H-D Custom Vehicle Operations 2012 model launch
Calistoga, Calif., May 30—I’ve never doubted the ability of any creation from Harley-Davidson’s Custom Vehicle Operations to attract attention and have an immediate impact on the observer but I didn’t fully appreciate just how powerful that effect could be until I heard the knock on my door and then saw the face of a deputy sheriff peering through my front window. It was a nifty bit of police work that had brought the deputy to my porch, and it was the imposing pair of saddlebag lid-mounted speakers on the new CVO Street Glide parked in my driveway that proved my undoing. The perfect crime had been thwarted and Barney had caught the Tater.
Some ’splainin’ is in order, here, I suppose. See, the Custom Vehicle Operations crew had selected the wine country of Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino Counties for their 2012 model launch, mostly because they’re all a bunch of high-functioning winos in that outfit, but also because the roads hereabouts offer without question the most diverse and delectable motorcycling route possibilities in the known universe. That’s why I live here. That and the wine. And that’s why there was a new CVO Street Glide sitting in my driveway while I took a break from the press ride action on roads I know only too well and stopped off at the house as the day heated up to change to lighter riding gear. For his part, the deputy had already become acquainted with the press launch crew and the new CVO models during one of the riding-shot sessions we’d conducted earlier in the day up at Lake Sonoma where he was patrolling. He’d also learned from that officious encounter the day’s plans for the press launch, and they included a number of locally renowned roads, a lunch up north in the town of Ukiah, and then a long run down through far-flung Lake County after that, arriving back at the opulent Solage Calistoga Resort, the home base of the event.
The driveway of my home was not, as he understood it, on the itinerary. And more on that later in the broadcast.
At this time a year ago, with the roll-out of the 2011 CVO models, we observed that it was the first time in the division’s history that every offering was a bagger of some description, each equipped with a windshield, saddlebags, footboards and a sound system. We suggested changing the name of CVO to CBO—Custom Bagger Operations—and applauded the development as a timely and astute response to contemporary market preferences. We still do, and the trend continues in full force for 2012 with the new line-up consisting of three returning machines, the CVO Electra Glide Ultra Classic, CVO Street Glide and CVO Softail Convertible, and one new treatment, the CVO Road Glide Custom, taking the place of last year’s CVO Road Glide Ultra. All models remain powered by the über-potent TC110 powertrain with hydraulic clutch, and all come with ABS, cruise control and Smart Security.
We further made note last year of the pronounced emphasis on audio systems, a development branded at the time by the CVO crew as their “Big Audio” campaign. That, too, remains a central theme for 2012 with significant upgrades coming to the aural arsenals of all four models. Let’s have a look at the menu.
Returning for its seventh appearance in a Screamin’ Eagle kit, the CVO Ultra Classic has become such an intractable fixture in the annual CVO line-up that we should probably start calculating its tenure in dog years. We were anything but certain that the model would return for 2012 after last year’s unusually short production run of the machines, and the fact that only a single paint option was offered initially. And while the other three 2011 CVO models received heaping helpings of audio upgrades, the Ultra Classic soldiered on with the same setup it had previously.
We know now that we needn’t have worried, and the reason for the seeming slight to the Ultra Classic was a calculation made by the CVO marketing department to focus everyone’s attention on the Road Glide Ultra instead, highlighting that mount as the boss hog luxo-tourer for 2011.
With the Road Glide Ultra no longer in the CVO fold, the Ultra Classic got larded up with all the advanced audio features it had been missing—and then some. As such the 2012 model comes equipped with a 40-watt per channel Harmon/Kardon system with AM/FM/WB/CB/intercom as well as SiriusXM satellite radio. An 8GB iPod Nano with interface and mount is included as well. The system plays through four 5.25" BOOM! high-performance speakers and a pair of BOOM! bass booster ports located in the Tour Pak and provides some serious sub-woofer presence.
Integrated with the sound system is the Road Tech Zumo 660 GPS, and directional cues from the device override whatever’s playing on the stereo so you don’t miss a turn.
