#Touring

We rode together a lot, as a young couple. But later, when we were married and beginning to build a family, Julie found she wasn’t as interested in motorcycles. As our children grew into adulthood, she became interested again, but with caveats involving comfort: The ride mustn’t be too hot, or too cold, or last more than a couple of hours at a stretch.

Harley-Davidson revealed full details about its next-generation CVO models, and the new Milwaukee-Eight VVT 121 engine. The 2023 CVO Road Glide and CVO Street Glide offer a dramatically new (and already polarizing) fairing design, updated suspension, selectable ride modes, and a giant 12.3" TFT display.

Along with the new Electra Glide Highway King Icon model, Harley-Davidson announced new limited edition versions of the Low Rider ST, Street Glide ST, and Road Glide ST as part of its ongoing Enthusiast Motorcycle Collection.

As with the previous Icon models, the 2021 Electra Glide Revival and the 2022 Low Rider El Diablo, the 2023 Electra Glide Highway King will be a limited edition model produced for one year only. Production will be limited to 1,750 individually-numbered units, with 1,000 Highway Kings in Hi-Fi Orange and 750 in Hi-Fi Magenta.

Harley-Davidson officially announced it will reveal new CVO Street Glide and CVO Road Glide models for 2023, confirming many of the details we've previously uncovered. These include a new Milwaukee-Eight VVT 121 engine, new suspension, a new infotainment system, and dramatically redesigned fairings that have already drawn strong reactions from the Harley faithful. While we will have to wait until June 7 for more information, here's what we know for certain.

Official images appear in Australian certification filings

Harley-Davidson released the bulk of its 2023 lineup about two months ago, but we’re still waiting to here about more models, such as the Custom Vehicle Operations models that will be joining the CVO Road Glide Limited Anniversary. We may not have much longer to wait, as videos of a new CVO Road Glide and CVO Street Glide have popped up on line, revealing some big changes to the CVO models, and perhaps a sign of what to expect for the 2024 lineup.

Blogger Dr. Dan Morel sent us a video that a source sent him over WhatsApp, and similar videos have been uploaded to YouTube and TikTok. The earliest version we found as uploaded to The Fast Life Garage LLC’s Instagram account.

We’re just a few days into the new year, and Harley-Davidson has already started shipping 2023 models to dealerships. These are mainly carry-over models, returning for 2023 with new colors, which should prepare dealers ahead of Harley-Davidson’s launch event on Jan. 18.

Harley-Davidson’s website already has the new colors (like the White Sand Pearl Road Glide ST pictured above) and pricing for perusal, and with no significant changes from 2022. With not much to talk about for these returning models, we can expect Harley-Davidson to have more up its sleeve for the launch event. Thanks to newly released regulatory filings, Motorcycle.com can confirm Harley-Davidson will be releasing at least four new motorcycles, in addition to seven 120th anniversary edition models.

We’ve already covered a bit of this before the holidays, confirming a new Nightster variant, anniversary edition models, and the 2023 CVO lineup plus a potential new Icon model. We now have more information on these new models, plus confirmation of a Chinese-manufactured X350RA model and the return to the U.S. market of the Breakout, now with a Milwaukee-Eight 117 engine.

Vehicle identification number (VIN) information submitted to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration lists three of these models:

Earlier this week, we uncovered Australian certification documents revealing a new Nightster S model and Harley-Davidson‘s 2023 Softail lineup including 120th anniversary Fat Boy 114 and Heritage Classic 114 models. As we predicted, a similar document certifying Harley-Davidson’s 2023 touring models has now been released in Australia, confirming the models returning, as well as the Anniversary Edition Touring models, plus one possible addition to Harley’s Icon collection.

120th Anniversary Harley-Davidson Softail Models Leaked

Returning for 2023, at least for the Australian market, are the Road Glide Special, Road Glide ST, Street Glide Special, Street Glide ST, Road King Special, and Ultra Limited. According to the certification document, Harley-Davidson will introduce Anniversary Editions for the CVO Road Glide Limited (FLTRKSEANV), Road Glide Special (model code FLTRXSANV), Street Glide Special (FLHXSANV), and Ultra Limited (FLHTKANV). Most of these anniversary models also received 115th Anniversary Editions in 2018, including the Ultra Limited pictured above.

New for 2023 is a model designated as the “FLHFB”. The model code was previously used in the ’60s for the FLHFB Electra Glide, which makes us suspect that it will be 2023’s addition to Harley-Davidson’s Icon lineup. The 1965 Electra Glide was one of the last Harley-Davidson models to use the Panhead engine, but the first with electric start.

