Harley-Davidson Is Reviving The Road King, And Not Just As A Special

If you are a brand new rider, you might be serious about giving the Harley-Davidson Road King a try. But in the event you’re looking for a latest mannequin, you might have found the choice is not what you’d hoped. Fortunately, it seems to be as if Harley is bringing the Road King again for 2027, although it will not return precisely because it left the lineup. This new mannequin shall be referred to as the Road King ST.

Initially reported by Motorcycle, the brand new Road King ST may be in the identical efficiency class because the Road Glide ST and Street Glide ST; the “ST” likely stands for Sport Touring, a designation used for Harley’s extra performance-oriented touring fashions. While the Road King itself is not but featured on the corporate’s official web site, there have been apparently new accent touchdown pages created for the bike, that means particulars like value, styling, and obtainable gear are unknown as of this writing.

The final true manufacturing of the Road King got here in 2022, whereas the Road King Special was obtainable by 2025. The customary Road King provided a windshield and saddlebags, whereas the Special had a extra stripped-down customized look. If the brand new Road King is certainly a Touring version, it is potential that it’ll use Harley’s Milwaukee-Eight 117 engine like different Touring fashions. But it isn’t but identified if the brand new bike will characteristic the liquid-cooled cylinder heads discovered on the present Road Glide and Street Glide.

Harley-Davidson did not clarify why it stopped manufacturing of the Road King in 2022, although it was seemingly tied to different firm choices courting again to 2020. That yr, Harley reported a $92 million second-quarter loss as motorbike gross sales fell 27% worldwide. In response, the corporate mentioned it was going to streamline its fashions by round 30%, with then-CEO Jochen Zeitz saying that Harley’s product lineup had develop into far too complicated.

Though the Road King title continued on with the Road King Special, the mannequin grew to become much less distinct in Harley-Davidson’s touring lineup. The Street Glide and Road Glide had develop into extra distinguished Touring fashions, providing bigger Milwaukee-Eight 117 engines and options like built-in infotainment. The stripped-down Road King Special did not have these options, and as Harley’s Softail household was improved, it additionally gave riders another choice for a cushty motorbike. This could have made the Road King a much less important a part of Harley’s lineup.

That mentioned, the Road King Special did have its personal distinctive character, making it a really completely different bike in comparison with the unique. Harley moved away from chrome in favor of blacked-out styling, gave it a decrease profile, and added a mini-ape handlebar for a tougher and more aggressive look. It additionally grew to become the primary Harley mannequin to obtain the Milwaukee-Eight engine in an all-black end. The Special’s design was additionally particularly linked with the customized bagger scene, maybe exhibiting that the Road King title was being up to date for a altering market.