That would make a hell of a difference if Harley Davidson were to change the Trike rear suspension to independent suspension! Because basically at the moment the Trike platform has the rear suspension of the old Servicar Trikes from war back when. I myself have a 2007 Dyna Street Bob Chopper Trike called "The Monster" which was converted to a Trike back end by the Trikeshop in Cardiff in 2015, It runs with Independent suspension and it handles absolutely brilliant, I must admit that I quite liked the look of the Road Glide 3, but that crap rear suspension definitely would put me off ever buying one!! Cheers Alf 👍🤘😎🏴
I have (Wife) a Can-AM for the mentioned reasons. I ride Harley, the issue has been the measly 2" travel on stock suspension. Ride an Indian with 4.5" rear wheel travel and see how far behind Harley is. Having 3" is much better, but still far behind the competition. Yes, I may only set up my suspension once - BUT I can set it up. I weigh 170 lbs, the stock Harley springs are way too stiff. The single adjustment knob for compression with the heavy springs is not giving me anything. The CVO ST suspension is a better solution than HD has had so far from the factory. When spending this kind of money for a HD it shouldn't be like riding a POGO stick. Thanks for the video.
Indeed that is what I said before, and would like for my next bike : ordering individual spec instead of replacing the original parts with accessory parts by the dealer or myself. If H-D is ready for this with their logistic sytem in the production plant, I mean also without excessive cost. It would save resources these times, and they would be more "premium" as well.
The biggest thing that I wish that Harley and Indian both did was let you option a bike with the Extended Reach Seat for those of us who are taller than 5’10”, that is an immediate 800-1000 additional cost when getting a bike.
How many upgrades can they do and not raise their already outrageous prices? Are we soon to see $100,000 Harley-Davidson trikes? Keep up the good work Alf.
Harley's going to do what they always do. They'll charge way too much for upgrades that should already be included for what they charge AND you can get from the aftermarket much cheaper than what Harley charges.
For €35.000,00 may I expect decent suspension?! My Road King Special is horrible. Sturdy as hëll and to low! The first thing I did (Cheap) is buy RK Classic shocks and swap the short 12' for this 13' version. Now I can take a corner without scraping floorboards and side stand! And...I have 7,5 cm travel instead of 4cm!! It's not thát but better than before. My friend with the same bike bought Nivomat.....but isn't happy with it. Still to harsh on the back!!!
Funny, I just saw a demo of the ST. The guy has been demoing a bunch of the new HDs recently. He actually honestly noted that the upside down forks on the ST gave him a slight "weave or wobble" when leaned over. I've said since I bought the Road King in 2020, the front end on the thing is about as good as it can be now for road riding. I wouldn't fuck with it, even if there are dummies willing to part with huge money for branded upside down forks. Most of them couldn't ride their way out of a wet paper bag regardless of what they put on the damn things anyway. HD rear shocks could use improved damping. Too harsh over high frequency impacts. Putting race shocks made to run around finely manicured race tracks at triple digit speeds IS NOT the answer though. Something like a Wilbur's might be nice, but Showa makes perfectly good suspensions too, HD just has to spec them right.
In Australia the CVOST is near $20k more than the basic model, is it worth it? No, specially not if you’re going to change most of it, you’re paying for titanium mufflers to start with and no one will leave them on, the suspension finally had hydraulic adjustments but it’s Showa, for my money I’d want Ohlin’s or Racetech and set up with the correct springs for my weight and then there’s the kit you have to buy to relocate the remote reservoirs so you can mount a sissy bay or tour pack and yeah, they have to build bikes that pass EPA and to keep your warranty you have to stick with Screamin Eagle crap that doesn’t give you anywhere near the extra power the aftermarket does and again, it has to pass EPA, you’re better off buying an ex demo or near new used bike and build it up yourself, the only thing you don’t get is genuine CVO but looking back at all the special models they made and for extra cost none have really held their value any better than the poverty packs, it’s just a status look at me… when the reality is you can diy with better gear perfectly suited to you… and no I don’t want a sound system, who does these days when you can stream it direct from your phone into speakers in your helmet that also doesn’t interest me, I’d never turn it on and how much does it cost?
Kenworth in particular used to make cab chassis, air bag, torsion bar and 6 rod suspension but offered suspension from all the other makers as well as whatever engine and gearbox you wanted, now they make their own engines and along with others don’t offer certain brands like they used to: Harley should build a basic say Roadglide and offer it basic or with every option available so you build it exactly how you want instead of having to change so much, I get the EPA stuff but suspension, wheels, tyres, seats, bars, brakes etc should be offered from cheap basic to top shelf instead of throwing stuff away and it’s rare that anyone will buy the new take off gear
Hi great vid I would say that not many change settings at all could be wrong me included on my adventure bike I do but on my street bob I have set pre load and feel no need to re set rides great
I have a 2023 Tri Glide and I have my rear suspension set to a high stiffness. A setting from 0 to 30, mine is at around 23 notches riding solo. If I have a passenger, I put it at 25 to 28.
