Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide is a premium tourer at a hefty price

If there is one overriding criticism being regularly levelled at Harley-Davidson right now it is that its product command too much of a premium price tag to rival better value rivals from Europe and Japan… but the company may have just taken this to an entirely new level with the launch of the limited edition Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide.

At $40,999, the 2020 CVO Road Glide is the equivalent of almost £32,000 (basic, without any taxes lumped on), which puts it square in some executive car territory and above nearly all other motorcycles currently on sale.

Of course, at this price the CVO Road Glide is suitably brimming with technology to accentuate that sporty comfort nature of the base Road Glide with the Milwaukee-Eight 117 cranking out 125Ib-ft of torque – 14 Ib-ft more than the standard model – and complemented by a six-speed Cruise Drive transmission. This extra displacement and power is exclusive to CVO models only

Seven-spoke design rims, suspension tuned for handling, a full body kit, moulded saddlebags with latches and an exclusive Premium Sand Dune (white) colour scheme. From the seat is a 6.5inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay-compatible infotainment system, Bluetooth enabled headset and a 600-watt sound system.

That’s an impressive array of tech-laden goodies and some useful tinkering under the skin but given the standard Road Glide comes in at $21,699, it is rather jarring to think you would be paying almost DOUBLE for this equivalent model.

With limited numbers of the Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide and enough wealthy people in the world in love with all things H-D, one can imagine all of them will find loving (rich) homes…