Following an earlier rollout of the 2024 new Harley-Davidson Nightster Special, Low Rider ST, and Panamerica 1250 Special, Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson launched two reenvisioned classic touring bikes along with the two latest Custom Vehicle Operations (CVO) motorcycles.
Below, we outline the major features and changes in the 2024 Harley-Davidson Street Glide, Road Glide, CVO Road Glide ST, and CVO Pan America.
Why new Harley-Davidson motorcycles are a big deal
The people who manage, develop, manufacture, market, and sell Harley-Davidson motorcycles face a recurrent paradox. As much as Harley-Davidson engineers and designers might like to re-engineer or redesign their products, neither group can stray far from the brand’s iconic extensive twin look, sound, and feel. It’s amazing how Harley-Davidson continues to find ways to improve its bikes’ performance, comfort, and convenience without straying far from the design standards.
Electrification? Harley-Davidson spun off its electric motorcycle development into a company called LiveWire, the same name as H-D’s original electric model. With LiveWire now focused on e-motorcycles, Harley-Davidson’s attention remains on gasoline engines. Currently, all new Harley-Davidson
2024 Harley-Davidson Road Glide and Street Glide
The Harley-Davidson Road Glide and Street Glide are touring motorcycles that look good with saddlebags. The only significance is their fairings, the forward body structure that protects the rider from wind and potentially from water, ice, mud, and debris that strikes the front of the motorcycle. The Road Glide fairing, often called a “shark nose fairing,” mounts to the bike’s frame. The Street Glide’s “batwing fairing” is a more classic Harley-Davidson design that attaches to the motorcycle’s handlebars.
The 2024 Road Glide and Street Glide share several updates. Both models have a new Milwaukee-Eight 117 V-Twin engine version with updated cooling to increase motor performance and improve rider comfort. The bikes have four electronically controlled ride modes: Road, Sport, Rain, and Custom, which change engine mapping and other performance systems.
The bikes also have 12.3-inch color touch displays for most controls and instrumentation and 200-watt audio systems with speakers mounted in the fairings. For the 2024 Road Glide and Street Glide, Harley-Davidson also increased rear suspension travel to three inches, improved the fairing aerodynamics, and added a redesigned one-piece seat for better comfort on long-distance rides.
CVO Road Glide ST
This is the 25th anniversary of Harley-Davidson CVO. CVO bikes represent advanced performance and unique design. “The CVO Road Glide ST is the quickest, fastest, and most sophisticated performance bagger ever produced by Harley-Davidson,” the company says. Performance upgrades include the Milwaukee-Eight 121 High Output V-Twin tuned to 127 hp and 145 lb-ft of torque and a lower final drive ratio for enhanced acceleration.
The CVO Road Glide ST also has many weight-optimized components to improve performance, plus SHOWA rear shock absorbers, SHOWA front forks, and Brembo brakes. Riders can select from multiple ride modes, including Road, Sport, Track, TrackPlus, Rain, and more. They can also listen to upgraded audio with a 500-watt amplifier and Rockford Fosgate speakers. Buyers can select Golden White Pearl or Raven Metallic premium paint finishes and sit upright in a deep solo seat with a six-inch riser and moto handlebar.
CVO Pan America
The 2024 Harley-Davidson motorcycle sits furthest from the archetypal big twin design, but look closely, and you can see the V-twin in its proper place. The CVO Pan America is the first adventure-touring
The CVO Pan America adds an adaptive ride height suspension, aluminum top and side cases, and a Screamin’ Eagle quick shifter. The CVO version also adds tubless laced wheels, an aluminum skid plate, and auxiliary forward lighting to complement the standard Daymaker Adaptive Headlamp technology on the non-CVO version.