Other returning features on the luxury tourer include heated seats with built-in suspension and adjustable lumbar support on the passenger backrest, and a power locking system that allows remote locking and unlocking of the ignition, saddlebags and Tour Pak with the press of the key fob. And, of course, acres of chrome and an exhaustive inventory of A-list custom appointments.
Three paint schemes are offered: Wicked Sapphire and Stardust Silver, Crystal Citron and Diamond Dust, and Electric Orange and Black Diamond—all with Big City Lights graphics. Some 3,400 units will be produced with a list price of $37,249.
The momentum of the CVO Softail Convertible’s mission to blur the lines between haute-custom street rod and dedicated long-distance mount continues to pick up steam in 2012 with a heightened emphasis on touring amenities and acumen. In that pursuit, the diminutive windscreen of last year’s Convertible was singled out in consumer surveys as the item most in need of improvement—the complaint being, naturally, that it didn’t provide enough protection from the blast. The CVO engineers responded with a new unit that’s an inch higher, two inches wider, and which incorporates a pair of lower panels athwart the headlamp nacelle to further seal off drafts. They also incorporated a small vent into the screen to stabilize air flow in the cockpit. And the new windscreen is clear instead of dark-tinted, and that eliminates the distracting reflections the previous screen gave off the chrome dash and risers in bright sunlight.
The new setup works admirably, keeping the wind tamed effectively and creating a dramatically improved listening environment in which to enjoy the enhanced audio system the model’s received for 2012. A pair of 3.5" two-way speakers deliver 20 watts of sound, just like last year, but unlike the previous system, the Convertible now has an integrated MP3 capacity. You can still use your iPod on this bike, too, and the dock now has a charging capacity to keep it up to power. What’s more, a Road Tech Zumo 660 GPS unit has been affixed and positioned optimally on the lower windscreen.
Returning bells and whistles include the unique keyless ignition that does away with an ignition switch, electronic throttle that permits both a cruise control and ABS, a digital speedometer with perimeter-sweep tachometer needle, internally-wired Z-bars, and lockable flip-top saddlebags that are truly a one-hand operation. And best of all, every item of touring gear including the passenger pillion strips off in mere minutes with no tools required, and when removed reveal a super-sanitary show-quality boulevardier where moments ago stood a super-capable touring machine.
One thing we know it’s not, though, is a sport-tourer. Riding the bike over the famously twisty roads of Mendocino County is truly a matter of grinding out the miles, and it’s the floorboards doing the grinding.
Grind, grind, grind. Unpleasant in the extreme but not painful, exactly, the sensation is akin to nails on a chalkboard, mild electrical shocks, or listening to Lady Gaga. But that’s what you get with a slammed chassis and a seat height of just over 24 inches, and as Bob Seger would remind us, “You just can’t have it all.”
Among the paint and graphic treatment options on the 2012 Convertible are Crimson Red Glow with Scarlet Crystal graphics, Abyss Blue with Catacomb Graphics (which are little hand-airbrushed skulls) and, most striking of all, Satin Pewter with Catacomb Graphics—an option that brings with it distressed brown leather saddle and bags, and if that combination looks familiar it’s because it appeared once before on the 2010 CVO Fat Bob—the last non-bagger the CVO produced. We’re told that model sold tepidly, but the distinctive matte paint and distressed leather combo was too tasty to leave in the Milwaukee dustbin, and thus it’s been happily repurposed.
The CVO Softail Convertible sells for $29,699, and 1,500 units will be built.
The new kid on the CVO block this year is the Road Glide Custom, an ominous and eye-popping projectile described by its creators as “badass and sinister.” No argument there, and to put an even finer point on it they affixed skull escutcheons to the fuel tank and fairing nose.
Staying with recent practices that have seen the OE Street Glide and Road Glide Custom become virtually interchangeable, save the cut of their signature fairings, the CVO Road Glide shares a whole incestuous raft of details with its Street Glide sibling, from the seamless rear end with its filler panels with frenched-in light fixtures twixt the fender and drop-tip saddlebags to the equally seamless side-fill gas tank with its flush-mount filler cap and LED fuel gauge on the dummy cap side. Common also on this year’s models is hand-adjustable rear suspension and a two-piece seat, one that has a quick-detach pillion which, when removed, exposes a pair of decorative/protective chrome/rubber trim strips (a slick feature first seen on the 2010 Fat Bob and Softail Convertible.) In the case of the Road Glide Custom, the seat’s bold stitching is color-coordinated with the overall paint scheme.
