the 1,868 cc Milwaukee-Eight 114 that brings over 100 pounds o' grunt to the table for your touring enjoyment.

Harley-Davidson Road Glide Limited Design

While the sharknose fairing isn't exactly a classic feature, the factory touched on a number of other historical high points throughout the rest of the Road Glide Limited. It starts with the front fender that maintains the same full-length outer dimension, but with sides that are cut back to reveal more of the Slicer II rim.

Right-way-up forks rock the classic beer-can fork skirts that hail all the way back to the middle of the previous century, and on half of the dozen different paint packages, the blackout treatment begins in earnest at this point. Forks, skirts, engine guards, engine, tank console and exhaust system all come with a monochromatic finish that is, instead, bright chrome on the other color schemes. I'm not a fan of the chrome tank console and fuel door myself because of the blinding effect it can have, but I concede that not everyone is in that particular boat. To each his or her own, I guess.

To that list I would add the fixed Sharknose fairing, but it does achieve the goal of protecting the rider from the oncoming wind and weather, and comes complete with a vented windshield that reduces the head buffet effect. A set of fairing lowers complete the coverage to protect your legs and they add to the dry storage capacity with a couple of little glove boxes in their tops, plus they hide the little radiators that make the Twin-Cooling work.

Inside the fairing, there's a quartet of round gauges and a color TFT touchscreen display for the Boom!™ Box GTS feature that, collectively, delivers all the pertinent metrics and serves as an interface for the higher electronics to include music, communications, navigation, and other critical metrics.

The comfortable saddle comes with a deep scoop that slings your butt at 27.2 inches off the ground if you weigh at least 180 pounds to compress the suspension, that is. The rise to the lofted pillion pad serves as a lumbar support for the pilot, and of course, your passenger is pampered with a wide, comfortable seat complete with a full-width backrest, armrest and footboards. Two speakers below the padded armrests finish off the music delivery with 25 Watts per channel so you can hear your tunes even at highway speeds.

Hard side cases and a Tourpak combine to deliver 4.7 cubic-feet of dry and secure storage capacity, enough for a long weekend or a serious grocery-getting run. Plus, there's a chrome luggage rack for some extra open-air cargo capacity. An LED taillight and full-width lightbar ensure that you remain visible from the rear under any light conditions for a final bit of safety.

Harley-Davidson Road Glide Limited Chassis

Welded mild-steel tubing makes up the main structure on the Road Glide Limited with a yoke-style swingarm that rocks a rectangular cross-section for strength. The steering head is set for low-stress tracking at speed with a 26-degree rake angle and 6.7 inches of trail over a 64-inch wheelbase. Those are just the kind of numbers you want on the interstate or in a crosswind.

Showa Dual Bending Valve forks lead the way and deliver a superior ride compared to vanilla stems in spite of the fact that they're non-adjustable. The magic comes from the stroke speed-based variable damping that responds to demand in real time due to the flexible damping washers contained within.

Out back, a pair of emulsion shocks take care of business with an easy-to-reach handwheel that lets you quickly dial in the preload in response to changing passenger and cargo loads. Cast-aluminum Slicer II Contrast Bright wheels round out the rolling chassis with Dunlop hoops in a 130/80-17 up front opposite a 180/65-16 to put the power to the pavement.

Dual front discs and four-piston anchors slow the front wheel with a third four-pot caliper out back for the braking hardware, and the MoCo chucks on its Reflex Linked Brakes and ABS feature for some extra safety.

Harley-Davidson Road Glide Limited Drivetrain

Power on the Road Glide Limited comes from the Twin-Cooled Milwaukee-Eight 114 powerplant to the tune of 122 pound-feet of torque at a low 3,000 rpm. A 102 mm bore and 114 mm stroke give the lump a total displacement of 1,868 cc, or 114 cubic-inches, hence the name, and it runs with a 10.5-to-1 compression ratio that'll put you at the premium pump in order to prevent knock and ping.

The Road Glide Limited is pretty hefty at 932 pounds wet, and it's pushing quite a bit of windage with its broad fairing and baggage, so it turns in a combined mileage rating average of 43 mpg. Since the factory abandoned the Twin Cam engine and returned to a single-cam valvetrain, the nosecone area has returned to a more classic design and the pushrod tubes display the old-school geometry which makes for a much more aesthetically pleasing presentation.