I just bought a brand new Road King Special last month and I must say that the rear suspensions in particular have not been the subject of any improvement in recent years and are unworthy for a motorcycle of this price. This will be the first thing I change.. Hoping that future models will have better ones... Greetings from France...
An interesting proposition. I wonder if the bagger race series, and attendant suspension Improvements will translate into a revolution in the bike rodeos in which those pro riders on police forces already compete. Imagine a "flickable" 400 kilo CVO!
The Suspension on the lowrider st is the best on a Harley that ive ridden but Harley shoot themselves in the foot by not having the external adjuster on this model pretty poor for a "sports tourer" , the late model Forty Eight i had before it was bad but the worst is on my Road glide ST "fast Johnnie" for the price £34K New it should have had what the latest CVO has got and in all Honesty the CVO should have Ohlins as standard ,at least in the rear. Many motorcycles are over sprung so adjusting the shocks makes things worse or the adjustment instructions can be confusing in the first place . but any upgrade to handling has to be seen as welcome hopefully they'll improve the brakes while they are at it too
With independent suspensions would be good for the trike. Unfortunately you can’t have a limited slip differential on the trike, now that would be a game changer.
Touring bikes need semi-active electronically managed suspension as standard. 90% dont need fancy gold performance suspension - reserve that for the STs or optional upgrade. They are supposed to be luxury touring bikes afterall...
I agree, Alf... most riders (if at all) set their suspension once and leave it alone forever... in fact, most stock suspension settings never get changed. The exception to this is someone who does two-up riding (intermittently) and adjusts the preload for the added weight. The suspension on my Pan America is completely automatic, and I've never changed it. My Heritage STS is great, and Ive never tweaked it. If you think there is a suspension upgrade that you NEED for your late model, Harley-Davidson, then you should not have purchased the bike in the first place. For these prices, there should be NO reason to upgrade a suspension system on a new Harley-Davidson. marcus
Packages. Great. So you will have to pay for the base Road or Street Glide. parts and then buy replacement parts for the seat, etc. So you'll have to buy two parts or everything.
I have a Road Glide ST 23, and a Challenger Darkhorse 23 - The Challenger with the ESA Fox Shock is much nicer than even the Screaming Eagle PIggy Back suspension on the ST. In 23 i had to buy the Fox ESA shock for $999 minus an Indian discount of 10%. Upgraded the Harley to the screaming Eagle and paid out $1900. So, Plus the Indian has Inverted front forks so the over all ride is better. All of that being said I like them both, and currently have been riding the Harley a bit more since it is the newest bike I have. Bought the Indian in April 23 and the Harley in October 23.
Okay, Does it mean you Order the Bike with the Package ??? or does it mean you buy the basic Bike ???? and have to pay for a Full Package??? and getting stock with the Original Parts???
I have a 2023 Road Glide ST. If anyone upgraded the OEM suspension on this bike I would like their honest opinion on the actual gain in ride performance is from the stock suspension. I have always been curious about this but at the same time I am happy with my bike the way it rides and the ride does feel better than the other 2023 RG models.
Put them on my ‘05 Road Glide and the Bogan is spot on ! Wilbers is SO, SO nice because you don’t have to mess around with pre load when adding gear or a passenger. Worth the money. Oh, yeah, forgot to mention that I have 116,000 miles on the RG.
Nice portrait of Jochen eating his carrot after he skims cash from Hardley's profits. My beloved EVO had some front-end dive. The solution was to eliminate the air fittings, flip the springs over and then refill with 50W fork oil. No more dive for $20 and a few hours. F Jochen.
Agree, I'd like to own another one but the motor company isn't making good motors and that's the heart of the bike. Then they boomer spec them so the starting price is 30k...
You are demonstrating why Harley Davidson are going down the drain, all i want from my suspension is to connect the wheels to the bike. How about making an attractive bike for a good price that your average blue collar worker can afford without selling his kidneys.
