This Stunning New Harley Motorcycle’s Best Feature Is Not What You Think

Launched in 1998, Harley-Davidson’s Road Glide has some history, and that’s before you even consider it succeeded the Tour Glide (1980–1996), itself a descendant of the Hydra-Glide, which dates all the way back to the 1940s.

But hey, it’s 2025, and the latest edition of the bike, which I rode 600 miles last weekend, is proof positive that we’ve come a helluva long way since the nameplate’s debut 27 years ago.

Harley-Davidson

While the massive Milwaukee-Eight 117 V-twin engine supplies a pulse-pounding 105 horsepower and 130 ft-lbs of torque that stirred my heart and soul, I sort of expected that.

What I wasn’t ready for was just how perfectly Harley has nailed the cockpit, a feature that makes every mile covered on this 838-pound beast just a bit more satisfying.

Here are three details in particular that jumped out.

Navigation station

Behind the bike’s generous fairing, you’ll find loads of functionality that riders probably could not dream of in 1998, let alone decades earlier. 

The first thing catching my eye was that crystal-clear 12.3-inch touchscreen color TFT display, from which all your navigation and infotainment can be accessed. 

I would say “no shade to other brands,” but honestly, shade to other brands. I haven’t ridden everything, but this bike is the first one I’ve tried where the navigation worked not just well but perfectly. 

Others I’ve ridden can’t even find my own address, leaving me to enter the name of a local business just to find my way home — or just mounting my phone to the bars and letting it do the work. 

While this bike joins some others in integrating CarPlay, it’s pretty cool to see the native nav function so damn well, saving your phone’s battery life and coming up clutch for the 42% of Americans on Android.

Photo by Steve Mazzucchi for Gear Patrol

Two other things I love: Once you’ve entered your destination, even if the bike auto shuts off before you actually fire up the engine, it remembers all that info so you don’t have to re-key anything. 

When selecting a route, you can of course customize it to avoid things like tolls or highways, but you can also choose simply “Fast,” “Short” or “Winding,” the last of which, in my experience, will get you leaning like a MotoGPer (in a good way).

Buttons galore

While the touchscreen is great for setting things up before you begin your ride, once you are gloved up and out on the highway, it’s not really realistic to use.

That’s why Harley put a mind-boggling number of buttons on the handlebars, enabling you to control damn near everything. 

Photo by Steve Mazzucchi for Gear Patrol

From the left side, you can operate cruise control, access bike data (right down to the tire pressure), navigate the entire touchscreen menu (including settings like Ride Modes), honk the horn, signal a left turn and, oh yeah, squeeze the clutch lever to initiate change gears. 

From the right side, you can power the bike on and start it up, trigger your hazards, answer phone calls, skip audio tracks and raise or lower speaker volume. Just don’t forget your front brake lever and throttle are located there too.

Sound machine

I’ve ridden other bikes with huge speakers where the music just seems to disappear once you get up over 70 miles per hour or so on the highway. 

Not at all the case with this bike, which relies on two 5.25-inch fairing speakers to properly assault your eardrums, even with a full-face helmet, assuming the visor is up. 

Photo by Steve Mazzucchi for Gear Patrol

On long rides it can be easy to kinda zone out and endanger yourself. Blasting a little AC/DC, Metallica or, yes, Norman Greenbaum through these beauties might actually save your life.

Just remember the navigation voice is even louder, which is great until you’re rolling through a small town like a boss, and the music fades down so the lady with all the directions can tell you what to do.

Touring takeaway

While the Road Glide’s gigantic fairing is overshadowed, style-wise, by the unmistakable batwing you’ll find on its brother, the Street Glide, this big boy might be the better bet for longer rides. 

Photo by Steve Mazzucchi for Gear Patrol

Not only does it host a very easy-to-use operating system and awesome speakers, but the large protective shell it offers means you can ride 300 miles from, say, NYC to Virginia and cruise right up to your niece’s big piano recital without feeling, you know, winded.

Availability and pricing

The 2025 Harley-Davidson Road Glide is available now in more than a dozen colorways starting at $27,999.

Harley-Davidson

2025 Harley-Davidson Road Glide

As the burliest name plate in Harley’s Grand American Touring family, the Road Glide has much to offer when it comes to long-haul riding. One highlight is a big honking Milwaukee-Eight 117 V-twin engine, supplying 105 horsepower and 130 ft-lbs of torque to keep this 838-pound beast rolling strong. Another is 2.42 cubic feet of storage space in the saddlebags. However, an underrated feature is the perfectly designed cockpit, which offers a 12.3-inch touchscreen color TFT display, reliable built-in navigation and speakers you can hear loud and clear even when you are blasting down the highway.

• $27,999 at Harley-Davidson

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