While the stock build comes with a fairly vanilla electronics suite, the optional equipment list includes the Reflex Defensive Rider Systems bundle that brings the MoCo into the 21st century with corner-sensitive Linked Brakes and ABS features along with a traction control feature that also benefits from the observations of the inertial measurement unit to keep you stable in the corners. A Drag-Torque Slip Control System prevents excessive backtorque from breaking the rear wheel loose to finish off the dynamic features, and for a final bit of convenience, the Vehicle Hold Control feature holds the brakes for you so you can put both feet down for stability on a grade.

A six-speed transmission sends power to the rear wheel via a carbon-reinforced belt drive, and the gear ratios deliver something around 105 mph top speed, though individual results may vary.

Harley-Davidson Road Glide Limited Pricing

H-D offers its 2022 Road Glide Limited in quite a few different paint packages, and as usual, the prices break down along those lines. The Vivid Black with chrome components is at the bottom of the range at $28,729, and colors and finish spread the range up to $31,874 for the two-tone colorway in the black finish.

Harley-Davidson Road Glide Limited Competitors

Fixed-fairing models tend to appeal to a different buyer base than the fork-mount fairing models, so I wanted to find another similar tour bike to the Road Glide Limited, and Kawasaki was my Huckleberry with its Vulcan 1700 Voyager ABS.

Kawasaki Vulcan 1700 Voyager ABS

At a glance, it's clear that Kawi is looking to grab riders with the same kind of taste in tourbikes. The broad front fairing is similar to Harley's sharknose, both in its shape and its frame-mounted nature. If there's any benefit to this arrangement, it's in the fact that the fairing's windage doesn't affect steering quite as much as a fork-mount fairing, but let's be honest; it's really all about the looks here.

A two-tone colorway and the liberal application of chrome wraps up the package beautifully in classic American style, so credit to Kawi where it's due, and the Vulcan hits some other major high points with a topcase-style trunk and hard bags to deliver a similar touring capacity to the Road Glide Limited.

Kawi's front forks are plain vanilla, but the rear end is pretty plush with air-adjustable shocks and a quartet of rebound-damping profiles, so we can call the suspension a wash. Same with the stock brakes since the Vulcan rocks Kawi's K-ACT II ABS to deliver some extra traction security. I specified “stock” because Harley's optional RDRS pack takes it up a notch, but let's just focus on the standard equipment for now.

The Vulcan 1700's power comes from a big V-twin as well with a 1,700 cc displacement and 107.6 pound-feet of torque on tap at a remarkably low 2,750 rpm. While that falls short of the Mil-8's numbers, it's fair to say that anything over 100 pound-feet is impressive.

As expected, Kawasaki gets its biggest win at the checkout counter with its $17,499 sticker, and though it doesn't bring the same level of electronics and entertainment, it does deliver the essentials, and it does it for a significantly lower price deliver the essentials, and it does it for a significantly lower price}}.

Read our full review of the Kawasaki Vulcan 1700 Vaquero / Vulcan 1700 Voyager.

He Said

“Personally not a huge fan of the sharknose, but aside from that, I think this is a great new machine from the MoCo. Oh, and don't worry about the bulk and weight; I assure you that the Mil-8 has something to give when you roll on, regardless of rpm or gear. Of course, the biggest news lies with the RDRS options that button up some of the holes in Harley-Davidson's tech coverage and put it on equal footing with the other big-name manufacturers around the world.”

She Said

My wife and fellow motorcycle writer, Allyn Hinton, says, “From a features standpoint, the new Road Glide Limited took over from the Electra Glide Limited as far as things like heated grips and the luggage rack. It comes available in black-out or chrome finishes. This is a grand tourer for folks who are serious about touring bikes. Straight-line stability is rock solid and comfort for both you and your passenger is paramount. The RDRS option is a nice electronics package that adds systems like Cornering Enhanced Traction Control, Cornering Enhanced Drag Torque Slip Control, Cornering Enhanced Linked Brakes, Enhanced ABS, and a few other goodies that started in the CVO and trikes and have trickled their way down into the tourbikes.”

Harley-Davidson Road Glide Limited Specifications

Further Reading

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