#Cvo

Every year Harley-Davidson releases special models from its Custom Vehicle Operations skunkworks. These limited-edition factory customs are chosen to represent the best that Harley has to offer, which is usually based on the most popular models the manufacturer sells. This year, for our test of a 2017 CVO model, we chose the CVO Street Glide. We did this for two reasons. First, we’d get to do a true apples-to-apples comparison since we were also testing the standard Street Glide. This perspective would give us the opportunity to see what similarities and differences the Milwaukee-Eight 107 had with the Milwaukee-Eight 114 bruiser. Second, we last tested the CVO Street Glide in model year 2015, which would give us a good impression of how far the model has come in two model years.

Well, we’ve joked about Harley-Davidson’s upcoming Milwaukee-Eight engine. We’ve prognosticated from EPA documents about what the Milwaukee-Eight would be. However, until now, we haven’t had the straight scoop about the ninth generation of the Motor Company’s Big Twin engines. After submitting ourselves to a variety of invasive tests, signing our lives away to gain entry into the Harley Media Department’s “circle of trust,” and waiting for the appointed hour to arrive, we can now tell you exactly what H-D has up its cylinder sleeves. However, the biggest news isn’t the part hidden in the sleeves at all.

If you’ve been salivating over Harley-Davidson’s Breakout since its CVO introduction in 2013, you’re in luck. After a year hiatus, the Breakout returns for 2016 in CVO form with a variety of changes (upgrades?), and for a price tag $800/$1,200 less than its predecessors ($26,499/$26,899 MYs 2013/2014 vs $25,699 MY 2016). There’s the standard Breakout for $18,799, but we’re going big, and when you go big you go CVO.

As this article goes live,  Harley-Davidson is utilizing social media to reveal its 2016 model line up via a choreographed round-the-world event, taking place live in seven cities across the globe. This 30-minute global event will be simulcast on Periscope, Twitter’s new live-streaming app, and then uploaded later to the Harley-Davidson YouTube feed. Beginning with coverage in Portland, OR, where MO staffer, Evans Brasfield, is one of the moto-press attending the event, the live-stream will jump around the continents to Sydney, Tokyo, Barcelona, Toronto, Mexico City, and Las Vegas before returning to Portland to wrap up the event.

This week,  Harley-Davidson announced its 2015 models, including four CVO – that’s Custom Vehicle Operations to the rest of us – models to carry the banner of the most premium motorcycles the company manufactures. To this rarefied atmosphere, the Motor Company brought three models based on the touring chassis ( CVO Street Glide, CVO Road Glide Ultra, and CVO Limited) and one Softail-based model, the CVO Softail Deluxe. While it is notable that all four models are touring bikes, the Softail is more of a light-duty tourer that can easily be stripped of its windshield and saddlebags to become a boulevard-focused motorcycle.

Every model year Harley-Davidson Custom Vehicle Operations offers a limited selection of factory customs for what the motor company considers to be its most discriminating customers.Traditionally, these limited editions have been used as a proving ground for new components or finishing methods before being added to the extensive factory accessory catalog. With this much on the line, naturally, H-D would only choose models that it thinks represent the best motorcycle models in production for the year. The Street Glide’s status as the best selling motorcycle the manufacturer produces makes it an obvious choice for inclusion in the CVO line.