In a couple of hours I am going to publish the news about the full 2015 Harley line up. But it’s unusual for the company Davidson to have unveiled a major model weeks before the announcement of its complete model line up. The 2015 Road Glide and Road Glide Special were previewed in Sturgis, well in advancetoday’s announcement of the 2015 line up. The Road Glide has always had an incredibly passionate following and is very often the canvas of many custom builders.
It is well known that its absence from the 2014 lineup translated in a couple of US market shares lost by the Milwaukee company during the 3rd quarter 2013. With a preview in Sturgis, Harley-Davidson marketing strategy is evident. To excite the fans to let them anticipate the return of the Road Glide® motorcycle…and to prevent as many as possible riders to turn their choice to the Indian Chieftain, both models with exceptional features and comparable in price (2015 Road Glide and Road Glide Special from $20,899 to 23,699, 2015 Indian Chieftain starting at $22,999)
So, what is new with the 2 new Road Glide models. First, the trademark fairing went through intensive tunnel testing for improvements to lower head buffeting and beard lift. The frame- mounted fairing now features triple Splitstream venting providing comfortable airflow around the rider but not on him, brilliant white beams of the Dual LED DaymakerTM Reflector and the color screen of a Boom!™ Box 4.3 infotainment system controlled by twin joysticks located on a new swept-back handlebar that puts the rider in a commanding, comfortable position. A High Output Twin Cam 103TM V-Twin engine burbles through two chrome mufflers, its abundant torque always on tap with just a twist of the throttle. Touring features include One- Touch hard saddlebags, cruise control, easy-to- read gauges, adjustable air-ride rear suspension and new ergonomic hand controls with intuitive design and improved tactile feel.
Select premium features elevate the performance and style of the Road Glide® Special from the base model. These enhancements include the premium Boom!TM Box 6.5GT infotainment system with touch screen and GPS navigation, ReflexTM Linked Brakes with ABS and hand- adjustable low-profile rear suspension. An exclusive gloss Black painted inner fairing (Denim fairing Black Denim models) and hand- applied pinstriping move the styling up a notch.
WEAK,,,,,,,,,, All cosmetic changes with no innovative significant changes. STOP working on the palstics and dig into the drivetrain!!!!!! Perhaps a V-Rod engine in this bike will make some new Indian buyers consider this bike. Harley, wake up and follow in Polaris foot steps..
Technology?
Who needs it when you have the power of marketing. Marketers can sell anything to anyone, all they need to do is find their target market. Harley found their target market; fools with too much money and not enough common sense. And Milwaukee is milking it dry for all they can grab.
It sure isn’t about performance, America, or glory. It’s all about a canned and commercially available image. You subscribe to it with each T-shirt or accessory that you buy. That’s sad, but it is another example of image and the power of the media. How many people out there have a HD emblem sticker in their truck window but don’t own a HD? How many people have a HD T-shirt, but don’t own the motorcycle? I get so tired of those “AMERICAN THUNDER” T-shirts.
Harley must see this as a big improvement. I don’t.
There is so much more they could of done and didn’t. There getting lazy with there designs
I know this is an anti HD site for the most part. Me, I think the Indians are butt ugly and HD really doesn’t have anything to worry about.
Phil. Except that almost all Indian buyers are trading in a Harley
1 year stock return. Harley 8.45%. Polaris 32.50%. Phil, you bet on the wrong company.
PHIL….
It’s has nothing to do with Harley Indian war. It nearly comes down to change, technology and innovation. If the new road glide had a newer engine and drive train, maybe then I would consider it. The new Indians technology cannot be compared to Harley’s 20 year technology.
20 year old technology? Twin cam, v-rod (revolution motor), street, twin cooled, can- bus electrical, closed loop EFI, ABS, navagation system, all less than 20 years, but hay indian now has two toned paint they are such innovators.
Pinhead, and why do you forget the new Indian Thunder Stroke 111 engine and 68 liquid cooled Scout engine? Because you are not fair.
PinHead,
Harley drivetrain has over 400 gaskets and O rings!! Guess how many indian and Victory have? Just over 50.
Harley– Old POS primary chain and pushrods. Last automobile that was made with pushrods was in the late 1930’s.
Victory and Indian do not have primary chains. Instead, they have constant gear internals that do not snap when you put your bike into gear.
Harley’s fuel injection still has to travel through a manifold before it burns. Try riding a 2015 HD in Nevada @ over 100 degrees F. Your bike will run like crap.