You know who you are: You love the Indian Challenger, but it just quite isn’t enough for you. You want something super exclusive. Well, Indian’s got good news for you. Today, Indian unveiled the 2023 Challenger Elite. The name alone should tell you it’s something special, but as usual, it’s all in the details.

First, a number: 150. That’s how many Challenger Elites will be manufactured – in the world. Second, there’s the exclusive Sapphire Blue Smoke Paint with Black Smoke and Titanium Metallic Smoke Accents, which was hand-laid by angels and fanned dry with their wings. Third, the Elite is based on a strong bagger package. The PowerPlus engine peaks at a claimed 122 hp at the crank and 128 lb-ft of torque. All of this is controlled via three selectable ride modes. Other performance features include an electronically adjustable rear suspension preload from Fox. The rider can see further down the road with the adaptive LED Headlight and LED driving lights. Comfort features, like an adjustable flare windscreen, Select floorboards, and heated grips, help you settle in for the long haul. Next, come the premium electronics, with cruise control and 6.5” Powerband Audio with Saddlebag Speakers to keep the scenery scrolling on by underneath the new Precision Cut five-spoke wheels.

If this description has your palms sweaty, and you want to be certain nobody at your local bike night will have a Challenger that looks like yours, the 2023 Indian Challenger Elite might just be for you.

Pity the poor fool who’s got nothing to do for a week or two but roll around on his motorcycle – no job, no cares, no particular place to be. And if you’re fortunate enough to have all those things working in your favor, chances are you’re carrying around quite a bit of loot in the saddlebags and trunk of your Goldwing, Ultra Glide or big BMW K-bike – possibly even an accomplice. What you want on all of those bikes are tires that stick to the pavement, wet or dry, upright or dragging peg, carry a heavy load safely, and preferably wear like iron. Is that too much to ask?

If there’s one thing KTM knows how to do, it’s how to get dirty. The company obviously has its long history of off-road competition, and victories, to its name, and that success has transferred nicely into the adventure bike market. You can even argue KTM’s adventure bikes (along with the BMW GS family) are responsible for this boom in the ADV market.

Touring connotes long days in the saddle, and that means long days with your head inside your helmet. Fit, then, is going to be of utmost importance when it comes to selecting a touring helmet. A helmet that gives you a hot spot might not be a huge deal when you’re only wearing it for 45 minutes. Over the course of days, though, like an annoying travel companion, an ill-fitting helmet will grow to be a thing you loathe.

Traveling to a brick and mortar store to try helmets on is the best thing you can do, and if that’s not possible then finding an online retailer with a generous return policy is the next best way to go. When you try a helmet on, keep it on for a while too. Minor annoyances that grow large over time can take a while to show themselves.

Anyway, there are hundreds of possibilities, but here we scratch the surface with eight of the best motorcycle touring helmets we’ve either sampled, or that come highly recommended from trusted sources.

Some of our favorite best touring helmets are modulars, or flip-front helmets, so see also Best Modular Helmets.

If you wanted a Harley-Davidson Road Glide that wasn’t a Harley, Indian’s been offering that for a while now in the form of its Roadmaster line of full-dress V-Twin touring bikes. If you want an American V-Twin full dresser that looks the part, but goes like stink, now Indian also offers the Pursuit. The traditional American V-Twin buyer has always been highly skittish prey, easily frightened off by overhead cams and lack of cooling fins. But with its Challenger of two years ago, Indian decided it was time to take the high-performance plunge, developing a revver instead of a chuffer, an oversquare engine instead of an undersquare one. Along with that new engine comes the increased horsepower those changes have brought to the internal combustion engine since, well, for a very long time.

2020 Indian Challenger First Ride Review

An hour into the ride, we were already in trouble. We’d lost the main road and were stuck in deep sand and didn’t know the way out.

Forty miles north of Cabo San Jose, on unfamiliar bikes, on unfamiliar roads, in a country whose language none of us spoke fluently, three aging gringos at the extreme end of middle age were sweating and grunting and trying to keep their BMWs upright. With roughly 1400 miles of riding ahead of us.

And it was all my idea.

The motorcycle touring and rental company MotoQuest had set the plan in motion. I’d received word of a “transporter special.” They had some motorcycles that had been ridden to Cabo San Lucas from their Long Beach headquarters, and they wanted them to come home. At a greatly reduced rate, we could rent the bikes – two BMW F850GS and one BMW F750GS – and spend eight days riding them north, the length of the Baja California peninsula, taking our time and seeing the sights.

In short order, I found two willing accomplices. After an easy flight from Los Angeles and a pleasant overnight at the delightful Posada Real hotel, David and John and I awoke to a tequila sunrise and within two hours were on the road. The wrong road. Being swallowed up by the deep sand.