2012 Harley-Davidson Cvo

2012 Harley-Davidson CVO

ROUNDUP

Four for The Show

THERE'S A NEW PLAYER IN HARLEY-Davidson's elite CVO (Custom Vehicle Operations) lineup for 2012, the CVO Road Glide Custom. It replaces the touring-oriented CVO Road Glide Ultra and joins three returning models: the CVO Street Glide, the CVO Softail Convertible and the CVO Ultra Classic Electra Glide.

Sharing the 110-cubic-inch, six-speed engine with the three other CVOs, the Road Glide Custom points its sharknosed fairing in the direction of a one-off custom street bagger with performance to back up the visual swagger. Harley claims 122 foot-pounds of peak torque from the Road Glide’s 1802cc aircooled engine. It packs a healthy rumble from the twin exhausts peeking out from beneath the saddlebags and broadcasts a melodious honk from the standard Heavy Breather (we’re not kidding; that’s what it’s called) air-filter assembly.

To compete with these mechanical melodies, the Custom’s new 100-wattper-channel Harman/Kardon stereo has larger, 5x7-in. speakers in the fairing and extra 2-in. tweeters bracketing the familiar control head. You’ll need long arms to work the controls that are not duplicated on the switch clusters, though, because the stereo panel is well up and forward in the fairing.

Several CVO engineers were on hand for the product launch in Calistoga,

California, and beyond their obvious youth— a good thing

for Harley—they have an undeniable passion for high-quality finishes and impeccable fit. Indeed, each of the CVOs we were able to pet during the rained-out first afternoon of riding displayed deep, glossy primary finishes and artfully done secondary finishes, such as black powdercoated handlebars and machined wheels. Handcrafted finishes that would be ruinously expensive on mainline machines are thoroughly evident here.

Motorcycles aren’t just rolling canvases, so it’s a good thing these bikes prove more than competent on the road. The CVO Street Glide Custom’s framemounted fairing relieves the front suspension of the considerable heft of the fork-mounted “batwing” fairing on the Street Glide and Ultra. As a result, the Custom steers with ease and, er, glides over most pavement irregularities with enough calm to keep your Harbor Freight CD player working. (Never mind that you’re hearing “Bom to Be Wild” for the twelfth time from the supplied iPod nano inside the right-hand saddlebag.) Standard ABS and modem tires on 19and 18-inch wheels, along with the chassis revamp given to the FLT platform in 2009, bless the Road Glide Custom with commendable dynamics.

You get more extras than the iPod for your $30,699. The CVO Road Glide Custom comes with cmise control and a security system as standard.

And the others? The CVO Ultra Classic Electra Glide ($37,249) gets three new paint schemes, blingy chrome wheels, uprated audio and a navigation interface module. The CVO Street Glide ($32,699) carries a sound system packing 100 watts per channel (400 total), eight speakers and a new lowprofile solo leather touring saddle. The CVO Softail Convertible ($29,699) gets a taller windscreen (optimized for a 5-foot-10 rider) with lower deflectors as well as a new audio system centered on the Garmin-built Road Tech zümo 660 GPS, which can navigate and play music loaded as MP3 files. —Marc Cook