The body also has some major upgrades over the stock Road Glide. It comes with stretched bags and really good looking rear fender treatments. Up front the shark nose gets a 100-watt Harman/Kardon stereo with 5x7 speakers in it was well as a set of tweeters where the old gas and temp gauges sat. To top of the audio aggression you can hook up the included iPod Nano to the direct port in the saddlebag and let it rock with all the band, title, and track information being shown on the head unit front and center in the fairing. The CVO RGC has three color combinations to choose from; White Gold Pearl and Starfire Black with Real Smoke Graphics, Maple Metallic and Vivid Black with Real Smoke Graphics, and Candy Cobalt and Twilight Blue with Real Smoke Graphics.
Sure, these bikes are packed with performance and have just about every one of the parts from the P&A catalog thrown at them, but after the time in the saddle I spent with the CVO RGC I had a couple of gripes. First is the ergonomics of the handlebars. I couldn’t ever get the bars in a comfortable position where either my shoulders didn’t feel hunched or my wrists felt kinked. Come to think about it, I have never heard a person say that they were 100 percent happy with any Road Glide bar, so please Harley do something about this.
The second issue I have is with the suspension. It needs an upgrade. Putting a bigger motor in and lowering it is not the answer. It bottomed out when ridden aggressively and just felt limp at times. Maybe some sort of proprietary CVO suspension package upgrade with Ohlins, Progressive Suspension, or Race Tech could do this bike some good?
My consensus is this; some people just have to have the top-of-the-line products. Whether it be razor blades, shoes, cappuccino, or motorcycles, some only just think that if it’s the most expensive that it automatically is the best. Well, as we all know this is rarely true, especially when it comes to high-end motorcycles.
All that aside, I am glad to say that when it comes to the CVO Road Glide Custom at $30,699, it is well worth the money and actually one hell of a deal when you think about the sum of it’s parts and factory warranty. If one were to buy a Standard Road Glide Custom at $19,994 and outfit it with similar customization it would cost mountains more that the $10,705 price difference between the two. I would just make sure to spend even a bit more and give it a proper suspension as well as some slightly higher handlebars.
Does anybody need a $31,000 motorcycle? No, but it’s sure nice to be able to live at the top of the line sometimes. And if you can justify doing so, I highly suggest it.