That would make a hell of a difference if Harley Davidson were to change the Trike rear suspension to independent suspension! Because basically at the moment the Trike platform has the rear suspension of the old Servicar Trikes from war back when. I myself have a 2007 Dyna Street Bob Chopper Trike called "The Monster" which was converted to a Trike back end by the Trikeshop in Cardiff in 2015, It runs with Independent suspension and it handles absolutely brilliant, I must admit that I quite liked the look of the Road Glide 3, but that crap rear suspension definitely would put me off ever buying one!! Cheers Alf 👍🤘😎🏴
I have (Wife) a Can-AM for the mentioned reasons. I ride Harley, the issue has been the measly 2" travel on stock suspension. Ride an Indian with 4.5" rear wheel travel and see how far behind Harley is. Having 3" is much better, but still far behind the competition. Yes, I may only set up my suspension once - BUT I can set it up. I weigh 170 lbs, the stock Harley springs are way too stiff. The single adjustment knob for compression with the heavy springs is not giving me anything. The CVO ST suspension is a better solution than HD has had so far from the factory. When spending this kind of money for a HD it shouldn't be like riding a POGO stick.
Thanks for the video.
Indeed that is what I said before, and would like for my next bike : ordering individual spec instead of replacing the original parts with accessory parts by the dealer or myself. If H-D is ready for this with their logistic sytem in the production plant, I mean also without excessive cost. It would save resources these times, and they would be more "premium" as well.
The biggest thing that I wish that Harley and Indian both did was let you option a bike with the Extended Reach Seat for those of us who are taller than 5’10”, that is an immediate 800-1000 additional cost when getting a bike.
How many upgrades can they do and not raise their already outrageous prices? Are we soon to see $100,000 Harley-Davidson trikes? Keep up the good work Alf.
The world is full of used, low-mileage trikes for sale. 2014-up are NFG.
Harley's going to do what they always do. They'll charge way too much for upgrades that should already be included for what they charge AND you can get from the aftermarket much cheaper than what Harley charges.
For €35.000,00 may I expect decent suspension?! My Road King Special is horrible. Sturdy as hëll and to low! The first thing I did (Cheap) is buy RK Classic shocks and swap the short 12' for this 13' version. Now I can take a corner without scraping floorboards and side stand! And...I have 7,5 cm travel instead of 4cm!! It's not thát but better than before. My friend with the same bike bought Nivomat.....but isn't happy with it. Still to harsh on the back!!!
Funny, I just saw a demo of the ST. The guy has been demoing a bunch of the new HDs recently. He actually honestly noted that the upside down forks on the ST gave him a slight "weave or wobble" when leaned over.
I've said since I bought the Road King in 2020, the front end on the thing is about as good as it can be now for road riding. I wouldn't fuck with it, even if there are dummies willing to part with huge money for branded upside down forks. Most of them couldn't ride their way out of a wet paper bag regardless of what they put on the damn things anyway.
HD rear shocks could use improved damping. Too harsh over high frequency impacts. Putting race shocks made to run around finely manicured race tracks at triple digit speeds IS NOT the answer though. Something like a Wilbur's might be nice, but Showa makes perfectly good suspensions too, HD just has to spec them right.
Hey Alf,
Screaming Eagle suspension for M8 is Ohlins.
😎
In Australia the CVOST is near $20k more than the basic model, is it worth it? No, specially not if you’re going to change most of it, you’re paying for titanium mufflers to start with and no one will leave them on, the suspension finally had hydraulic adjustments but it’s Showa, for my money I’d want Ohlin’s or Racetech and set up with the correct springs for my weight and then there’s the kit you have to buy to relocate the remote reservoirs so you can mount a sissy bay or tour pack and yeah, they have to build bikes that pass EPA and to keep your warranty you have to stick with Screamin Eagle crap that doesn’t give you anywhere near the extra power the aftermarket does and again, it has to pass EPA, you’re better off buying an ex demo or near new used bike and build it up yourself, the only thing you don’t get is genuine CVO but looking back at all the special models they made and for extra cost none have really held their value any better than the poverty packs, it’s just a status look at me… when the reality is you can diy with better gear perfectly suited to you… and no I don’t want a sound system, who does these days when you can stream it direct from your phone into speakers in your helmet that also doesn’t interest me, I’d never turn it on and how much does it cost?
Kenworth in particular used to make cab chassis, air bag, torsion bar and 6 rod suspension but offered suspension from all the other makers as well as whatever engine and gearbox you wanted, now they make their own engines and along with others don’t offer certain brands like they used to: Harley should build a basic say Roadglide and offer it basic or with every option available so you build it exactly how you want instead of having to change so much, I get the EPA stuff but suspension, wheels, tyres, seats, bars, brakes etc should be offered from cheap basic to top shelf instead of throwing stuff away and it’s rare that anyone will buy the new take off gear
Hi great vid I would say that not many change settings at all could be wrong me included on my adventure bike I do but on my street bob I have set pre load and feel no need to re set rides great
I have a 2023 Tri Glide and I have my rear suspension set to a high stiffness. A setting from 0 to 30, mine is at around 23 notches riding solo. If I have a passenger, I put it at 25 to 28.