Victory has straight injection like most modern cars these days. Heat or altidude doesnt affect its performance.
Should I go on………………………………………….
I’m not fair?
This artical was about the new Roadglide not Indian, others proclaimed the lack of technology and compared to other brands, I simply stated facts, like them or not they are true.
Pinhead. It’s “ARTICLE”, not “ARTICAL”
Thank you Foster, should I always spell it in all capital letters or just when I’m trying to be the grammar police on a motocycle website?
I also observe that you don’t know the difference between spelling & grammar. By the way, your last comment is grammatically incorrect.
Thank you once again Foster, I now know I have wasted the last decade of my life becoming a master tech in multiple brands of motorcycles only to find out I am grammatically incorrect.
The Roadglide is awesome. I owned one for 10 years…
I rode the Indian with the fairing, nice bike, valves are PUSHROD ACTUATED, ( hows that for technology ) with get this: EZ START CAMS. Has torque way down low, more cause the cams then anything. Motor goes good and gets hot. I found everything to be comparable to my current Electra Glide. Some better some not.
FACT: my brother bought the Indian with the fairing, rode it, ( 5000 miles ) traded it in for a pre ’15 Roadglide.
Sure it would be awesome to have a engine like the scout LC ( LIQUID COOLED ) in a Roadglide. I am not a fan of the looks of the Revolution motor. I think they can manufacturer a water cooled VTWIN that looks like a Harley. IMHO
PHIL,,i agree with you,,,,,,,,,
Geee Fossie bet your weely good at scrabble
Chingon – Corvettes have used pushrods for decades. And still do. First paragraph: http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2015-chevrolet-corvette-z06-in-depth-look-feature
“Corvettes have used pushrods for decades. And still do ”
You’d think with a car that expensive, they’d use new ones.
This banter never gets old. Personally I like them all, Victory, Indian and HD. Glad we have American choices. You could also throw Eric Buell and Ridley (I think Ridley is still in business) in the mix and if Motus ever get off the ground another choice.
If you want a chopper buy one. A vrod buy one. A Indian buy one.
Just quit whining.
I, for one, am a huge fan of what HD has done to the Road Glide. Couple the Rushmore features with the new fairing design and bam! Well done!!
Regarding engine design: I just finished a 6,700 mile tour of the west and I must say that the High Output 103 performed superbly in every scenario. This included informal “tests” in Nevada of speeds over 110 mph and tank-to-tank cruising in 100+ degrees; several days of high altitude mountain riding, and a lot of aggressive passing. No performance issues there!
I must agree, however, that the primary could be reworked. I am tired of seeing friends scramble to replace yet another new compensating sprocket and always have this uneasy dread in the back of my mind that I will be next (again). But, this would be a redesign applied to all big displacement Harley’s, not just the Road Glide.
Agree with Mcfreeak
You can say what you want about the Motor Company
They are (& for the foreseeable future) the big guy on the block
The number 1 producer of heavyweight motorcycles in the world.
Yeah, the prices keep going up & the engine tech is antiquated
But people are going to buy them …
(And buy ALL of the CVO Street Glides, Road Glides & Ultras)
But the one thing you can’t deny, you are seeing more and more Victory’s & Indians
I think someone on the post before this one said :
1. People are trading in H-D’s for mostly Indians & some Victory’s
2. if 1 out of every 4 bikes you see out there nowadays,
is a Polaris brand, they are laughing all the way to the bank
The market will decide as it always does
I do like what they’ve done with the Road Glide, but I’m not buying one !!!!
Wonder if we’ll ever see Meter Maids on that Servi-car….???
-nicker-
Harley guys should thank the motorcycle gods that Victory and Indian exist now! They can push Harley in ways that Honda and Yamaha just cannot. Before Victory arrived in 1999, Harley had the rigid mounted Evo motor in softails from 1984-1999. That’s 15 years of vibrating parts off the motorcycle. It wasn’t until 2009 that Harley FINALLY fixed the FLH tank slap issue by adding a front motor mount. Harley was slow to innovate for decades due to their being the only game in town, so to speak.
Simply put, competition breeds a better product for all of us! We have have three viable choices of American motorcycles. THREE! And all everyone can do is bitch about which bike can “pee” the farthest. I wish Harley, Victory, and Indian all the success in the world, because I know if that happens I will have the best motorcycles in the world to chose from.
Ride safe,
V