Cosmetically, the Road Glide Custom owes the greatest debt to last year’s Kryptonite Street Glide. As you may recall, that model was completely unique in its darkness, with gloss black engine cases, black/chrome Agitator wheels, black/chrome billet end caps on the exhaust and black upper fork covers principal among its features. The new Road Glide Custom has all of those elements and carries the concept further with an internally-wired black handlebar and elegantly simple round black rearview mirrors.
It’s the fairing on this model that sets it most decisively apart from previous Road Glide Customs, both CVO and OE. Again taking a page from the CVO Street Glide playbook, the air temp and fuel gauges have been deleted from the cockpit and replaced with tweeters. The tweeters join a pair of two-way 5″ x 7″ speakers to give voice to the bike’s powerful 100-watts/channel amplifier and a full complement of audio choices along with the included iPod tucked into the saddlebag.
To improve both sound quality and ride quality, a tinted Windsplitter windscreen tops the fairing in place of the eyebrow pieces that preceded it. Also in place is a clever wind baffle mounted beneath the fairing, and the result of these alterations is remarkable. The wind is effectively defeated at most speeds, and the music is audible.
Selling for $30,699, the CVO Road Glide Custom comes in White Gold Pearl and Starfire Black, Maple Metallic and Vivid Black, and Candy Cobalt and Twilight Blue. Real Smoke graphics adorn all three.
Last but not least—and certainly loudest—is the CVO Street Glide, which we dubbed the Milwaukee Sound Machine last year when it made a return engagement to the CVO stable sporting a daunting array of speakers in the fairing and fairing lowers, and an equally daunting 200 watts of aural blast. And that’s nothing compared to what the bike packs for 2012. Nowhere is the CVO’s 2012 audio-juicing more over-the-top than on the new Street Glide which in addition to the foregoing now packs another 100-watts/channel amp tucked in a saddlebag, bringing the total output to 400 watts, and a pair of 5″ x 7″ speakers with bridged tweeters housed in the saddlebag lids. And that’s where the trouble started.
I stepped outside to see what the peeping Tom deputy had on his mind, and said, “Hi,” and he said, “Who owns that Harley?” And I said, “Harley-Davidson’s Custom Vehicle Operations,” but he didn’t hear me. He was intent on listening to his earpiece, apparently receiving stolen vehicle reports. By this time my vigilant and vicious rescue papillon, Clementine, was also on the porch and putting up a yappy racket—she’d spent a long time in a cage at the shelter and remains wary of authority figures.
“Do you live here?” the deputy finally asked, and I admitted it. I also got the distinct sense that he’d concluded that I was a local hooligan who’d just boosted the bike in question… and then parked it conspicuously at the end of my driveway on a main road. Stupid local.
I thereupon explained my position, gave him a business card, agreed it was certainly a strange coincidence that I lived so close to where the CVO press launch was being held, and proceeded to rattle off facts and figures about the new CVO models as proof of my authenticity (the press embargo on that information be damned). He relaxed—especially since no stolen CVO reports had come back from the various agencies he’d contacted—and then he got conversational, saying, “I recognized those speakers on the saddlebags from up at the lake,” and warming further added, “I really liked that black and white Road King up there.”
“Road Glide Custom,” I corrected.
“I’m pretty sure it was a Road King,” he countered, eyes hooding, newly suspicious of my bona fides. And I commenced to rattling off some more embargoed data.
We ultimately got things sorted out—for now, anyway. That was the first time a cop’s ever come to my door—ever—and I’d like to thank the entire CVO crew for their contribution in elevating my local status to that of a person of interest.
For the record, the Street Glide that had caused all the commotion was the Ruby Red and Typhoon Maroon with Phantom Flame Graphics job. Also available are Hot Citrus and Antique Gunstock, and Dark Slate and Black Diamond—both also with Phantom Flame Graphics. The production run for 2012 has risen to 3,500 units, and one will cost you $32,699.
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