I just bought a brand new Road King Special last month and I must say that the rear suspensions in particular have not been the subject of any improvement in recent years and are unworthy for a motorcycle of this price. This will be the first thing I change..
Hoping that future models will have better ones...
Greetings from France...
An interesting proposition. I wonder if the bagger race series, and attendant suspension Improvements will translate into a revolution in the bike rodeos in which those pro riders on police forces already compete.
Imagine a "flickable" 400 kilo CVO!
The Suspension on the lowrider st is the best on a Harley that ive ridden but Harley shoot themselves in the foot by not having the external adjuster on this model pretty poor for a "sports tourer" , the late model Forty Eight i had before it was bad but the worst is on my Road glide ST "fast Johnnie" for the price £34K New it should have had what the latest CVO has got and in all Honesty the CVO should have Ohlins as standard ,at least in the rear.
Many motorcycles are over sprung so adjusting the shocks makes things worse or the adjustment instructions can be confusing in the first place . but any upgrade to handling has to be seen as welcome hopefully they'll improve the brakes while they are at it too
With independent suspensions would be good for the trike. Unfortunately you can’t have a limited slip differential on the trike, now that would be a game changer.
Touring bikes need semi-active electronically managed suspension as standard. 90% dont need fancy gold performance suspension - reserve that for the STs or optional upgrade. They are supposed to be luxury touring bikes afterall...
I agree, Alf... most riders (if at all) set their suspension once and leave it alone forever... in fact, most stock suspension settings never get changed.
The exception to this is someone who does two-up riding (intermittently) and adjusts the preload for the added weight.
The suspension on my Pan America is completely automatic, and I've never changed it. My Heritage STS is great, and Ive never tweaked it.
If you think there is a suspension upgrade that you NEED for your late model, Harley-Davidson, then you should not have purchased the bike in the first place.
For these prices, there should be NO reason to upgrade a suspension system on a new Harley-Davidson.
marcus
Packages. Great. So you will have to pay for the base Road or Street Glide. parts and then buy replacement parts for the seat, etc. So you'll have to buy two parts or everything.
I have a Road Glide ST 23, and a Challenger Darkhorse 23 - The Challenger with the ESA Fox Shock is much nicer than even the Screaming Eagle PIggy Back suspension on the ST. In 23 i had to buy the Fox ESA shock for $999 minus an Indian discount of 10%. Upgraded the Harley to the screaming Eagle and paid out $1900. So, Plus the Indian has Inverted front forks so the over all ride is better. All of that being said I like them both, and currently have been riding the Harley a bit more since it is the newest bike I have. Bought the Indian in April 23 and the Harley in October 23.
People seem generally happy with the new suspension on the 24 touring models
I just loved when you found out who Walter White really was.
They came out with the packages in 2024
Very very few are ordering the packages. They just buy the bits they want.
Okay, Does it mean you Order the Bike with the Package ??? or does it mean you buy the basic Bike ???? and have to pay for a Full Package??? and getting stock with the Original Parts???
I have a 2023 Road Glide ST. If anyone upgraded the OEM suspension on this bike I would like their honest opinion on the actual gain in ride performance is from the stock suspension. I have always been curious about this but at the same time I am happy with my bike the way it rides and the ride does feel better than the other 2023 RG models.
Big difference. Depends on the ride you’re looking for stiff for performance or long range comfort
Any rumors of a Road King with a 117?
Million Dollar Bogan swears by Wilbers Suspension on his 100,000 mile Road King. 👍
Put them on my ‘05 Road Glide and the Bogan is spot on ! Wilbers is SO, SO nice because you don’t have to mess around with pre load when adding gear or a passenger. Worth the money. Oh, yeah, forgot to mention that I have 116,000 miles on the RG.
Let me know when Harley has a brand new CEO!
Nice portrait of Jochen eating his carrot after he skims cash from Hardley's profits. My beloved EVO had some front-end dive. The solution was to eliminate the air fittings, flip the springs over and then refill with 50W fork oil. No more dive for $20 and a few hours. F Jochen.
If people think suspension from 2016 is "fine" they never rode a Japanese bike from 2003
Harley are a great bike but i think they have lost the plot.
RIP HD Inc, 1903-1999
Agree, I'd like to own another one but the motor company isn't making good motors and that's the heart of the bike. Then they boomer spec them so the starting price is 30k...
Any new low rider s ?
Öhlins got bought out by Brembo
Can’t see it myself when there’s already the other options available now already
Screeming chicken stuff is garbage
You are demonstrating why Harley Davidson are going down the drain, all i want from my suspension is to connect the wheels to the bike. How about making an attractive bike for a good price that your average blue collar worker can afford without selling his kidneys.
I spoke to a deaf and dumb guy, but he told me nothing.
We need 2 choices of motor to like Indian a liquid one it is time