Hondo2doc, I concur with your opinion. While I’ve only been owning Harleys since 1994 I do have a few more years of riding experience, late 60’s for my first bike I owned. There was a few years I didn’t own a bike and it bothered me on a daily basis. At one time I’ve had five in the barn but I only have one as of today. I was writing a reply as you posted yours so sorry for any similarities.
I’m glad the author (Punya Sharma) claims his riding skills are good because the HD does have some liquid cooling (to the heads).
"With its upgrades, the CVO Road Glide has come ever closer to beating the Challenger” the opening quote states the winner is the Indian. I have more to say about the article but won’t at this point, or will I. There are a few other specs I question but more research needs to be done on my part to question them.
I was excited by the Indian for some time but I can’t make myself buy one, for my own reasons doing my due diligence, they are great riding machines at least for a short ride that I have experienced. I have several friends that own Indians and they rave about them. The new HD CVO’s does intrigue me and I’d be willing to eat some crow with my whine if I bought one but it ain’t gonna be sight/ride unseen. While the price is high it’s not a deal breaker.
My hat is off to HD for doing some great things especially in their road race program, if they’d only apply that attitude to the bikes they manufacture and the loyal customers they have. Take some stock bikes off the floor to race on the track HD wouldn’t stand a chance (IMHO). HD is trying to protect their market share in the touring category, as they should be, and winning races sells bikes.
Unless the same hedge fund group ends up owning both HD and Polaris the consumers will benefit.