Harley-Davidson has been on a roll in recent years, releasing motorcycles that are not just worth getting excited about, but ones you might actually choose over the competition. Now, Harley has something for those who want their baggers to hug corners like a sportbike. The Street Glide ST and Road Glide ST bring some of what makes King of the Baggers racing awesome to the road.
Today, the Motor Company has announced a trio of motorcycles that are faster, lean a little more, and take styling cues from its factory racing baggers. All three bikes get Harley’s Milwaukee-Eight 117ci V-twin, an engine before only reserved for Harley’s high end CVO models.
If you’ve gotten to 2022 without knowing what King of The Baggers is, I’ll give you a quick rundown. Take the heavy baggers you see crossing the country, modify them, throw some professional racers on them, then send them down a track. King Of The Baggers might be the most American thing you’d ever watch, and Harley-Davidson sees opportunity in leveraging the love it’s garnered.
Let’s start with the headliners: the Street Glide ST and the Road Glide ST.
The Motor Company says that Street Glide and Road Glide owners love taking stock bikes and adding bits and pieces here and there until they get the hot rod that they want. Now, Harley is going to offer it straight from the factory.
As noted before, these ditch their standard 93 HP Milwaukee-Eight 107ci V-twins with the 106 HP Milwaukee-Eight 117. Torque gets a bump, too, from 111 lb-ft to 127 lb-ft. The engine is fed from a pod filter that sticks out.
As a fun complement to the power bump, Harley designed these two to turn a little better than a base model. Rear suspension travel is increased from 2.1 inches to 3 inches, matching the Street Glide Special and Road Glide Special. They have lean angles of 32 degrees to the right and 31 to the left.
Braking is handled by Brembos and you get a suite of gadgets from electronically linked brakes, traction control, ABS and Drag Torque Slip Control.
The rest of the bikes’ designs emulate the Screamin’ Eagle Factory racers that won the 2021 King of the Baggers championship. Everything is blacked out, and the passenger seat has been deleted. The side bags are also standard-height units from the base models rather than the extended ones you’ll get on a Road Glide or Street Glide Special. Like the race bikes, you get bronze accents splashed about. Color choices are limited to black or gray.
The changes also add up to a small weight loss of about 13 pounds.
The other performance bike released today was the Low Rider ST cruiser, which is based on the Low Rider S. Under the tank is a Milwaukee Eight 117 making 103 HP and 125 lb-ft of torque. The performance of this machine is the same as the Low Rider S, so the main differences here are visual.
Like the other ST models, it has a design inspired by racing bikes. You’ll get bags from the Sport Glide and a frame-mounted fairing, as well as the pod filter for the engine.
Pricing starts out at $21,749 for the Low Rider ST, $29,999 for the Road Glide ST, and $29,999 for the Street Glide ST. While the trio here feature overall minor improvements, they seem to be quite the treat if you’re into treating a bagger like it’s a sportbike.